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(rshsdepot) Port Orange, FL

http://news.yahoo.com/s/wesh/20051215/lo_wesh/3124204

Henry

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Henry Flagler's Train Depot For Sale 

Thu Dec 15,10:32 AM ET
 
This year, just as in years past, model trains will be running and wrapped
under Christmas trees all across the country. 

But how would you like to own an actual historic train depot?

There's one for sale. It was on eBay for a while, but now it's on
www.hoobly.com.

The asking price is $100,000, WESH 2 News reported.

Time is running out to save a connection to the most important thing that ever
happened to this state. The Port Orange Train Depot was built in 1894 by Henry
Flagler himself. The fight to save it is running out of steam.

Back then, there were only three ways to get around the state -- horse and
buggy, steamship, and, most importantly, the railroad. When the Port Orange
Depot first opened up, it was the talk of the town.

A train schedule from 1909 shows how busy it was. Newspaper ads tempted
northerners with the promise of a trip from New York to Miami in 36 hours. It
was the birth of the most important industry in the state -- tourism. But
there are very few remnants from that era left. Flagler himself built 10
depots. Just seven still exist, and the one for sale is the oldest.

For more than a year, the depot's owner, Emilio Cirelli, has been trying to
find a buyer to save it. He said he can't afford to hang on to it any longer
and time is running out

Someone has made an offer, but it's one Cirelli would like to refuse.

"We're worried because we don't know their intent, what they plan to do with
the property and the depot," he said.

So instead, he's hoping someone will step forward, and save a piece of the
past.

"It's a very significant part of history that should be restored and kept for
future generations," he said.

Cirelli's actually hoping a someone in Port Orange, Volusia County, or even
the state will see the depot as something worth preserving.

To comment on this story, send an e-mail to Bill Shafer.



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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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