La Jolla church used to be a train station!

If you drive up La Jolla Boulevard, just north of Bird Rock, you might see the impressive building in these photographs.

When I visited the La Jolla Historical Society a while back, I learned something very surprising. This ornate building–the main chapel for the La Jolla United Methodist Church–was once a railroad station and power substation for San Diego Electric Railway, the San Diego streetcar line established by John D. Spreckels!

I’ve found several great articles concerning this history. Here and here and here.

The 1924 Spanish Colonial architectural style San Carlos Train Station served streetcar Route 16, which ran from San Diego to La Jolla. Route 16 was the San Diego Electric Railway’s last major rail line expansion. In addition to downtown San Diego and La Jolla, the route included stops in Mission Beach and Pacific Beach. The streetcars ran through 1940.

The San Carlos terminal building would then be used for several years as an art school. In 1954, the La Jolla United Methodist Church bought the building.

Check out the first and third links above for a few old photographs. You’ll see how the train station and substation stood alone in undeveloped land a century ago.

…

I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X.

Feel free to share this!