(rshsdepot) Ridgeland, SC

["Bernie Wagenblast" <brwagenblast_@_comcast.net>]

Train depot derailed
October 1, 2004
Carolina Morning News

By Mark Kreuzwieser

Ridgeland lost out on its attempt to garner $1 million in state grants to 
rebuild the town`s former railroad station on downtown`s Main Street.

Town Council members in July approved committing up to $150,000 in local 
accommodations tax revenue to qualify for the matching Rural Infrastructure 
Fund money.

Preliminary plans for the railroad station showed a 7,000-square-foot 
facility, including possibly two buildings and covered shelters and walkways 
on West Main Street, on the west side of the CSX Railroad.

``I`m very disappointed,`` Town Administrator Jason Taylor said Thursday as 
he surveyed a sprucing up of Gopher Hill Park before the kickoff of the 33rd 
annual Gopher Hill Festival.

He said officials with the S.C. Commerce Department, which administers the 
grant program, did not give a reason for Ridgeland not winning the money.

``It was a generic letter ... it didn`t say why or even who won,`` Taylor 
said. ``We put together a very strong package, a very strong project.``

Ridgeland was competing with 21 other small and medium-size municipalities 
in South Carolina for the state grant money.

Town officials said the building would have boasted numerous functions and 
housed several community agencies and offices. The Jasper County Chamber of 
Commerce, for one, had expressed an interest in moving into the proposed 
facility.

The Technical College of the Lowcountry was considering having classes in 
the proposed building. Also, town officials suggested offering space for a 
satellite office for the new hospital being built in Hardeeville.

Amtrak, the federally-supported passenger railroad, had been approached 
about stopping its trains as they came through Ridgeland`s downtown. About a 
dozen trains ramble through Ridgeland each day, including freight trains and 
Amtrak.

The nearest Amtrak station is in Yemassee, north of Ridgeland near the 
Beaufort and Hampton County line.

Amtrak`s Silver Service and Palmetto trains run through eastern South 
Carolina counties, with stops in Dillon, Florence, Kingstree, Charleston and 
Yemassee, before heading across the Savannah River to Savannah.

Taylor was optimistic the project will move forward.

``We have a lot of community support and partners, and we want to thank 
them,`` he said. ``We`re going to continue to push for it. There are other 
forms of funding we`re looking into, and there`s always the possibility of a 
public/private joint effort.``

He said another alternative is renovating the town`s fire station on 
Railroad Avenue and adding the proposed railroad depot onto the side.

``That`s the town`s property, so we wouldn`t have to buy land,`` Taylor 
said. ``At the proposed site, we would have had to buy the land, (for) about 
$150,000.``

Ridgeland`s former railroad depot went out of service and later burned to 
the ground. All that remains is the station`s concrete slab in the southwest 
quadrant of the railroad and West Main Street.

The proposed station would have been developed directly across Main Street 
from the site of the original building.

It would have faced east, looking over the railroad tracks toward the town`s 
recently installed gopher tortoise monument.

A train community

Ridgeland`s history is founded in the railroad. Formerly known as Gopher 
Hill, the town was renamed Ridgeland by the railroad company that dominated 
the fledgling town. Before then, the big city in the area was Grahamville, 
now a quiet residential suburb of Ridgeland.

Tough competition

The funding Ridgeland and 21 other municipalities sought, called an 
``opportunity grant,`` would have tied into downtown revitalization efforts.

``These cities are home to citizens who took the initiative to develop their 
communities through involvement in the Main Street program,`` S.C. 
Department of Commerce Secretary Bob Faith said in a news release Thursday.

Applicants were rated based on how the community plans to address a variety 
of revitalization activities, including small business and entrepreneurial 
development, workforce training and tourism, Faith said.

Other criteria included the number of partners involved in the project, the 
amount of local funds available, the feasibility of the project, and the 
likely affect on the community and region.

The winning cities are Bennettsville, $726,048; Bishopville, $1.3 million; 
and Union, $974,355.

``Investing in our rural communities is critical as we work to improve the 
business climate throughout South Carolina,`` Gov. Mark Sanford said in a 
news release Thursday.

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

------------------------------

End of RSHSDepot Digest V1 #1004
********************************

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