Morehead C & O Railway Freight Depot - Morehead, KY, US
N 38° 10.896 W 083° 26.000
17S E 286872 N 4228762
Morehead Chesapeake and Ohio Railway Freight Depot located 130 East First Street.
Waymark Code: WMT7H7
Location: Kentucky, United States
Date Posted: 10/09/2016
Views: 4
The Morehead C & O Railway Freight Depot has officially been approved for listing in the National Register of Historic Places, the nation's official list of historic and archaeological resources deemed worthy of preservation.
Administered by the National Park Service and state historic preservation offices, the National Register of Historic Places is the nation’s official protection list of historic and archaeological resources.
The National Register recognizes districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects significant in American history, architecture, archeology, engineering and culture. Authorized by the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, the National Park Service's National Register of Historic Places is part of a national program to coordinate and support public and private efforts to identify, evaluate, and protect America's treasures.
The depot was built in about 1881 by Elizabethtown, Lexington and Big Sandy Railway before being acquired by the Chesapeake and Ohio (C & O) Railroad about 1900.
The property currently sits on First Street and adjacent to Wilkinson Boulevard, the US 60 bypass through Morehead. The bypass follows the old railway bed which was abandoned in about 1985.
The station served as a passenger depot as well as a freight depot until about 1910 when the brick passenger depot was built about 200 feet to the east. The Freight Depot's original wooden structure is still very intact.
After C & O abandoned the line, it was purchased by E.C. Barker for use as a storage building for his business, Big Store Furniture. The building was then deeded to his son, Jeff Barker, in 1992, who currently owns the building.
Under Barker's ownership, the building housed two retail businesses, Freight Station Liquors and a swimming pool supply store.
There was a small addition of a drive-through window as well as a small block storage room next to it, but otherwise the building has the same floor plan as when it was built.
According to the depot's registration form, the structure is in its original location and played an extremely significant role in local transportation, commerce, communications and social affairs of Morehead and Rowan County.
Is the station/depot currently used for railroad purposes?: No
Is the station/depot open to the public?: Yes
If the station/depot is not being used for railroad purposes, what is it currently used for?:
Railroad Museum
What rail lines does/did the station/depot serve?: C & O Railway
Station/Depot Web Site: [Web Link]
|
Visit Instructions:
Please post an original picture of the station/depot taken while you were there. Please also record how you came to be at this station/depot and any interesting information you learned about it while there.