(rshsdepot) Culpeper , VA

["jdent1_@_optonline.net" <jdent1@optonline.net>]

From the Fredericksburg Free-Lance Star=2E=2E=2E

Financing to finish work on Culpeper depot OK'd=20
By DONNIE JOHNSTON

The Commonwealth Transportation Board has approved a $402,994 enhancement
grant contract that will complete renovation of the Culpeper railroad depo=
t=2E

The contract, already finalized with the town of Culpeper, went to C=2EL=2E=

Lewis & Co=2E of Lynchburg and work could start as early as Monday, said T=
own
Engineer and Director of Planning Chuck Stephenson=2E
"We're ready to go," Stephenson said=2E The project would probably take ab=
out
90 days to complete=2E

The 3,200-square-foot area, which at one time was the train station's
freight depot, will be turned into a community meeting room complete with =
a
catering kitchen and rest rooms=2E

Stephenson said movable partitions would allow the facility to be used for=

small meetings or conferences that could accommodate more than 100 people=2E=


Renovation of the 6,000-square-foot depot began in 1998 with the aid of a
$700,000 grant=2E The first phase of the renovation project was completed =
in
early 2000=2E Culpeper Chamber of Commerce offices and a tourist informati=
on
center opened in March of that year=2E

"The new meeting room should encourage people to come downtown," said Dian=
e
Logan, executive director of Culpeper Renaissance, the organization chiefl=
y
responsible for restoring the east end of Davis Street and the depot=2E "I=
t
should help attract tourists=2E"

Logan said that there is also a possibility the Windmore Foundation for th=
e
Arts, which has long been searching for a downtown presence, might also
move into the soon-to-be renovated section of the depot=2E
A transportation board grant application was filed last January and design=

work was completed last fall, Stephenson said=2E

The Culpeper depot was built about 1905=2E Amtrak still picks up passenger=
s
there, but there is no ticket office=2E

Date published: 2/22/2003=20






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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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