Built in the mid-1890s, the Benicia Southern Pacific Railroad Depot was originally erected in the town of Banta, California before being moved to its current location in Benicia in 1902.

It is located in what was once the entrance to the city and the center of its commercial and industrial goings-on, it was an incredibly visible building to all visitors. It was the last stop before boarded “the largest ferry in the world,” the Solano/Contra Costa Ferry, which carried them across Carniquez Strait to Porta Costa.

Ferry service diminished after the 1930, when the Benicia-Martinez Bridge opened, lessening the need for ferries. The station agent and family lived there until 1958; it was sold to the city in 1974.

In 2001, the building was restored through city and volunteer funding and now hosts the Benicia Main Street Program. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2017.