Harrisville Railroad Depot - Harrisville, NH - Train Stations/Depots on Waymarking.com

On the way to the center of Harrisville, I came across this modest building at a street intersection. I recognized at once that it was a former railroad depot. The town name on wooden signs do give it away, but the steep roof hanging over on one side and large windows on a building so close to the road also indicate its former use. There are no railroad tracks there, but the dirt road that runs by it is straight.

I could not find much of anything about the depot itself. A local history book documents the building of the Manchester and Keene Railroad sometime after 1876. The railroad itself was a factor in splitting off the town of Harrisville from Dublin as the proponents in the mill town were hampered by the more reluctant rural part of town until the mill town people were successful in forming a town themselves (naming it after one of the prominent mill owners there). The railroad was difficult to build but when it was finally done, three depots were built in the town, one east, one south (likely at or near this building's location) and one west. The railroad never really made a profit, and went through several operators, including the Nashua and Lowell, the Connecticut River Railroad, the Concord Railroad/Boston and Lowell Railroad, and, finally, in 1887, the Boston and Maine Railroad. The branch remained with this railroad until it was abandoned. I don't known when it was abandoned, and I don't know how far the depot dates back to.

The depot sits in a small village of Harrisville, about a half mile from the main center. The dirt road that goes by the station was once the railroad bed. On the other side of Main Street the dirt road continues as an unimproved path into the woods (This was confirmed with a topographic map).

Source:
John Bordon Armstrong, "Factory Under the Elms: A History of Harrisville, NH," Museum of American Textile History, North Andover, MA, 1985.

Is the station/depot currently used for railroad purposes?: No Is the station/depot open to the public?: No If the station/depot is not being used for railroad purposes, what is it currently used for?: It could either be used by the town's Highway Department or a residence. Since there was no evidence of things like a separate driveway or lawn, I'll guess it is used by the Highway Department. What rail lines does/did the station/depot serve?: Boston and Maine Railroad was the last to own the tracks. Station/Depot Web Site: Not listed

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Date Logged Log User Rating   10/30/2013 Zambesiboy visited it