Denver & Rio Grande Western Freight Depot

The building that now houses the Southeastern Colorado Heritage Center was originally built in 1924 as the new freight depot and warehouse for the Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad. Freight shipments in and out of Pueblo on the D&RGW were handled through this building.

Click on the images to the left to check out some articles from the Pueblo Cheiftain in 1924.

In the Fall of 1926, terminal operations in Pueblo were consolidated with the Missouri Pacific Railroad, resulting in the joint use of the warehouse by both railroads.

The freight offices were located in the two-story portion of the building, which now houses our Heritage Room, the Library, and the SCHC Administrative offices. The rest of the building was a large warehouse and handled the freight shipments. Boxcars were spotted alongside the many doors on the backside of the building for loading and unloading, while trucks pulled up to the loading dock doors in the front, seen in the photo above.

The Denver & Rio Grande Western merged with the Southern Pacific Railroad in 1988, but the heyday of the freight depot was over. Southern Pacific kept offices in the building until 1994. After the Southern Pacific's merger with Union Pacific in 1996, the building was sold to the City of Pueblo.

The D&RGW Freight Depot is the last remaining freight depot within the City of Pueblo and has been listed on the Colorado State Register of Historic Properties.