Former Norfolk and Western Railway Train Station in IN

Tweet

The Elwood Passenger Depot is significant for its Richardsonian Romanesque architecture and as one of a vanishing breed of small-town railroad depots.

The depot was constructed in 1894 and was on a line that primarily served passenger traffic between Chicago and Cincinnati. The architectural pretensions of the structure are unusual for a depot in a town this small, and contribute to its great noticeability. The building, though deteriorated, still presents an imposing vista from the end of B Street, and is somewhat isolated from surrounding structures.

The building was in continuous use until April 1971 and was officially retired from service in August 1975. Original architectural drawings are located at the division offices of the Norfolk and Western Railway Company in Muncie, Indiana.

Building Description

The Elwood Passenger and Freight Depot is today bordered by railroad tracks on one side, and on the other a parking lot that serves modern drug, auto, and grocery stores. The depot occupies a highly visible position at the end of the street.

The depot is a 1½ story rectangular brick building with a somewhat complicated roof plan. This steeply pitched, hipped roof, together with the round-arched main entrance and window trim, and high, rusticated stone foundation, show the influence of the Richardsonian Romanesque, a style often used in the more grand depots of the period.

Here, however, the style is interpreted in a hard, yellow-orange colored brick with pink-orange mortar. Accents are of glazed black brick. The foundation and sills are of rusticated limestone, and lintels are of dressed stone. A rusticated brick string course surrounds the building below the eaves.

The main entrance pavilion on the west side projects from the basic rectangle of the building, and is emphasized by a steep gable over the round-arched entrance. The gable is supported by large wooden brackets and shelters three small windows with blind arches in limestone. Several windows on this main facade featured an upper sash with small square stained glass panes surrounding the large pane; most of these have been broken out, however.

At the south end is a freight platform and a modern overhead door. The passenger platform on the east side and a large door on the north end are sheltered by an extension of the hipped roof, which is supported by turned wood posts and brackets. The broad roof of this east side is interrupted twice. A 1½ story projecting bay, presumably for the telegrapher-dispatcher, pierces the roof just south of the center and is capped by an octagonal roof sheltering small blind-arched windows. At its north end, the roof terminates in a low gable similar to the one over the main entrance.

Although some spalling of the brick has occurred, there are no obvious structural problems in the masonry. The wood portions of the building, including the entire roof, and the posts surrounding the passenger platform, are in various stages of deterioration. The interior has suffered considerable damage due to the condition of the roof. The only interior feature of interest is a fireplace, now painted, that is of brick and repeats some of the decorative motifs of the exterior.

(1980)

(1980)

(1980)

(1980)

(1980)

(1980)