Southern Pacific Railroad Freight House
The two-story 1931 Art Moderne building contained offices and storage space for railroad freight.
The Southern Pacific Railroad Freight House was built in 1931, replacing a smaller wood-frame structure that had outgrown its usefulness and blocked a major thoroughfare. Despite the economic problems of the Great Depression, freight traffic through Reno was so brisk that both the SPRR and the Western Pacific Railroad, on East Fourth Street, were undertaking expanded freight facilities in early 1931.
In January of that year, the SPRR filed plans and specifications for the two-story Art Moderne-style freight house and accompanying sheds to be built on the south side of the railroad tracks east of the Railway Express Station. The new freight house included offices and an indoor freight storage space encompassing more than 9,000 square feet. Extending east of the concrete building was a 380-foot-long covered loading and unloading platform.
In addition to an attractive new railroad building, the construction of the new freight house allowed for the demolition of the old sheds that blocked Center Street, effectively cutting off development on the north side of the tracks. The local press had been calling for the removal of the sheds since at least 1907, and the SPRR had been making promises to do so for nearly as long. Finally, at the end of August 1931, the railroad announced it would abandon the old sheds, so work connecting Center Street with University Avenue could proceed. The move proved to spur the local economy, which had gotten a boost that year from the state legislature through the re-legalization of gambling and the lowering of the divorce residency period from three months to six weeks. As an additional bonus, the Center Street-University Avenue connection opened up the formal gateway to the University of Nevada.
By 1970, America’s passenger and freight railroads were suffering financially. Both tourists and freight were arriving in Reno by highway instead of rail. In response, the S.P.R.R. demolished the freight sheds and sold the Freight House. As was the case with the Railway Express Depot, the Freight House was converted to commercial use. In 2009, it became the namesake and focal point for the new Freight House District surrounding the Reno Aces Ballpark, which opened that year.
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