Cedar City Railroad Depot

Representatives of the Union Pacific and Oregon Short Line Railroads began touring southern Utah in 1916, scouting out potential routes to the area's majestic scenic natural wonders. In 1920, it was announced that a spur line from Lund to cedar City was going to be built. The new rail line served the Zion National Park region and catered to the burgeoning tourism trade.

The railroad coming to town affected Cedar City even before the Union Pacific passenger depot officially opened, resulting in a building boom in 1923. Besides the passenger depot, a freight depot was built as well as the Doolittle forwarding warehouse, and oil tanks. The Union Pacific bought the El Escalente Hotel that had been built in town from 1918 to 1923. The renamed Union Pacific Hotel was still under construction in late 1923, with its opening planned for 1924. The Iron County Record newspaper proclaimed that people began to hurriedly arrange to build homes in town as soon as the grading for the road bed reached the city limits. A few frame houses were moved from the desert into town. Building materials and excavations began for new homes and their walls were standing within weeks. By November, fifty-seven new homes had been built in Cedar City, more were under construction, and plans were being made to begin to build more homes in the spring of 1924.

To be able to be ready for the President Warren's western trip schedule, the Union Pacific built the line at a rapid pace, completing forty-seven miles of track in only eight-seven days! It is said that the final push to finish the line before the President's arrival caused the work to go on for forty-eight hours straight; the exhausted workers likely were asleep when the President's train arrived in town. The Presidential party drove in automobiles from the depot to visit Zion National Park, but the president was honored in a special ceremony upon his return to the depot that evening. The golden rail to commemorate the late President Harding was manufactured in Salt Lake City and was to be inscribed "The Harding memorial rail, laid by the citizens of Iron County, Utah, to commemorate the opening by President Warren G. Harding of the Union Pacific national park line to Cedar City on June 27, 1923."

Besides increasing the tourist dollars flowing into southern Utah, and doubling the receipts at the Cedar City Post Office, the railroads were a boon to the local livestock industry. Before the coming of the railroads, sheep had to be herded across the desert to be sold, The irregular feeding, change in water, a dry country caused the sheep to lose weight and lose value. With railroad cars for transport, the sheep could be kept fat and well fed. By 1935, the Union Pacific Company was the largest employer in Iron County. Even though tourist traffic increased dramatically to the southern Utah parks in the decades after the spur line opened, as more people came to own automobiles, the new roads to the parks filled with private cars. Rail passenger traffic into Cedar City was discontinued in 1959; the Utah Parks Company sold the rail line and depot to Trans world Airways (TWA) in the 1970s.

The Depot Grill re-opened in the depot building in mid-2017 under the direction of Jim Fontano. One of the special touches the Depot Grill offered its diners was the addition of a chocolate miniature train engine aside their chocolate cake dessert. Unfortunately, the restaurant closed in November 2019 and announced its permanent closure in February 2020. Before the Grill, the location held Depot Pizza. The next tenant is being determined.

Anonymous. "Building Activities in Cedar Unusual." Iron County Record (Cedar City, UT) November 9th 1923.

Anonymous. "Golden Rail to be Set Into Main Line of Union Pacific System at Cedar City in Memory of Harding." Salt Lake Telegram (Salt Lake City, UT) August 21st 1923.

Depot Grill. Facebook Post on Depot Grill page re: closing permanently Facebook. February 18th 2020. Accessed August 28th 2020. https://www.facebook.com/Cedar.Train.Station/.

Depot Grill. Facebook Post on Depot Grill page re: grand opening coming in June, Facebook. April 17th 2020. Accessed August 28th 2020. https://www.facebook.com/Cedar.Train.Station/.

Lunt , H. H. et al. "[U.P]. Railroad Big Factor in Increasing So. Utah Industry." Iron County Record (Cedar City, UT) June 6th 1935.

Randall, Debbie. Warnick, Jill Thorley. NRHP Nomination of Cedar City Railroad Depot. National Register. Washington, DC. National Park Service, 1984.