Former Bangor and Aroostook Railroad Train Depot
Oakfield Station, Oakfield Maine
- Categories:
- Maine
- Railroad Facility
- Passenger Station
Oakfield's former railroad passenger station is the most significant extant building associated with the community's once important position astride the Bangor and Aroostook Railroad. Opened in 1912, the station served in its original capacity until 1961 when passenger service was eliminated along this rail corridor. In addition to its association with Oakfield's development as a railroad center, the relatively intact station exhibits the architectural features of a number of similar structures located along the Bangor and Aroostook Railroad.
The small rural community of Oakfield became an important Aroostook County railroad center by virtue of its location at the junction of two important rail lines. In 1893, the Bangor and Aroostook Railroad completed a main line from Brownville via Oakfield to Houlton, and a few years later a line was built between Oakfield and Ashland. A depot was constructed at Oakfield during this period but it was subsequently moved to Smyrna Falls when the present one was built. Oakfield became an incorporated municipality in 1897, a positive sign of its increased economic importance. In 1900, 860 persons resided in the community and there were two general stores and four small manufactories. By 1912 there were nearly 1,000 inhabitants.
Construction of the station coincided with the development of the Bangor and Aroostook Railroad's large freight classification yard in Oakfield. Situated at the southern end of this yard, the depot served a busy schedule which by 1930 included sixteen daily passenger trains. Following the demise of passenger rail service the station was utilized by maintenance personnel. In 1986, it was given to the Oakfield Historical Society who converted the building to a museum.
The construction of relatively small wooden frame depots accompanied the ex- tension of the Bangor and Aroostook rail lines. A comparison of these structures clearly shows the development and use of two nearly standard depot forms.
Stations built during the 1890s in Crystal and Oakfield. (the building that was later moved to Smyrna Mills), for example, made use of gable on hip roofs with broad overhanging eaves, vestibules and shed-roofed dormers. This general arrangement, with the elimination of the dormer, was also employed for stations built during the 1890s and 1900s at Frankfort, Milo and Patten.
Oakfield's second station, while clearly a member of the group, varies from the others in the use of pent gables over the vestibule and the gable on hip roof at one end. Stations with pent gables surmounting the vestibules and gable roofs were built at both Eagle Lake and Wallagrass, but the Oakfield depot represents an unusual combination of the two owing, perhaps, to its late construction date. Within this context Oakfield Station is clearly a significant example not only of the typical Bangor and Aroostook depot but also as a singularly unique type blending the salient architectural features of earlier forms.
View from southeast (1987)
