The mesa located north of Oceanside and east of the Santa Fe tracks was named posthumously after Santa Fe Station Agent, Mr. Edward Bradbury (E.B.) Stuart in 1938.  The land had been part of a wheat farm.

 

In 1942 the land was purchased by the U.S. Government as part of a military training site primarily for the Marine Corps.  A new recruit rifle range was built on Camp Pendleton and dedicated in August 1964 as Stuart Mesa Range (now Edson Range).

 

Mr. E.B. Stuart

E.B. was born in 1854. His early railroad experience included time with The Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railway (CCC&StL) soon after it was started in 1870. Mr. Stuart held various positions eventually becoming a Cincinnati Station manager.

In the early 1880s, Stuart’s health was starting to deteriorate so with his wife Martha and family he came west where E.B. took employment as the station manager for the Southern California Railroad, a subsidiary of the Santa Fe Railroad, at Riverside, California.  In 1885 E.B. was relocated to the Santa Fe station in San Diego.

E.B. Stuart died of complications of  Bright’s Disease (chronic inflammation of the kidneys) on April 18th, 1910 at age 56.  Funeral services were at the couple’s home on 2nd Avenue near Laurel in the affluent Banker’s Hill area of San Diego on April 20th, 1910.  He was buried in Riverside, California on April 21st.

Both E.B. and Martha took a prominent part in San Diego civic affairs. Their home on 2nd Ave. was designated a San Diego Individual Historical Resource (#567) in 2002.

 

 

For years, a dilapidating milepost marker approaching Oceanside from Los Angeles was labeled Stuart #220.  The marker was removed during the expansion of the railroad maintenance facility owned by the North County Transit District.  In its place was erected a command post, a set of dispatcher-controlled switches and signals for the four-track yard. The marker there now is labeled CP Stuart; Milepost 221.9.