Built in 1851, this Train Depot may be the Oldest in the US
Gilead Railroad Station, Auburn Maine
- Categories:
- Maine
- Railroad Facility
- Passenger Station

The Gilead Railroad Station is the oldest extant train station of Maine's Grand Trunk Rail line, and is the oldest known station in the State of Maine. Built in 1851 during the construction of the Atlantic and St. Lawrence Railroad, it features the simple design and construction characteristic of these early stations. Originally situated beside the tracks in the village of Gilead, it was moved in 1991 to a site in Auburn and rehabilitated.
Though the first developments in railroading in the U.S. took place during the 1820s, it was several years before the idea took hold in Maine. The introduction of charters for railroads out of Boston created the initial pressure, and in 1833 the first railroad charter in Maine was introduced for the Bangor and Piscataquis Railroad and Canal Company. Opening in 1836, it was the first steam railroad in the State. The first major railroad line in Maine, the Portland, Saco, and Portsmouth, was chartered in 1837. It connected with the Eastern Railroad at the state line in 1842, opening Portland to rail service from Boston.
During this time, various schemes were brewing over how to take advantage of Canada's inadequate number of seaports. Many envisioned Maine serving as a key center for shipping Canadian commerce, especially during the winter. An early idea was to connect Belfast and Quebec with a rail line, yet by 1837 interest and funds for the project had evaporated. In 1844, John A. Poor, a lawyer from Bangor who had a great interest in the possibilities of railroading, presented a plan to connect Portland, an ice-free Atlantic port, to Montreal, a growing Canadian port that became landlocked each winter when the St. Lawrence River froze. The City of Portland picked up on the idea, and a charter for the Atlantic and St. Lawrence Railroad was granted in 1845, to connect with a Canadian railroad championed by A. T. Galt, a landholder from Montreal. Strong competition came from Boston, which also desired this lucrative line and promoted itself as a more efficient and strategic port. To convince the Montreal Board of Trade, Poor traveled up from Portland through a terrible blizzard and made an impassioned speech in support of the Maine seaport. Portland won out, and on July 4th, 1846, railroad construction officially began. Due to the rough terrain, unsettled land surrounding the route, and bad finances, work bogged down on the line, and the City of Portland had to lend two million dollars of its credit to guarantee completion. The line finally reached the New Hampshire border in 1851, and connected with the Canadian end in 1853. Soon thereafter the line was leased to the Grand Trunk Railway Company of Canada, taking on their name.
The Grand Trunk Railroad ran successfully for sixty years, gaining most of its revenue from the shipping of grain from Canada. Portland was transformed into a major Atlantic port, and the various towns along the line also shared the growth through the construction of factories and mills accommodating the lumber trade. The rail line also provided passenger service, creating a tourist boom by making the White Mountains and Montreal much more accessible. The 1912-13 recession and the onset of World War I placed a financial burden on the line and signaled the end of its prosperity as passenger service eventually ended and freight declined to a minimum. The Grand Trunk Railroad went bankrupt and was taken over by the Canadian government, and in 1922 the line was absorbed by the Canadian National Railway. Halifax and St. John soon replaced Portland as Canadian ports, reducing use of the line even further. In recent years, the line has been turned over to the St. Lawrence and Atlantic Railroad Company, which still operates it for freight.
Gilead, like many other Maine towns, prospered during the railroad age. Steam-powered mills producing spool stock, boxes, and staves became fixtures after the appearance of the railroad, and the town also developed as a summer vacation retreat, located near the White Mountains. In 1891, a railroad line was established for the Wild River Lumber Company, which stretched for several miles south of Gilead to the mills in the village of Hastings. With the decline of the railroads, however, came the demise of the town, and Gilead's population has declined to its pre-railroad size of some 200 persons.
