Southern Railway Passenger Station - Danville, Virginia - Train Stations/Depots on Waymarking.com

Ever since the Richmond & Danville line reached Danville in 1856, the railroad has played an important role in the development of the city. During the Civil War, Danville's rail connections made it a vital Confederate supply point; at the war's close, Confederate officials fleeing Richmond took the train to Danville, earning the city the title "Last Capital of the Confederacy." After the war, the railroad contributed to Danville's rise as an important tobacco manufacturing center and the leading tobacco market in Virginia and North Carolina. Textile industries also prospered from the city's rail connections.'
During the Civil War, the Piedmont Railroad constructed a line southward from Danville to Greensboro and built a passenger depot just west of the present depot. In the 1890s, ownership of the line passed to the Southern Railway Company, which planned the construction of a larger facility near the original depot. The railway hired nationally prominent architect Frank P. Milhurn to design the new building.

In 1915, the Southern Railway double-tracked its route from Washington to Atlanta, and in the process made improvements to its line through Danville. A new bridge across the Dan River created a new alignment and shifted the railroad tracks about 150-feet east of the passenger depot. Rather than abandoning the depot and building a new one, the railway decided to move it, hiring the contractor W. King Anderson for the job. A reporter for Popular Mechanics described the process:

"The first step preparatory to moving was to dig down to the bottom of the walls all around and place a heavy wooden framework, reinforced with steel, underneath. By means of jacks the building was then raised up 4 ft. and set on 2-in. steel rollers. The station, which weighs approximately 1,000 tons, was then started forward, drawn by cables, which ran through blocks staked to the ground and then wound around a windlass operated by seven laborers. At first it was moved at the rate of 2 in. per minute and later at 6 in. per minute."

Mules also helped pull the depot along, which glided so smoothly that "pigeons nesting in the depot tower were not disturbed, and the building eventually came to rest on its new concrete foundation.

On January 28. 1922, faulty wiring sparked a fire in the roof of the depot that smoldered undetected for hours before spreading with explosive force before dawn on January 29th. The building was extensively damage with only the north end of the building and the outer walls still standing. Within days the railway drew up plans for the depot's reconstruction, preserving the character and layout of the building. From its reconstruction until the early 1990s, the Danville Southern Railway Passenger Depot served as a gateway to the city for many thousands of rail travelers. Today the old Southern Railway Passenger Station is home to the Danville Science Center.
Source/Credit: Virginia Department of Historic Resources.

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?: Today the old passenger station is home to the Danville Science Center which features hands on exhibits for adults and children alike. Admission to the science museum is $6.00(adult) an $5.00 Children ages 4-12. What rail lines does/did the station/depot serve?: Southern Railway & Currently Amtrak Station/Depot Web Site: [Web Link]

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