In 1870, Southern Pacific Railroad assumed ownership of the San Francisco and San Jose Railroad, which had originally opened as an independent railroad in 1863. The second stop south of San Francisco, in what was the center of the larger Northern San Mateo County area historically known as Colma, was called the Schoolhouse Stop. The station took its name from the nearby one-room schoolhouse on San Pedro Road, the most recognizable landmark in the rural landscape at the time. Schoolhouse Stop was one of twenty-one stops built between San Francisco and San Jose. In 1881, Southern Pacific constructed a freight shed adjacent to the Schoolhouse Stop. The freight shed was used for storing and shipping the abundant agricultural produce grown in Northern San Mateo County, including cabbage, brussel sprouts, flowers, and grain. San Mateo County had become the top producer of cabbage, shipping to Chicago and other eastern cities. A San Francisco Chronicle article dated March 1893 reported that in February 1893, just over one million pounds of cabbage were weighed and shipped out of the Schoolhouse Station.