This Former L&N Train Station is a Railroad Museum

Louisville and Nashville Depot, Nashville Illinois

Date added: March 03, 2024

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The impact of the L&N Railroad on the commercial life of Washington County and Nashville alike is that the fertilizer that was needed for the farms and crops was brought in by rail, the lumber & materials needed to build houses for the residents, the retail merchandise, and in later years also automobiles that were made or manufactured elsewhere in the USA, had to come into the county and also to Nashville by rail. The people could now go 50 miles in about 3 hours (one way) to get items needed for farming and for shelter. The milk from the farms was brought into town (Nashville) as well as the livestock raised & shipped out to the large cities and the creameries and slaughterhouses. The groceries sold in town (not produced locally) and the manufactured hardware items and also drugs for the drug stores and doctors had to come to Nashville by rail. The grain that was grown here had to be shipped out from the local elevators and mills by train. Around the turn of the century and the first quarter of the 20^th Century, Nashville had 2 flour mills that made soft wheat flour and exported it by rail on a large scale to the Southern states and even Central America,

Also, a nearby elevator (Gaebe Elevator Addieville) in the first half of this century, made a popular brand of flour, which was widely sold up and down the L&N. The coal that was produced in the county, and as such as at Venedy and sent out through Venedy Station, and at the coal mines at Nashville, were sent out by rail. One of Nashville's, the Nicholson Coal Company, later becoming the Clarkson mine, was along the L&N tracks east of the depot. It once served as a coaling station for the railroad (the L & N itself) before the diesels. So the L&N railroad, since it started in Washington County around 1880, has brought in much-needed supplies and also taken out crops (wheat, corn, soybeans, oats) from the area. Even the L&N depot itself at Nashville had the lumber for the soffit, which was made out of blue poplar wood brought in by rail when it was built, as it was not a wood grown here in the county. Even to this day the Washington County Farm Service elevator, just east of the depot and where the spur leading off the main track leads into, has fertilizer sent in by rail cars and sends out grain grown in the area.

When Washington County was first settled in the early 1800s (1800-1850), the only way the inhabitants could go from one place to another was by walking or by horseback. Then came the form of transportation by horse & wagon or horse & buggy. These all involved covering any distance in a long period of time, sometimes even a full day or several days, such as for long trips (50-60 miles). Then came the railroads into the county. This greatly changed and improved the mode of transportation by making it available, to the people of Nashville and the county, a way and means of traveling any distance in a greatly reduced amount of time. Young and old alike used the train to go to school and to travel to other communities in a shorter time. Also, the quality was improved by traveling in a closed passenger car instead of traveling in an open buggy or wagon or on horseback, especially in rain or in winter.

Communication with neighboring communities and more distant cities was greatly improved with the advent of the railroad and the telegraph. All correspondence done in the county, up to probably around 1925 or when the telephone came here, was by word of mouth or was done by letters which were brought into Nashville on the train and also sent out from here by train. The news from outside the county and throughout the U.S. and the world was brought into Nashville by the telegraph key, operated around the clock at the Depot. This is how the local newspapers were able to find out and then print for county residents to read, the news of statewide, national, and international importance. Later also, other newspapers, St. Louis Post-Dispatch and Globe-Democrat, for example, were brought in by train and sold locally for the news and other items that they contained. So without the railroad, and consequently the telegraph also, the mail would not have been brought into and sent out of Nashville; local inhabitants would not have any knowledge of the news or happenings outside of probably this county; the newsprint for newspapers (locally printed) would not have been available; and the residents would have had very little chance, to receive some items and merchandise which they needed, and to travel outside this area. The local people and the county would have been very much isolated from the rest of the state, county, and the world. As you can see, the railroads became the primary mover of people and of goods both into and out of Nashville and the county. Into the 1890's and later, this was the Golden Age of railroading.

