The Goleta Depot, a train station building constructed by the Southern Pacific Railroad in 1901, was part of the completion of the Coast Route linking Los Angeles and San Francisco. The building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and the California Register of Historical Resources and is the centerpiece of the South Coast Railroad Museum.
Southern Pacific closed its Goleta station in the 1970s. Eventually, Goleta Beautiful, a civic organization, obtained rights to the abandoned building which was moved in 1981 to nearby Lake Los Carneros County Park.
The building was rehabilitated, restored and reopened in 1982.
A new train station opened nearby in 1998.
