Historic Oliver Springs
Southern Railway Depot

Note: This text is derived from the quarterly Bulletin of the Oliver Springs Historical Society in an article  written by Bruce R. Schulman.

Historic Significance of the Depot

The Southern Railway passenger depot at Oliver Springs is a late nineteenth century manifestation of the expansion of railroad freight and passenger traffic in the United States. The depot served to bring passengers by rail from around the nation to the tourist hotels located at the mineral springs, driving the local economy until 1905. The depot also served as a means of transporting to industry the rich coal deposits on nearby Windrock Mountain, whose mines were the county's largest employers from 1904 until World War II. Oliver Springs served as an important link in the rapidly-expanding rail network created in Eastern Tennessee from 1880 to 1920.

The Cincinnati Southern Railway completed the first rail lines in the Roane/Morgan county in 1879. These first connections made possible the large-scale exploitation of rich coal beds. This coal was sent by rail to Chattanooga and beyond for industrial use. Coal had been mined commercially as early as 1846-1848, but remained small-scale until rail connections allowed for vast growth. Oliver Springs quickly became a central point for outgoing coal shipments from Walden's Ridge and Big Mountain, and later Windrock Mountain. The lines became property of the Cincinnati Southern Railway in 1894. Once a part of the large Cincinnati Southern rail system, passenger service to Oliver Springs began on a large scale. The 1895 construction of a landmark 150-room tourist hotel, the largest building ever constructed in Oliver Springs, was a direct result of the passenger traffic from the new rail network. The increased passenger traffic, largely due to the success of the hotel and its famed mineral springs, led to the construction of a new passenger depot in Oliver Springs in 1896. It is this depot which stands today.

The expansion of a national railroad network into Oliver Springs had a tremendous impact on the economic and social development of the town. The 1895 opening of the Oliver Springs Hotel brought a large influx of wealthy patrons, large enough to require a special Saturday evening train run between Oliver Springs and Knoxville to accommodate tourists during the summers. The influx of tourists sparked the establishment of the H. Sienknecht Store in 1901, the largest department store in three counties. The Oliver Springs route was profitable, enough so that L&N Railway built its own line through town and a large trestle over the Southern line in 1904-05. Southern employees resorted to sabotage to stop completion of the trestle over their line, eventually forcing L&N to pay men $1.25 a day to hug each pile to prevent it from being cut down. Passenger traffic was high at the Oliver Springs depot. Two passenger trains ran daily until the 1930, another two until 1946. Six daily "shopper" trains ran through on a circuit from Harriman to Knoxville daily. Two Carolina Special "Pride of the Southern" trains stopped at the depot until the end of passenger traffic on December 5, 1968.

It was, ultimately, the coal mines that made Oliver Springs prosper and these mines owed their success to the rail connections established first by Southern and later by L&N. Lines were constructed and upgraded in 1883, 1886, and 1888 to accommodate six new mines being opened in the Big Mountain area. The L&N line extended to Windrock Mine, site of the largest underground coal mine in Tennessee. Opened in 1904, the Windrock mines were the largest employers in a three county area, housing over 700 in the Lower Windrock mining camp alone. The Windrock mines were mechanized in 1947, increasing the yield to over 8000 tons per week. Before mining ended in 1965, Windrock Mountain yielded over 21 million tons of coal.

Architectural Description

This depot is typical of small-frame railroad structures built in the late 19th- and early 20th-centuries. It was built in 1896 and has elements of both the Stick Style and the Shingle Style. It is a one story structure, featuring a single gable roof with broad overhangs which return on the gable ends. These overhangs project eight feet from the building on all four elevations and are supported by large, wooden brackets. These timbers are decorated with chamfering and are carved on the ends. These overhangs sheltered both passengers and freight while being transferred on and off the trains. What appeared to be the original, pressed-metal shingle roof was in poor condition and removed during the restoration. It was replaced with an asphalt single roof after the building was moved.

