By the 1940’s The Railyard was an activity center for Santa Fe locals. Older neighbors still living next to the Railyard today, remember afternoons picking wild lettuce and swimming along the acequia that flows through the site. There was ice skating in the winter and elephants when the circus was in town. During the Depression, locals came to the Railyard to be given free meat from the warehouses. The site remained a central hub until rail transportation began to be eclipsed after World War Two by the interstate highway system and the airlines.