According to the East St. Louis office of the L&N, the following depots remain in Illinois: Nashville (closed), Dahlgren (closed), Belleville (closed), Carmi (open, doing railroad business), Mt. Vernon (open, doing railroad business), Danville (closed), Rossville (privately owned railway museum), and Milford (owned by the City of Milford).

The L&N Railroad was founded in 1850 and still remains one of the major railroads serving the eastern and southern United States. Its significance in the commercial growth and development of the southeastern United States centered around the coal, steel, and lumber industries. In Washington County, Illinois, the line transported grain (wheat, corn, and soybeans), coal, milk and milk products, and lumber to major markets. Goods sent to and through Washington County included fertilizer, retail merchandise, automobiles, and automobile parts. Although the transportation of freight was and remains an important part of any railroad, the significance is more easily demonstrated by the movement of passengers. After World War II, and throughout the 1920s and 1930s, passenger transportation continued to increase. At one time, the depot in Nashville serviced seven passenger trains daily; and, between passenger and freight lines, an average of one train every hour passed through the town, both day and night. Residents of Nashville recall the depot as a hub of activity. Edwin Schmitt remembers crowds on the platform every Sunday waiting for the "10:30", carrying the Sunday papers from St. Louis. Ruth Temme recalls the trains as an important part of local transportation for students from neighboring Villages attending Nashville High School. Students would purchase a school ticket which, in 1910, cost $2.00 a month or about 5¢ a ride from Beaucoup to Nashville. Adult fare was 10¢ a ride or 2¢ a mile. S.J. Povolish, who was employed as a pumper for the L&N at the Beaucoup depot, recalls the significance of the depots as departure points for hometown boys leaving for World War I, World War II, and even Korea.

This style of depot is the simple, not elaborate small depot with very little or none at all, extra "gingerbread" around the outside of the depot under the overhangs. It is also not like the more elegant and bigger depots that were quite larger in length and width and possibly a second floor added and/or a "dormer" built into the roof itself. These were the depots where the larger cities had, such as the depots at Centralia, Carbondale, Marion, & Mt. Vernon which were all larger cities that needed the larger facilities and also made them quite fancy and "showy".

This was the style that was consistent in the way the small-town/rural depots on the Louisville & Nashville Railroad line here in Southern Illinois was built back in the 1880's. They were built only to be a functional depot in small rural towns and not to be the "ornate" showpieces that the larger cities had as their depots in some cases.

This depot has a little fancy molding around the door and window jambs, both in the inside and on the outside. But, it does not have the "scallops" on the facia boards on any side of the depot. The depots that were on the L&N line here in Washington County, like the Nashville one, which are all gone now were at Venedy Station, Okawville, Addieville, Beaucoup, and Ashley. So the only example left of this railroad's style and design of the small town/rural depot here in Washington County is the simple yet in its own way pretty, depot at Nashville.

Building Description

The depot is a one-story frame structure measuring 21 feet by 50 feet. The exterior is sided with weatherboard on the upper portion of the building and wainscoting of vertical flush boards on the lower one-fourth. Vertical flush boards are also used for siding on the gable ends. Trim around windows, doors, at the top of the wainscoting, and at the bottom of the vertical siding in the cable ends consists of 1 inch by 4 inch boards. Doors are panel-type with tongue and groove boards forming the panels. The windows are double-hung with 9/9 light sash patterns.

The interior is divided into four rooms, including a baggage room, general waiting room, agent's office with projecting bay, and ladies waiting room (see floor plan attached). Ticket windows open to both waiting rooms from the agent's office. The interior walls are finished with boards, and the ceilings are 12 feet 9 inches high. Two chimneys served two wood and coal burning stoves which occupied each waiting room.

The only alterations to the 1885 building were partitions for men's and women's toilets in the ladies waiting room, which were added when interior plumbing became available. Two windows were added in each restroom on the south facade, and an original window was boarded up on the west facade.

The Washington County Historical Society plans to restore the depot and establish a railroad museum in the building.