Mural #28
New Rebuilt City

Barstow’s Main Street, which was originally called Elm Street, was located between the railroad tracks in front of the Harvey House. The train tracks were split around the street. South of the street were the Harvey House and Passenger Traffic.

Starting in 1920 Santa Fe Railroad wanted to expand the tracks and Main Street was in the way, the railroads started to buy buildings along Main Street, buy land on the road that would become the new Main Street and trade landowners for their properties, and paid owners to move their buildings to the new locations along the new street. A majority of the street was moved by 1923 but there were a few holdouts that lived in the old location until 1927.

The grand opening of the New Main Street was July 4th, 1925. The celebration was marked by a greased pig contest, a fa man race, and a car race between Barstow and Victorville (backwards). A little over a year later Main Street became part of Route 66.

Note the double roofed building to combat the desert heat.

Artists

Juliette Tison – Master Artist

Kathy Fierro

July 2018