"The station is one of the oldest railroad buildings in Florida. It was originally built in 1858 by the Pensacola and Georgia Railroad, which provided freight and passenger service east to Lake City (where there was connecting service to Jacksonville via the Florida, Atlantic and Gulf Central Railroad), west to Quincy, and north to Georgia via the railroad's Live Oak branch. In 1869, during Reconstruction, the newly formed Jacksonville, Pensacola and Mobile Railroad (JP&M) took over freight and passenger service to the depot and extended service further west to Chattahoochee, where the Louisville and Nashville Railroad eventually provided connecting service to Pensacola.
In 1882, Sir Edward Reed purchased the JP&M as well as the Lake City to Jacksonville Florida Central Railroad, both of which he combined into the Florida Central and Western Railroad. Two years later, Reed merged the Florida Central and Western into the Florida Railway and Navigation Company, which added a second story to the depot in 1885. The Florida Railway and Navigation Company reorganized as the Florida Central and Peninsular Railroad (FC&P) in 1888. In 1900, a year after purchasing the majority of FC&P stock, the newly organized Seaboard Air Line Railway (now CSX Transportation) leased the FC&P and, in 1903, acquired it outright.
In 1905, the Seaboard built a new passenger station across the street and east of the depot. This station remained the site of passenger service to Tallahassee until 1971 when, for the first time in 113 years, passenger service to Tallahassee ceased when Amtrak took over nationwide passenger rail service and discontinued the Gulf Wind, the New Orleans to Jacksonville train that had been serving the station at the time.
Passenger service to Tallahassee resumed in 1993 when Amtrak extended its Sunset Limited service east to Jacksonville from its former terminus in New Orleans. The 1905 passenger station had since been converted to use for the freight-related operations of CSX, the successor to Seaboard, and Amtrak began using the old depot as its Tallahassee passenger station.
However, passenger service was suspended in 2005 after Hurricane Katrina caused significant damage to tracks west of Tallahassee. Although the tracks were repaired in 2006, managerial and political obstacles have thus far precluded restoration of passenger service to the depot. It nevertheless remains actively signed as an Amtrak station.
On December 30, 1997, the depot was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places."
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An historical marker placed in 2004 is located in front of the old depot and reads:
"The Jacksonville, Pensacola and Mobile Railroad Company Freight Depot, built in 1858, is one of the oldest railroad buildings in Florida and the oldest still used as a passenger rail station. The one-story depot was built when Tallahassee was the center of Floridas cotton trade. By 1885 the two-story addition was added. Middle Florida (now North Florida), with its rich agriculture lands, grew rapidly in the 19th century. By 1890, Leon County was the top producer of livestock, sweet potatoes, corn and cotton in the state. With cotton in great demand, Tallahassee was the regions commercial hub, shipping 16,686 bales of ginned cotton in 1860. Wagons brought the cotton from local plantations to be processed. It then went by rail to the coast for shipping. A new rail line between Pensacola and Jacksonville provided access to ports and made transporting both freight and passengers easier. In 1905 a passenger station was built across from the original one. It was used continuously until 1971 when, for the first time in 113 years, passenger service ended. Tallahassee was a freight only stop until 1992 when passenger services resumed, with the old freight depot used as the passenger station."