With the coming of the railroad in 1886, the West Coast Land Company set aside 160 acres for the town of Templeton after purchasing 63,000 acres of surrounding countryside for subdividing into small ranches to sell to settlers. Originally the town was called Crocker after Charles F. Crocker, a vice president of the Southern Pacific Railroad. Crocker declined the honor of having a town named after
him and chose Templeton, the name of his 2-year-old son, instead. Templeton had its turn as the last town on the railroad line from San Francisco. For a time it was the terminus as the Southern Pacific Railroad built its line southward. Horse-drawn stagecoaches met the trains and transported passengers to San Luis Obispo where they connected with stages for the south. Templeton remained the end of the line until 1889 when the rail lines were extended 14 miles south to Santa Margarita. The West Coast Land Company built an office building, which still stands today. It is located between the museum and the Templeton Building, and it houses a beauty salon. In 1898 a fire started in a saloon, spread to the Hans Petersen store (now Hewitt Hardware) and north to the very end of the block, destroying a large section of the downtown. The pioneer spirit prevailed and soon new buildings were erected, brick buildings replacing the original wooden buildings. During Templeton's boom days, the West Coast Land Company owned and controlled a newspaper called the Templeton Times. Later there were two papers: the Templeton Advance and the Times. Referencing Templeton, Annie L. Morrison in her 1917 book, San Luis Obispo County and Environs, written in conjunction with John H. Hayden, stated, "Nowhere on earth is there a more beautiful spot, with the distant blue mountains; the rounded hills covered in spring with wild oats, where not cultivated; the wide, park-like valley dotted with immense oaks; the Salinas river, with its tree-fringed banks—alders, willows, sycamores and oaks—and spicewood breathing its fragrance on the air. . . . Templeton is now coming into its own."
