Former Seaboard Airline and Atlantic Coastine Union Train Station

Plant City Union Depot, Plant City Florida

Date added: September 07, 2024

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Union Depot in Plant City is one of the early examples in Florida of the practice by separate railroads serving the same town to combine their resources in sharing railroad terminals. In addition, the station is a physical reminder to the Plant City Community that the railroad was responsible for the town's creation.

On July 21^st, 1908, Morton Riddle, superintendent of the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad and W.L. Gidden, chief engineer of the Seaboard Air Line Railroad, presented their plans to the community for a Union Depot for Plant City (Tribune, July 23^rd, 1908). The Tampa Tribune noted that "the privilege of a Union Depot [was] a privilege that few towns in Florida possess." The two companies called for bids on the station in September of 1908 and the building was completed by May of 1909 (Tribune, May 23^rd, 1909).

This building replaced the first depot built in the 1880s to serve the newly built Plant System Railroad. Plant City was established as a direct result of the construction of the railroad. The Union Depot was located at the intersection of the Plant System and the tracks built by the Florida Railway and Navigation Company.

In 1928 the City was connected by six lines of the Atlantic Coast Line and the Seaboard Air Line to the rest of Florida. It was described by a contemporary as "the largest railroad distributing point and junction in the entire State except for Jacksonville." Reportedly the station was served by forty-four passenger trains daily.

Plant City served the surrounding rural areas as the shipping point for the agricultural produce of the region. The freight depot at the terminal was unique in that "the farmers (were) paid by their buyers on the station platform as the berries [were) delivered for shipment." The volume of agricultural shipment was a major part of the economy of Plant City with nearly 4,000,000 quarts shipped in 1926-1927.

Building Description

The Plant City Union Depot is situated at the northwest intersection of two railroad tracks. The hipped-roof, brick structure was apparently designed to be able to serve both sets of tracks. Paved loading platforms extend north and west from the station and are covered by a low gabled roof supported by eight inch cast iron posts and decorative wooden brackets. The high hipped roof, which is covered by French style composition shingles, provides the dominant feature of this otherwise simple example of railroad architecture. Two corbelled chimneys with arched metal hoods pierce the roof line.

The running bond brick walls have an irregular fenestration of nine over one double-hung sash windows with stone sills. Passenger entrances are located on each of the four sides of the main body of the building. All of the entrances were originally composed of paired single light, double cross panel doors with two-light transoms above. Two of these have been replaced, one on the north and one on the west, by paired flush doors. A stone belt course surrounds the structure at the sill level.

The plan of the building is divided into two distinct units, waiting room in the main body and baggage room in the west wing. The waiting area still retains the visible evidence of racial segregation as it is divided diagonally by a wood partition forming dual waiting rooms. A ticket office is located at the southeast corner of the building and serves both waiting rooms. The interior of the waiting rooms is plastered with little decoration. The baggage room has bare brick walls.

The structure has undergone several alterations since its creation on paper. The original plans show that the proposed location of the building was on the southwest corner of the track intersection, but the structure is in reality located on the northwest corner. Also shown on the architect's drawings is a two story tower, with a hipped roof, located above the present ticket office. This tower was built as it appears in 1909 photograph of the building. At present there is no evidence as to why the tower is no longer on the building. The roofline has also undergone considerable alteration.

In the original design a secondary hipped roof was located at the northwest intersection of the main building and west wing. This roof, along with a diagonal wall across the intersection appear on the design. However, in the present structure the main roof has been carried out to incorporate the smaller roof while the diagonal wall appears to have been enclosed in order to square the main section of the building.

The Freight Depot, constructed in 1909, is square in plan, two stories with a low hipped roof and wide eaves. Second story windows which are sash and grouped in fours within a common surround all project above a bit of pent roof which continues on the north and west to cover the passenger platform. Where this section of the roof projects from the brick building, it is carried on large wooden brackets. Within the platform area, pairs of brackets spring from slender posts to support the tin roof. Doors are wooden with transoms above-glazed.

All windows are double-hung sash, although size varies and fenestration is irregular. The platform rests on a series of brick piers, is of wood construction and is reached via wooden stairs with simple wooden handrail. There is a frame addition to the north side of the building of modest dimensions. Ticketing and passenger waiting room are contained within the first floor and offices were originally in the second floor. The building has for some time been out of use and is now in somewhat ruinous condition.