Wow. I think this is pretty exciting. I believe the white building replaced the station in the vintage photos.

  Here's how I arrive at this:


  First, let's talk about that granary building- behind the white building. That's the key to this whole puzzle. I need to establish that the same granary building is in the vintage photos and the ones I took today.

  Here is a side-by-side comparison. The photo on the left was taken by me this afternoon. It is taken from almost the same vantage as this detail from the 1925 photo.

  Pretty convincing, don't you think? Seems to me the granary is consistent in both shots. It's the same building- and this establishes the exact location.


   Today there is an addition on this side of the granary, between it and where the original depot was. Clearly the depot in the vintage photos is gone today-  and the white building now occupies the exact same spot.

Here are some more photos I took today. (Click on a thumbnail to enlarge.)

Here are some photos from the other side:

Here is a detail of that neat old yellow sign. (Looks like it was used to replace a window.)

   Today the granary building is long abandoned and it has a, "Condemned", sign on it. It's in  really rough shape. The depot is better off, but the whole deal looks pretty sad, and I'm afraid it could vanish at any time.


  In any event, I think it's pretty clear that the white building in question was built on the exact same spot as the original depot.

 Now- just look at the white building. Are you going to tell me THIS building was built on the exact same spot as Old Furnace Station- and it's NOT a depot? C'mon.


  I say that at some point after the vintage photos were taken, the addition on the granary, along with that tall, white tower were added. I would say something happened to the original depot- a devastating fire for example. Then the white depot was built to replace the one that burned.

  It looks like a freight-only depot, as it doesn't seem to have any accommodation for passenger traffic. I would judge it to have been erected sometime in the 1930s. This makes sense, because by this time the line only saw modest passenger traffic. It's listed in Karr's as "2 daily mixed trains by 1935", meaning trains with both passenger and freight. Then passenger service was discontinued altogether in 1948. (Conversely, freight trains continue to this day. Heck, you could have a boxcar dropped off or picked up here tomorrow if you wanted.)

  It's a very simple building, lacking a foundation or any decorative flourishes whatsoever. Again, this points to construction during the 1930s- the height of the Great Depression. I think the original depot burned down during the 1930s, when there was not much need for a passenger station, but there was still freight. I think this white building was erected on a modest budget during the last days of railroad freight shipments to serve as a replacement for the original that burned down.


  So what do you think? I welcome your comments. Prove me wrong- tell me I'm a nit-wit. Or tell me I've brought back to public awareness a railroad depot that was thought to be long gone.

  Either way, please feel free to e-mail me here---->

   -Steve Fisk, October 2008

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