Shepherdstown Station and History of the Station (Below as Comments)

Name	Type	Comments	Date

Bradley Dixon	General	On November 20, 1909, the new passenger station was completed. It was opened to passengers on Dec. 1 of that year. The total cost was about $22,000. It is clear from reports in the Shepherdstown Register that the community was very proud of the station. It was from the Norfolk & Westerns top-of-the-line blueprint, aside from the large union stations. A particularly popular feature of the new depot was a railway shed that ran 250 feet along the tracks, so that people could wait for the train outside in both hot and wet weather and still be comfortable. The station had two waiting rooms, "one for white persons and one for colored persons." Each waiting room had front and rear entrances, and each had a pair of restrooms. The editor of the Register writes proudly of the modern conveniences restrooms, running water, a heating system, drainage system and electric lights. The station agents office was in the center of the building, next to where the current kitchen is now. The bay windows l	8/18/2010 12:02:55 AM

Bradley Dixon	General	The bay windows looking out over the tracks had iron gratings to protect the windows.	8/18/2010 12:07:23 AM

Bradley Dixon	General	The old wooden station became the freight station. At the same time, the track was re-aligned and straightened, and a new and higher bridge was built over the Potomac. This was to accommodate the heavier trains that were being used.	8/18/2010 12:07:44 AM

Bradley Dixon	General	The End of Trains.On June 27, 1957, the Station at Shepherdstown was closed by court order, in light of Norfolk & Western losses. Fewer people rode the trains in the prosperity of post-World War II America, because more and more people were able to afford their own cars. The station had been becoming less and less important in town, whereas the gas station that used to be where the Blue Moon is now was probably gaining in importance. People could get their information from radio and TV. The telegraph wasnt needed as much, because nearly everyone had a telephone.	8/18/2010 12:08:29 AM

Bradley Dixon	General	The Station Today....For a few years, the station remained empty. In the mid-1960s, the railroad used the station for storage. Then in 1990, a movement to save and restore the station was started under the guidance of the Corporation of Shepherdstown and Mayor Audrey Egle. A working committee was formed under the Historic Shepherdstown Commission, consisting of local citizens Robert Fodor, Harvey Heyser, and Joseph Snyder. The committee prepared plans for the preservation of the station, and in 1992 Senator Robert C. Byrd added $500,000 to an appropriations bill to aid in the restoration of the station as a center for community and health services. Renovation design was provided by the architectural firm of Rust, Orling, and Neale. Antietam Construction was general contractor for the major project.	8/18/2010 12:09:00 AM

Bradley Dixon	General	September 23, 1996 marked the official sale of the station by the Norfolk & Western Railroad Company to the Corporation of Shepherdstown. The deal was made in Senator Byrds office in Washington, DC. Then Mayor Vincent Parmesano represented the town. The Railroad agreed to sell Shepherdstown the station for a dollar. Sen. Byrd provided a dollar in coins to seal the exchange. The community center in the former main waiting room of the station opened for limited public use in July 1997 while construction continued. Dr. Paul Davis opened his dental office in the former freight and baggage room at the north end of the station in May of 2001. On October 27, 2001, the newly renovated station was dedicated in a ceremony and Senator Byrd was the main speaker. The station was packed with people, and the crowd overflowed into the parking lot	8/18/2010 12:09:33 AM

Bradley Dixon	General	Renovation continued and a fully-licensed commercial kitchen was equipped in 2002. Today, the station continues to be managed on behalf of the Corporation of Shepherdstown by The Station at Shepherdstown, Inc., which was formed as a non-profit corporation in 1992. The Station is again an active part of a vibrant, thriving community. Dr. Davis cares for our dental health in his offices, and in the community center, there are lots of options to nourish the body and mind. During the week, you can take a class in yoga, belly dancing, Morris dancing, karate, and the like; on Saturdays, there are private events such as weddings and birthday parties; and on Sundays, there are church services and chamber music.	8/18/2010 12:09:57 AM

Bradley Dixon	General	Epilogue....Things have a way of coming full circle, and although we of the board believed that the preservation of the station was finished (although maintenance will never be), we recently learned that it was not. On Wednesday, Dec. 8, 2004, Howard Mills, Treasurer of Station at Shepherdstown and also a member of the Shepherdstown Town Council, received a phone call from a man who said he had something that belonged to the station. The man said that he was calling on behalf of another man who, while a student at Shepherd College, had taken the Shepherdstown station sign as a prank. Now all these years later, this mans conscience was weighing on him, and he wanted to give back the sign, but only on condition of anonymity. Howard met up with the caller, who handed over not one but three signs: the one that had been on the station shed ), and two signs that marked the Maryland/West Virginia state line. We believe that the Shepherdstown sign may be the original that first hung in 1909 wh	8/18/2010 12:10:53 AM

Bradley Dixon	General	We believe that the Shepherdstown sign may be the original that first hung in 1909 when the station was built, and now, nearly 100 years later, it has found its way back home.	8/18/2010 12:11:29 AM

Shepherdstown Station and History of the Station (Below as Comments)
Date: 8/7/2010	Location: Shepherdstown, WV Map	Views: 216	Collection Of: Bradley Dixon
			Author: Bradley Dixon

Picture Categories: Station		This picture is part of album: Manifest 8-7-10

Add a Comment:
Please Log in to leave a Comment.