Iron Mountain Railroad Depot, Glenwood Arkansas

Date added: March 12, 2025

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Glenwood was platted c. 1907 with the arrival of the St. Louis, Iron Mountain & Southern Railroad and is one of the newer towns of Pike County. The A. L. Clark Lumber Company from Bonham, Texas, provided the major impetus for the town's formation by opening a lumber mill in 1906. Originally known as Holly, the name of the fledgling community and railroad station was changed to Glenwood in 1908 when the post office was established. The town was incorporated later that year. An early photograph, believed to have been taken c. 1910, reveals a bustling, dirt Main Street lined with commercial structures with the depot positioned in the middle of the road, the site which is now the intersection of Broadway (Main Street) and Arkansas Highway 8. Other large lumber mills soon located in Glenwood, and this industry accounted for an employment of approximately 1,000 men.

To capitalize on this market, a second railroad line was established in Glenwood. The Hot Springs, Glenwood & Western Railroad was incorporated in 1910 and construction was begun on a line east to Hot Springs through prime timber country. Within a year this line was acquired by the Memphis, Dallas & Gulf Railroad. During this period of growth, the population of Glenwood was estimated to have grown from three hundred to twelve hundred in six months. Although this figure was undoubtedly boosted by temporary workers, the official 1920 census reveals a population of 891, a figure which ranked Glenwood as the largest town in Pike County.

The property served the Missouri Pacific Railroad, which acquired the St. Louis, Iron Mountain, & Southern Railroad in 1917, until 1969 when the railroad auctioned the depot in an effort to liquidate some of their old depots. After a period of over twenty years of being used for a hay and storage barn, the depot was returned to Glenwood in November, 1995. The depot is now located adjacent to the railroad on a compatible site southeast of the original location, which is now occupied by a busy intersection. The The City of Glenwood was seeking grant funds to restore the depot for use as a local museum and visitor center. The visitor center was planned to operate in partnership with the Ouachita National Forest, which contributed $25,000 toward moving expenses and site preparation.

Building Description

Constructed c. 1910 by the St. Louis, Iron Mountain & Southern Railroad, the Glenwood Depot is a single-story frame structure resting upon a modern continuous concrete-block foundation and covered by a gable-on-hip roof. Composition shingles have replaced the original wood shingles. Both gable ends contain a rectangular louvered vent that is set behind an open Moorish arch with a lattice surround that is flush with the fascia trim of the gable. As in most depots from this era, the roof features extraordinarily wide overhanging eaves that are finished underneath with tongue-and-groove, double-beaded boards. The frame walls are clad with wide weatherboard with little paint remaining and capped by a wide entablature with a simple architrave, frieze, and cornice. All of the various-sized windows are of the one-over-one, double-hung type, but have been boarded over on the exterior. The three wood freight doors are constructed with vertical planks.

The northeast elevation of the depot fronts the railroad (currently owned by Union Pacific), which extends northwest to southeast through Glenwood. This elevation contains the projecting telegrapher's bay, which is positioned near the southeastern end of the structure. A pair of windows are positioned in the center of the wide bay, while a single, much narrower window is utilized in both of the two projecting side walls. A single-leaf door with a boarded-over transom and a single standard-sized window are located to the south of the telegrapher's bay. The much longer wall to the northwest of the bay is essentially symmetrical in composition with a central wood freight door flanked by two small windows that abut the entablature.

A single freight door defines the narrow northwest end elevation, which also displays a "Glenwood" depot sign that extends across the top of the door. On the opposite end, the southeast elevation contains a single-leaf entrance with a transom, a standard-size window, and a "Glenwood" depot sign.

The long southwest elevation is fenestrated by two standard-size windows at the southeastern end, a single-leaf doorway with transom and a small window in the center section, and a freight door and two single-leaf doors to the northwest. Originally, only a small one-over-one window was found to the northwest of the freight door. The two entrances were installed in the 1940s in conjunction with the addition of two restrooms.

The interior is virtually intact and features the original wood flooring and beaded board walls and ceilings in the passenger portion of the depot. The freight area is finished with very wide flush planking. Surprisingly, many of the original furnishings remain stored in the depot and will be used in the planned restoration.

Other than the addition of the two restrooms in the 1940s, the only other major alteration to the depot was the removal of the second-story section c. 1948. Constructed as living quarters for the station agent, this second-story room was positioned near the center of the depot and was covered by a hipped roof with a cupola. Ac. 1910 photograph from the street side reveals two one-over-one windows as fenestration for this elevation.

In 1969, the Missouri Pacific Railroad decided to auction the depot and have it removed from the site. The successful bidder, Chester Cole, moved the depot to his farm on the southwest side of Arkansas Highway 8 about one mile south of U.S. Highway 70 in Glenwood for use as a hay and storage barn. In 1988, Cole sold the farm and deeded the depot to the City of Glenwood. The city, in conjunction with the Ouachita National Forest, moved the depot back into town in November 1995. The new site is just west of the intersection of U.S. Highway 70 and the railroad line. This location is southeast of the original site, which is now the busy intersection of Broadway and Arkansas Highway 8, and on the opposite side of the tracks as originally oriented.