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When the railroad finally reached Santa Barbara in 1877, Stearns added an additional spur to the wharf, providing a necessary transport link to his lumberyard and the nearby Southern Pacific Depot. The spur was damaged by severe storms in the early 1900’s and was ultimately abandoned in 1923.
Oct 6, 2022 · By Tyler Hayden | October 6, 2022. Read all of the stories in our “Celebrating 150 Years of Stearns Wharf” cover here. When John Peck Stearns, an East Coast transplant, proposed building a wharf in Santa Barbara, “people generally made it a fashion to regard him as a dreamer and a fool,” a journalist wrote at the time.
When the railroad reached Santa Barbara in 1877, Stearns added another spur to the wharf, providing a necessary transport link to his lumberyard and the nearby Southern Pacific Depot. The spur was damaged by severe storms in the early 20th century and was finally abandoned in 1923.
That same year marked the arrival of the railroad into Santa Barbara, signaling the decline of ship traffic. In response to the arrival of the railroad, J.P. Stearns built a 1,450 foot wye onto the Wharf to carry a railroad spur so that lumber could be quickly transferred from ships onto flat cars.
That same year marked the arrival of the railroad into Santa Barbara, signaling the decline of ship traffic. In response to the arrival of the railroad, J.P. Stearns built a 1,450 foot wye onto the Wharf to carry a railroad spur so that lumber could be quickly transferred from ships onto flat cars.
When the railroad reached Santa Barbara in 1877, Stearns added another spur to the wharf, providing a necessary transport link to his lumberyard and the nearby Southern Pacific Depot. The spur was damaged by severe storms in the early 20th century and was finally abandoned in 1923.
When the railroad finally reached Santa Barbara in 1877, Stearns added an additional spur to the wharf, and later in 1923 that was abandoned as it was no longer of use. A railroad logging car on the spur commemorates the wharf's history. Stearns Wharf has been rebuilt after several times after fires have damaged the structure.
