Railroad Depots, at the Center Of America's Communities

Originally, the social and commercial center of many communities in the United States was the town square, but the invention of the telegraph, and its spread across America in the late 1840s and 50s, made the railroad depot the new center of each community. The depot agent, the person who managed each depot, was often a well-respected member of the community--and if you wanted to hear news about the outside world, the depot was the place to be.

While somewhat removed from their previous role, today, railroad depots are once again emerging as community centerpieces. After years of neglect, the buildings are being reclaimed, and now enjoy new lives as retail centers, museums and even transportation centers.

"It is hard to describe what I feel when I'm at an old depot," says Mark J. Camp, one of the directors of the Railroad Station Historical Society (RSHS). "It's a sense of nostalgia, history--a feeling of all the lives that have walked these platforms or gone through these doors. Maybe one of my relatives had once been standing right here, or maybe someone who was destined for greatness, or maybe just a common Joe who lived and died leaving little trace of his or her existence. The depot was the lifeblood of a community, sometimes even outliving the physical community."

Depots have an architectural style all to themselves. They come in different sizes, but basically all serve to expeditiously move passengers and freight. While many depots existing today aren't used for passenger travel, the interior design of many, especially the smaller ones, is easily adapted to visitor center and museum use.

"Since there is a greater awareness of historic preservation today, and a regret for what has already been lost, many communities are fighting to save their depots," Camp says. At one time there were upwards of 40,000 depots; today that figure is halved.

Of all the past depots to be demolished, the one that roused the biggest backlash was Penn Station in New York City. Likewise in Canada, the overnight demolition of the tudoresque Canadian Pacific depot in West Toronto ignited depot preservation.

Today stations being saved across North America are new centers of community focus.

"I have seen numerous adaptations of depots and favor those uses that still allow the particular architectural ambiance of a railroad depot to shine on," Camp says, noting Cincinnati Union Terminal, the home of the Cincinnati Museum of Natural History and the Cincinnati Historical Society; the B&O depot in Wheeling, West Virginia that's used by a community college; and the Atlantic Coast Line depot in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, which is still used as a transportation facility.

There are many more stations to be saved. In Buffalo, the long-neglected Central Terminal recently breathed the first signs of new life when four exterior clocks were lighted for the first time in decades. Still, preservationists are still a long way from restoring or finding a use for the 15-story elephant in a low-rise, residential neighborhood.

In Detroit, Michigan Central Station and office tower remains in a deteriorating condition. Union Station in Gary, Indiana, has been heavily vandalized and stands as a shell in an industrial neighborhood. Many other stations, including the Great Northern depot in East Glacier Park, Montana, and the Pere Marquette depot in Bangor, Michigan, are standing between a future of demolition or restoration.

With a revival of interest for train travel, there's also a new era of station construction. Several commuter lines and Amtrak are currently building or improving depots. In communities connected by CalTrain between San Francisco and San Jose, many of the depots built by the Southern Pacific Railroad have been restored and enjoy active use by travelers. Other smaller stations have been built, and all are a new center of community focus. Depots in the Chicago area built by Metra have a traditional look and have become new community landmarks.

In San Francisco, voters recently approved the construction of a major inter-modal transportation center that will link the booming region's array of bus and train transit routes. The project, planned to replace the existing Transbay Terminal, could facilitate the return of Amtrak to the city, allow for the extension of San Jose commuter trains into downtown San Francisco, and even accommodate future high-speed rail service.

Perhaps the most ambitious modern attempt at train station construction is in New York. While the old Pennsylvania Station--arguably the grandest railroad terminal ever built--was demolished 1963, a $484 million redevelopment project will transform the nearby James A. Farley Post Office into a new Penn Station by 2003.

The Great American Station Foundation was created in 1996 to revitalize communities through building new stations or converting and restoring existing rail passenger stations. As the organization has grown, it has set a goal to become the national intermediary organization not only for station revitalization, but also for community revitalization in areas surrounding inter-city, commuter and urban rail stations integrated with other initiatives including rural economic development, smart growth, urban in-fill and downtown revitalization.

From sprawling highways to distant airports, today's modes of travel are rushed and impersonal. More and more Americans long for the slow, personal pace of train travel and the warmth and community focus of train depots. While many depots gone forever, the contemporary interest in historic preservation will limit the number lost in the future.

Efforts to reign in the effects of suburban sprawl and alleviate the congestion of clogged highways will also insure more stations are built, providing new centers for community in the United States.

Great American Station Foundation www.stationfoundation.org/
RailroadStation Historical Society www.rrshs.org/

Eric Miller