The Railroad, the Town Site, and Downtown City Park

The town of Paso Robles as we know it was born with the railroad. For decades, the hot springs resort drew visitors by stagecoach, but everything changed on October thirty-first, eighteen eighty-six, when the Southern Pacific Railroad reached the springs. With the tracks came ambition.

Work immediately began on laying out a full town site, using the resort as its centerpiece. The following month, promoters held a lot auction that sold two hundred twenty-eight lots. The little spa settlement was about to become a real town.

At the heart of the new town, the town's founders set aside two full blocks of land to create a public park for the enjoyment of residents and visitors. That green square, known simply as the Downtown City Park, remains the beating heart of Paso Robles today. It hosts farmers markets, concerts, the Pioneer Day picnic, and the earthquake memorial.

So when you relax on the lawn of the City Park, you are sitting on land the town's founders set aside, in the very spot where Paso Robles first laid out its streets.