Town of Temecula

The current location of Temecula (now known as Old Town) came about with the establishment of a railroad depot by the
California Southern Railroad. The railroad was founded by a group of Santa Fe Railroad stockholders in 1880. The line began
in National City (San Diego) and eventually would end in Colton where it would meet up with the Southern Pacific line. The
railroad ran north up to Oceanside and then headed east through Temecula Canyon. It emerged from the mouth of
Temecula Canyon (where Temecula and Murrieta Creeks meet) went north along the west bank of Murrieta Creek to Lake
Elsinore. There the line headed east again through the canyon where its namesake road runs through (Railroad Canyon
Road) on to Perris and then eventually Colton.

The construction of the line was completed in August 1882, the same year the Town of Temecula was surveyed by Fred T.
Perris. The official survey map was completed December 4, 1882 but not filed until August 24, 1892 in the San Diego
Recorder’s Office. The timing of the map filing coincided with the formation of Riverside County in 1893 which Temecula is
now part of. The land that the Town of Temecula sets on was owned by Mercedes Pujol, the widow of Domingo Pujol who had
purchased the land in 1879. Besides providing a right-of-way for the railroad, the Pujol family also provided 17 acres for the
train depot, 200 acres for the townsite, and 3 acres for the cemetery. Eventually another 6 acres were donated by Mercedes
(2 for a school, 2 for a church, & 2 for a plaza).

A review of the original map of the Town of Temecula shows that each lot was 25 feet wide by 140 feet deep. The east-west
streets were named First through Sixth and Main Street. The north-south streets were named Mercedes, Front, River and
Pujol. Main and Front Streets were 80 feet wide while all other streets were 60 feet wide. An interesting aspect is that River
Street does not exist today and may never have existed. In 1884 and 1891 there were large floods that eventually caused the
tracks through Temecula Canyon to be destroyed. When this happened the railroad no longer ran to National City, the line
started and stopped in Temecula. As proof of this the width of the Murrieta Creek on the map is approximatley 115 feet, today
the width of the creek at the bridge is 155 feet.