Jonesboro, Lake City & Eastern Railroad Depot, Manila Arkansas

Date added: March 13, 2025

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The site of present-day Manila was settled by Ed Smith in 1852. He located there to take over management of a lumber mill. Virgin timber comprising of red oak, cypress, gum and walnut attracted many workers to Manila.

Both the first post office and community were named Cinda, after the daughter of Sam Bunch who was the first postmaster in 1898. At the conclusion of the Spanish-American War, the community was renamed Manila in honor of Admiral Dewey's famous victory. In addition, the citizens named their streets after Dewey and two U.S. battleships in the engagement, Baltimore and Olympia.

The railroad came to Manila in 1901 when investors from Jonesboro recognized the need for transportation to and from Big Lake Island. They formed the Jonesboro, Lake City and Eastern Railroad Company (JLC&E) and constructed track beds, tracks, trestles and bridges across the St. Francis River at Lake City and stopped at Manila and Big Lake. As soon thereafter as possible, they built a bridge across Big Lake and pushed the tracks to Blytheville and to Barfield on the Mississippi River.

Chicago Mill & Lumber Company, which owned and operated a large mill in Blytheville, built narrow gauge lines all over Big Land Island and Buffalo Island on which logs were loaded, carried to Manila, taken to the Manila stave mill, reloaded on regular gauge tracks of the JLC&E to be carried to the Blytheville mill of Chicago Mill & Lumber Company.

R.E.L. Wilson purchased control of the JLC&E railroad in 1914. Wilson connected this railroad with a branch coming from the Frisco lines at Wilson, Arkansas near Dell, Arkansas. Traffic by rail doubled by way of Manila to Jonesboro and on to Kansas City and St. Louis. The name Jonesboro Lake City and Eastern remained until it was purchased by the Frisco in 1929.

Although the JLC&E railroad primarily served the various lumber companies organized in Blytheville, Leachville and Manila, the railroad was also utilized for food transportation as Manila was the fish processing center for nearby Big Lake. For a while, forty tons of fish together with large quantities of ducks and turtles were shipped daily from the Manila Depot.

There were four passenger trains that visited Manila daily, two from Jonesboro and two from Blytheville. Long lines of freight cars carried lumber and logs from Manila daily.

Competition between railroads and trucks and buses came with construction of highways in and out of Manila in 1924. A road improvement district was formed, and a concrete road was built from Leachville to Manila in 1924. With improved roads came automobiles, buses and truck lines which encroached upon rail traffic.

The sawmills and lumber mills closed when the trees had been cleared. Cultivable lands upon which cotton and other crops grew replaced the timber business. Railroads carried these products to out-of-state markets; however, passenger service was terminated. Soon afterward, freight transportation also ceased and the railroad era ended in Manila. Today, only the depot and the siding tracks remain.

Building Description

The railroad depot in Manila was constructed circa 1910 by the Jonesboro, Lake City and Eastern Railroad Company. The white-painted, single-story frame structure rests upon an unknown foundation (probably piers) that is concealed by horizontal wood boards. An asphalt-shingled gable roof with wide projecting eaves covers the basically rectangular plan, which is broken by a three-sided telegrapher's bay. The board-and-batten walls are fenestrated by four-over-four, double-hung, wood windows that were commonly used during that time period. The depot is now owned by the City of Manila, which acquired the structure from the St. Louis & San Francisco Railroad Company.

The Jonesboro, Lake City and Eastern Railroad Depot in Manila was constructed in the Plain Traditional style circa 1910 by the railroad company, which had been organized to engage in the operation of a railroad. It was incorporated in 1901 and remained in operation until it was purchased by the St. Louis San Francisco Railway Company in 1929. The white, single-story, frame structure rests upon an unknown foundation (probably piers) that is concealed by horizontal wood boards. An asphalt-shingled, gable roof with wide projecting eaves covers the basically rectangular plan, which is broken by a three-sided telegrapher's bay. The board-and-batten walls are fenestrated by four-over-four, double-hung, wood windows that were commonly used during that time period. A brick chimney originally protruded through the ridge.

The eastern elevation is lighted by one four-over-four, double-hung, wood window and a single-pane, diamond-shaped, skylight over the window in the center of the elevation. There is also a sign with "Manila" painted on the eastern elevation. The opposite end, or western elevation, is accessed via a single freight door positioned at the southern end of the elevation. There is wood loading platform outside the freight door.

The northern elevation contains the telegrapher's bay, which is fenestrated by two four-over-four, double-hung wood windows and two much narrower one-over-one windows on the short projecting walls. To the east of the telegrapher's bay is a four-over-four wood window and a four-panel wood door with transom that was used by passengers. An ADA ramp has been added to this door. A similar door minus the transom and ramp is located west of the telegrapher's bay and was used by employees of the railroad company and by people claiming packages sent to Manila on the railroad. There is also a large wood freight door on the western end of the elevation.

The southern elevation originally contained two four-over-four, double-hung windows on the eastern end of the elevation and a central wood freight door. Within the past twenty years, the freight door was enclosed with matching board-and-batten and a small one-over-one wood window added. An identical window was also installed near the western end of the elevation. Approximately twenty feet south of the southern elevation lay two steel tracks that were used for switching freight cars and leaving them to be unloaded. Across Baltimore Avenue to the east, the original tracks still lay. The tracks opposite the depot have been removed.

The interior of the depot has been altered by the application of OSB wood panels over the interior walls and vinyl flooring over the wood floor. In addition, a modern acoustical tile ceiling has been installed.