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(rshsdepot) Great American Station Foundation Names Most Endangered Stations

From the GASF...

Great American Station Foundation Names Most Endangered Stations

The Great American Station Foundation is pleased to announce its 2001 Most
Endangered Stations list. The list highlights the difficulties faced in
restoring or retaining the role of train stations as vital community
transportation centers. This year’s list includes five stations facing
threats ranging from the effects of deferred maintenance to a fire-ravaged
building slated for destruction. Each of these stations will receive a $1000
cash award to help spur local community efforts to restore and revitalize
these important public buildings.

This year’s list includes stations include:
Tecate, BC (Mexico)
Orlando, FL
Richmond, IN
Painesville, OH
Roanoke, VA.

“We use the list to spotlight railroad stations each year whose history and
function in the community will be lost forever without swift action,” says
Hank Dittmar, the foundation’s president. “We hope to stimulate that action
by bringing local, regional, and national attention to the plight of these
stations.”

The program has proven highly effective in energizing local redevelopment
activities. Over 50% of the communities listed over the past two years have
taken steps to acquire, save, stabilize, or restore these historic
landmarks, while three have gone on to receive Station Foundation grant
funding.

Tecate, BC (Mexico)

The Tecate station was a major depot along the 148 mile San Diego and
Arizona Railway line connecting El Centro, CA, to San Diego.  A 44 mile
stretch of this track actually runs through the state of Baja California,
Mexico, due to the geographic constraints of the area.  This portion of the
line, including the Tecate station, reverted to the Mexican government in
the 1970s when its owner, Southern Pacific, sold the remainder of the route
to San Diego's Transit Board for trolley line right-of-way.

In good shape until it was closed by the Mexican government in 1996, the
building has since been subject to severe vandalism and neglect.  The
neighboring Tecate brewery is also beginning to encroach upon the building’s
yard, having built a ten-foot concrete wall that significantly affects the
station’s setting.

Despite this neglect, the station still has excellent potential for
renovation, and is the clear choice for a passenger terminal on a proposed
Tijuana-Tecate commuter rail service.  This would also make it the logical
center for interchange with other ground transportation, including bus and
taxi.

Built in 1919 in the Prairie Style, the Tecate station is eligible for
listing on the US National Register of Historic Places, in a special
category for cultural resources created abroad.  It is also eligible for
listing as a BC state monument.

The station was nominated to the list by San Diego’s Save our Heritage
Organization (SOHO), which has also placed it on it’s own 11 Most Endangered
List.  SOHO will use their $1000 award in their efforts to establish a
bi-national heritage corridor that would include the Tecate station.

 Orlando, FL

Owned by CSX, the Orlando depot is an active Amtrak station that also houses
commuter rail, bus, rental cars, and other intermodal services.   Designed
by architect M.A. Griffith, the Orlando depot is the sole Spanish Mission
style station in Florida.  It was built in 1926 by the Atlantic Coast Line
Railroad to increase and encourage tourism in the area.  Today the station
is one of Amtrak’s most popular destinations, serving over 275,000
passengers each year.

While not facing any real threat of destruction, the busy station is rundown
and in need of major renovation.  Local community leaders envision a
renovated station as a thriving transportation center, better serving rail
passengers and adding connections to thruway buses, shuttle services, and
connections to cruise ports.  The revitalized station would add retail and
other mixed uses of the station, creating a bustling transportation center
that will spur economic growth in the station area.

Keep Orlando Beautiful, Inc. will use the $1000 award to begin development
of a master plan for the station, and to create public support for the
project.

 Richmond, IN

In it’s heyday, Richmond’s Pennsylvania Railroad Station hosted up to twenty
five trains a day.  Designed by renowned architect Daniel H. Burnham, the
1902 station is a symbol of Richmond’s early economic and cultural
development.  Young musicians Louis “Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Jelly Roll
Mornton, Bessie Smith, Cole Porter and others stepped off the train here to
make some of the earliest jazz recordings in Richmond’s Starr-Gennett
Recording Studio.  The station is listed on the National Register of
Historic Sites and Structures, and has also been placed on the Historic
Landmarks Foundation of Indiana’s 10 Most Endangered List.

Abandoned since 1972, the Urban Enterprise Association, Richmond, Inc. (UEA)
purchased the structure in 1988 to preserve it for future renovation.  A new
roof on the building helped stop further deterioration, but the exterior
terra cotta banding, brick exterior, windows, and the interior had already
been heavily damaged.  UEA has worked closely with other groups to fund
restoration activities and planning for adaptive re-use of the building.
Lacking the funding to do a complete restoration project themselves, UEA is
offering the building for sale.

Potential transportation services in a renovated station include a local
trolley between Uptown and new housing in the station area.  The station
could also be linked to a major hiking/biking trail that runs through the
area.  UEA will use their $1000 award to help explore adaptive re-use
potentials for the station.

Painesville, OH

As in many communities across America, the local train depot in Painesville
was once the architectural jewel of the town.  The Richardsonian Romanesque
structure was built to serve the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern line in
1893.  Long empty, the interior of the building is all but gone.  The
exterior remains in fairly good shape.

The Western Reserve RailRoad Association, (WRRA) owner of the building, has
obtained funding enough to replace the slate roof and install a new heating
system, and is working closely with local government units and the Lake
County Historical Society to try to renovate the building.  WRRA nominated
the building to the Station Foundation’s list.  They have succeeded in
obtaining a local historic listing, and plan to apply to both the State and
National Historic Registers.

WRRA would like the station to see renewed use as a transportation facility.
This station has good potential for eventual Amtrak or commuter rail
service, local bus service, and a rails to trails stop.  WRRA will use the
$1000 award that accompanies the listing to build local support for the
station’s renewal.

 Roanoke, VA

Roanoke’s Virginian Railway Station, built in 1909, was that railroad’s
premier passenger terminal until it closed in 1958 as part of a merger with
Norfolk & Western, now Norfolk Southern.  The only brick station along the
route, it was much larger and more finely detailed than any other station
along that line.  The unused station, one of the last remaining buildings
along the line, was severely damaged by fire in January 2001, and has become
a serious liability for Norfolk Southern.

Rather than see it torn down, the Roanoke Valley Preservation Foundation
(RVPF) and the Roanoke Chapter of the National Railroad Historical Society
are working with Norfolk Southern to acquire and preserve the building for
renovation.  RVPF will use their $1000 award to further its efforts to
acquire the building.

While the station is not a likely site for future rail service, it is well
situated to serve as a shuttle site between downtown and an emerging biotech
center.  It could also link up with City's greenbelt system.  Unless RVFP is
able to purchase the fire-damaged station, Norfolk Southern will likely
demolish it.


The Great American Station Foundation was created in 1996 to revitalize
communities through new construction or conversion and restoration of
existing rail passenger stations, and the possible conversion of historic
non-railroad structures to active station use. The foundation works with
railroad stations to improve rail access and intermodal connections as well
as stimulate community development. As the organization has grown and
evolved, it has set a goal to become the national intermediary organization
not only for station revitalization, but also for community revitalization
in areas surrounding intercity, commuter and urban rail stations. More
information on the foundation, and a brief summary, with pictures, about
each endangered station can be found at www.stationfoundation.org.


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The Railroad Station Historical Society maintains a database of existing
railroad structures at: http://www.rrshs.org

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