Louisiana and Northwest Railroad Depot, Magnolia Arkansas
- Categories:
- Arkansas
- Railroad Facility
- Freight Station
- Passenger Station
The Louisiana and Northwest Railroad Depot in Magnolia was built by the Louisiana and Northwest Railroad, one of many railroad lines established in Arkansas for the primary purpose of transporting the lumber and lumber products being produced by the burgeoning Arkansas timber industry to an ever-expanding national and international market. The emphasis of this railroad line on carrying freight is reflected in this depot by its large number of freight doors and its lack of passenger doors on the street elevation. Though this depot was not distinctive architecturally, it remained substantially unchanged since its construction.
It was demolished sometime before February 2000.
The Louisiana and Northwest Railroad Depot in Magnolia is a single-story, wood frame freight and passenger depot designed in the Plain Traditional style common to the depots of many railroad lines of the period, though it has been ornamented with such Craftsman-style details as the decorative knee braces in the gable ends. The rectangular plan is interrupted only by the projecting telegrapher's bay on the eastern elevation. A single metal flue rises through the eastern slope of the gable roof, above the telegrapher's bay. The asphalt shingle roof covers novelty-sided walls, all supported by stone piers covered with wood framing and skirt boards.
The western or front elevation is accessed via two large, rolling doors placed toward the northern end of the elevation. A single, square, fixed window lights the wall at the center, and three evenly-spaced four-over-four wood sash windows finish the elevation to the south. The eastern or trackside elevation is accessed via two large rolling doors to the north and two smaller, single-leaf doors placed just to the north of the telegrapher's bay. The three-sided telegrapher's bay is lighted with a single four-over-four window on each of its sides and two identical windows in the front facade. The elevation is finished by two more four-over-four wood sash windows to the south.
The northern elevation is punctuated only by a single, central rolling door, surmounted by a two-pane glass transom. The southern elevation opposite is composed of asymmetrically-placed, alternating windows and single-leaf doors, two of each.
The significant exterior details are limited to the large, Craftsman-style knee braces beneath the eaves on the gable ends.
(1992)