This depot is architecturally significant in that it is representative of the prevalent small-frame railroad depot designs of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The architecture reflects elements of both the stick and shingle styles. Shingles laid in a staggered pattern (alternating high and low shingle butts) are used on portions of the exterior walls. Representing the stick style are the wood bracketing and exposed roof overhang framing, as well as the patterns of panels in the gable ends. This depot is rectangular, measuring 68 feet in length and 25 feet in width with a four foot projecting bay window for the station master to observe for oncoming trains. The exterior walls of all elevations are covered with clapboards on the lower portion and feature staggered shingles above. There are three 8 foot wide doorways to the baggage room, one on each of its exterior walls. The doors are paired and open on roller tracks.

Restoration and Adaptive Reuse of the Historic Southern Railway Depot

In 1983, the aging Southern Railway Depot in downtown Oliver Springs faced a very uncertain future. The Norfolk Southern Corporation saw the deteriorating structure as a liability and planned to demolish it. Norfolk Southern ceased using the depot as a materials storage area in 1982, and the last passenger train stopped there in 1968. Citizens as well as local business and government leaders rallied to save the depot and began negotiations with Norfolk Southern. It was at last agreed that the decaying building would be saved from demolition if it could be moved off of its site and relocated.

Relocating and restoring a building is a daunting task. To save the landmark depot, a new site would have to be found and purchased, and thousands of dollars would need to be raised to pay for the cost of moving the depot and stabilizing the structure. Concerned citizens joined together to raise money and provide the necessary labor to save and restore the building. By Homecoming 1986, the depot was moved across the street to its current location at 610 Walker Avenue, resting on a concrete foundation poured by Oliver Springs High School students.

By 1991, the historic depot remained unused. It would take an estimated $100,000 to make the building functional once again. A new round of fundraising activities began, raising money to purchase materials needed for repairs. All labor in the restoration was donated. By 1993, the depot restoration and renovation was complete and in 1994, the Oliver Springs Public Library opened in the facility. The Oliver Springs Historical Society is using the remainder of the depot as the location for a local history museum. There are several displays in the depot, and the Oliver Springs Historical Society is committed to the creation of a permanent local history museum to serve as a recreational and educational resource for the community.

Historic Depot Nominated for National Register of Historic Places

The 1896 Southern Railway Depot on Walker Avenue is a nominee for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places. A draft application was completed and submitted by the Oliver Springs Historical Society to the State Historic Preservation Office in Nashville. The application will be reviewed by the staff in Nashville and sent back to Oliver Springs, with notations and comments, in the summer. After receiving the application back from the State Historic Preservation Office, the Oliver Springs Historical Society will create a final draft of the nomination to be submitted for inclusion into the National Register. To be eligible for inclusion, a site must be historically significant and meet several criteria. The structure, itself, must be carefully researched and documented, noting construction materials, date of construction, architectural style, and thorough descriptions of all features of the building. A statement outlining the significance of the building and the role it played in the development of the community is also required. Such a statement required not only research into the depot's past, but also into the community's social and economic development patterns.

Trivia

The depot was slated for construction on or before May 12, 1896.

The depot was one of five structures built at the same time. The other depots to be built were located at Tryon, North Carolina; Liberty, South Carolina; Cowpens, South Caroline; and Bearden (now part of Knoxville), Tennessee.

The depot cost Southern Railway $1,550 for the one constructed at Oliver Springs.

The original construction contract called for a dark slate roof on the depot, but it was never installed. It now has a conventional shingled roof. The contract also called for a small cupola to be placed on the roof of the depot, but it was also never built.

According to the original 1896 blueprints the depot was built backwards! The building as-built is actually a mirror image of the layout as specified in the blueprints. the depot was built backwards! The building as-built is actually a mirror image of the layout as specified in the blueprints.

You can see a copy of the contract and the blueprints at the Oliver Springs Public Library and Municipal Archive.