The Gilead railroad station was built by a crew of Atlantic and St. Lawrence Railroad Company carpenters as the line neared the New Hampshire border in 1851. Much of the station, it is believed, was constructed off-site and transported by rail car to Gilead, where it could be quickly erected and pieced together. This simple method of construction reflects the rapidity with which the railroad's construction was pushed to open it up to Gorham, New Hampshire and beyond. Its small scale and modest use of Greek Revival and Gothic Revival elements reflected the simple design found in other Grand Trunk stations of this period as depicted in historic Photographs. In 1893, the station was moved to the east several yards, and a more commodious train station was erected on its original site. The old station was converted into a baggage shed. The 1893 station was eventually removed upon the closing of the Gilead agency in the late 1950s, and the old station was turned over to the track department, thereby avoiding destruction or removal. Later, it was put out of use and abandoned, and was endangered by deterioration and vandalism. In 1991 it was moved to a site in Auburn and completely rehabilitated by the Safe Handling Company, which uses it as an office.
Of the thirty-two Grand Trunk stations built in Maine, only four survive. In addition to the Gilead station, the extant structures include one in Lewiston built in 1885; one in Yarmouth built in 1906; and one in South Paris built in 1889. The latter two were built to replace earlier stations. Thus, only the Gilead station dates from the initial days of the rail line, making it the only remaining structure of the Atlantic and St. Lawrence Railroad Company. The original stations of the Bangor and Piscataquis and the Portsmouth, Saco, and Portland Railroads have long ago disappeared, which means that the Gilead station is the oldest known surviving depot in Maine, and probably among the oldest in the country.
Building Description
The Gilead Railroad Station is a very modest, one-story wood-framed structure which was originally located beside the tracks passing through the Town of Gilead. Clad with wooden clapboards and topped by a simple side-gabled roof, the station displays little embellishment other than its wide, overhanging eaves and flared trim around the windows and entrance. It now sits on a site adjacent to a rail spur in Auburn.
The symmetrical facade of the station's south elevation, which originally faced north along the tracks in Gilead, consists of a centered entry with flanking six-over-six sash windows. The entrance features a tall paneled door surrounded by wide decorative trim with unusual flared accents. This trim is repeated around all window openings on the exterior as well. The door sill is elevated about a foot above the foundation, suggesting the original presence of a track platform. The corners are delineated with corner boards, which continue as trim along the edge of the eaves. The foundation, now concrete, previously consisted of twelve-by-twelve creosoted railroad ties laid horizontally on the ground.
The eastern and western elevations are identical, each featuring a gable end with a single window opening centered on the wall. Here, the corner and eave trim include returns as a small decorative element. The rear, northern elevation originally held two sash windows and a square scuttle opening with a hinged door, but the extension of an ell housing electrical equipment off the center of this side has altered the appearance. One window remains intact, and the scuttle is still partially visible.
Inside, the station is divided into two rooms, one into which the entrance opens, and a smaller one to the west. The larger room, two bays across, was once the station's waiting room. The wall dividing the two rooms contains a doorway near the entrance and a rectangular opening through which tickets were once sold. This opening originally had a sliding door above, but no trace of it remains today. Between these wall openings was once a chimney shaft which probably led from a stove or fireplace that was removed years ago. The more private room behind this wall was the station master's office, When the building was used for the track crew, this room was transformed into a garage, as large swinging doors replaced the room's front window, and tracks led into the room from the main line outside. All walls in the station feature waist-height wainscotting trimmed with a simple rail, but the walls above have been covered with horizontal boards. It is unclear what the original wall appearance was, but in the office room, traces of wallpaper are visible in the spaces left between the boards. Both the floors feature wood strips, and the doors and windows have a very simple trim.
Today, the exterior has been restored to its original state, with the exception of the rear ell addition, the remainder of the chimney, and other small changes such as the concrete foundation and asphalt roof shingles. Inside, the two original rooms and openings still exist, but significant historic alterations and the deterioration of the ceiling have masked the original appearance of the interior.

View from southwest (1992)

View from southeast (1992)
