At its December 11 city council meeting, the City of Sparks passed a resolution to try to save the city’s oldest railroad building from demolition.
The Machine Shop, located at 599 Nugget Avenue, was built 120 years ago and still stands in its original location. In 1903, Southern Pacific moved all its train equipment from Wadsworth to Sparks because of the train repair shop and gave Nevada residents lucrative incentives to relocate (offering them a lot for one dollar).
It took a lot of steel and three million bricks to construct the attractive building, and then on July 4, 1904, the City of Sparks was officially born.
“This is history; this is living and breathing history. This is what the City of Sparks was founded on, was the railroad,” says City of Sparks Councilmember Donald Abbott.
For 50 years (between 1904-1957), the site that The Machine Shop is on was the largest terminal on the Southern Pacific lines that serviced goods and passengers all the way to Utah. It had 11 repair lifts and a crane that could lift 200 tons (which were mainly train engines). Fourteen hundred people worked at the train terminal by 1944.
“My grandpa worked here; my dad worked here. It’s a huge part of the heritage of the City of Sparks,” says Sparks Heritage Museum Executive Director Christine Johnson.
However, the building changing hands between the 1960s and now has put The Machine Shop at risk of disappearing. At some point in its history, Union Pacific bought the building and land from Southern Pacific and eventually sold the building (but not the land) to someone named Robert Hart. Hart sublet the building, and Union Pacific said that action was a violation of his lease.
“We did not grant permission for the subleases,” Union Pacific issued in a statement. “While we understand some may be disappointed in our decision to terminate the lease of the land where the old railroad Machine Shop sits, our growing operations require additional space in Sparks to help meet local and regional economic demand,” the statement continued, maintaining that the Sparks land still acts as a hub for Union Pacific to transport goods to the rest of the country.
As of now, Union Pacific has given Hart until May 31, 2024, to move out and then has plans to turn it into a parking lot to house Union Pacific trucks.
City of Sparks Councilmember Donald Abbott does not believe that the City is in a position to buy the building, but encourages anyone who owns land near the railroad tracks to contact him at dabbott@cityofsparks.us to maybe help negotiate a land swap. The Sparks Heritage Museum is also accepting stories from residents to help try to save the building (contact the museum at info@sparksmuseum.org to make a statement).
