Missouri-Pacific Railroad Depot, Arkadelphia Arkansas
The location that would later become the city of Arkadelphia was first settled for its abundant local salt deposits. Formally founded in 1839, Arkadelphia became the county seat four years later and by the mid-nineteenth century had developed into an important river port on the Ouachita River, connecting the area to the lower Mississippi River, New Orleans, and the world beyond. Its status as a major regional commercial and transportation center was heightened by the arrival of the Cairo and Fulton Railroad in 1873, thereby rendering the city one of the principal transportation hubs in southwestern Arkansas. The growth and prosperity of Arkadelphia combined with its accessibility to encourage two colleges to locate there by 1890: Ouachita College (now Ouachita Baptist University) and Henderson-Brown College (later Henderson State Teachers' College, now Henderson State University), thus rendering Arkadelphia an educational center as well. Arkadelphia continued to grow into the early twentieth century, and remains an educational, cultural and transportation center for the region today.
The Missouri-Pacific Railroad Depot in Arkadelphia was constructed c. 1917 after it acquired the old St. Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern line that ran between Missouri and Texas as part of the Missouri-Pacific Railroad's ambitious campaign to expand their network of rail lines all over the country, and to establish the railroad's corporate identity through the exclusive use of the Italianate/Mediterranean style of architecture for its passenger and freight depots.
Building Description
The Missouri-Pacific Railroad Depot in Arkadelphia is a single-story, brick masonry freight and passenger railroad depot designed in the Mediterranean style that was the architectural idiom of choice for several of the railroad lines that traversed Arkansas during the early twentieth century, but especially for the Missouri-Pacific Railroad. Its plan is fundamentally rectangular, with an open porch at its western end and a telegrapher's bay projecting from its southern elevation. Its hipped, red clay tile roof and brick walls are supported upon a continuous, cast concrete foundation.
The northern or front elevation is composed of the open porch area to the west and the enclosed passenger and freight depot to the east. The open porch is supported upon a total of four sets of supports. The two at the exterior corners are composed of three solid wood posts set upon low brick, "L"-shaped piers, while the two between the end of the porch and the solid wall are composed of two solid wood posts set upon low brick rectangular piers. All four supports also feature large, spreading knee braces that extend to the cornice of the porch roof above. The wall to the east is divided into a total of twenty-two bays, the first two of which are tall, one-over-one wood sash windows, and the next three of which are shorter, square wood windows. Two more taller wood sash windows, a single-leaf entry, and five more windows of identical size extend to the east. A smaller window is followed by a taller window, which is placed next to another single-leaf entry. A smaller window next lights the wall to the east, which leads to two large rolling cargo doors. Three smaller wood windows finish the elevation.
The southern or track elevation features the same porch at the western end as seen on the opposite elevation. The wall of the enclosed depot structure to the east is composed of five distinct bays, consisting of the projecting telegrapher's bay flanked by two wall bays on each side that are stepped back. The wall bay to the west, next to the open porch, is lighted by three symmetrically-placed one-over-one windows. The next wall bay toward the east is accessed via a central, single-leaf door that is flanked on each side by two symmetrically-placed windows. The front or southern side of the telegrapher's bay is lighted with three symmetrically-placed one-over-one wood sash windows; the eastern face is lighted with a single-window of identical sash configuration, and the western face is accessed via a single-leaf door. The wall to the east of the telegrapher's bay is accessed via both a central, single-leaf door and a larger, rolling door at the eastern end of the bay. Two tall, one-over-one wood sash windows are placed to the west of the central door, and another between the central door and the rolling door. The wall to the east is accessed via a large rolling door and a single-leaf entrance, and three smaller, square windows of six panes each complete the elevation.
The western end is composed of the large porch sheltering the wall of the building, which is itself lighted with a pair of one-over-one wood sash windows. The eastern end consists only of a large, off-center rolling door that opens out onto a concrete loading dock.
Significant exterior details include the large, decorative knee braces that ornament the cornice throughout the building, and the porch supports; the flaring concrete lintels and keystones above most of the windows and doors; the elaborate wood columns-on-piers that support the porch roof; and the exposed rafters that continue around the entire cornice.
The Missouri-Pacific Railroad Depot in Arkadelphia is itself unoccupied, though the building has been stabilized by the railroad and the surrounding site is used by Amtrak passengers as a shelter. It is in good condition.
View from southwest (1990)
