Former Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railroad Passenger Train Station

Stryker Depot, Stryker Ohio

Date added: September 17, 2024

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The Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railroad, which built the Stryker Depot in 1900, to replace an earlier frame structure destroyed by fire, apparently predicted continued growth for the town. In fact, Stryker's rapid growth made it one of the so called "big towns" along the route and thus the recipient of a substantial brick and stone railroad station. The town later languished. However, the Stryker Depot remains as important visual evidence of the high hopes which both the railroad and local citizens had for their town.

Rail service through Stryker dates from 1855, when the Michigan Southern took over the ailing Northern Indiana Railroad and built its famous "Air Line Route" through northwestern Ohio into Indiana, where it joined existing rail lines to Chicago.

The coming of the railroads brought about a rise in population throughout Williams County as well as increased availability to markets for the county's agricultural and manufactured products. This growth and prosperity resulted in a building boom in communities where the railroads stopped. The 1920 History of Williams County included portions of an 1855 newspaper article stating that "This place (Bryan) is growing very rapidly since the Air Line Railroad is completed from Toledo. Some thirty new buildings have been completed within three weeks … A large and commodious eating house is to be built the coming season, and the timber is cut and framed at Stryker, seven miles east of this place … "

By 1857 the first passenger service was established and the first printed timetable was in use. The 135 mile trip from Toledo to Elkhart, Indiana took just nine hours, a major improvement at a time when roads throughout northwest Ohio were impassable much of the year.

The Civil War brought increased traffic on the railroad. As a result a number of new and larger depots were built. In addition, for the first time passenger and freight service was handled in separate facilities. The nearby Bryan passenger depot dates from this period (1867). Though no exact date has been confirmed, it is likely the original Stryker passenger depot was built sometime after 1874.

In 1869 the Michigan Southern and Northern Indiana merged with the Lake Shore Railroad and became the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern. Takeovers and expansion also eventually spelled the end of the L.S.M.S. In 1914 it was absorbed by the vast Vanderbilt railroad empire and became part of the New York Central system.

At the turn-of-the-century Stryker, located in the center of a rich agricultural district, showed substantial growth and increased population brought on by increased business, agricultural, and shipping activity due to the railroad.

Because of a booming area economy, the destruction of the earlier depot may have simply accelerated the process of depot replacement slated for the "big towns" along the Lake Shore route. Ironically, it was a series of disastrous fires that also spelled the end of Stryker's dreams of continued growth and expansion. Both a boat oar factory (the town's major employer) and a tannery chose not to rebuild after they were destroyed by fire.

In an age of high speed travel and high tech communication it is difficult to appreciate or understand the role of the railroad and the town depot in the daily life of small town America during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. For many, the railroad was their only contact with the outside world. In fact, for many years "country depots" were the only places to send and receive telegrams.

Like airports today, there was usually an aura of excitement and anticipation at the depot. Travelers arrived and departed frequently, bidding farewell or greeting loved ones. For some a trip on the railroad was the highlight of their life. Those who could not afford to travel often lived the experience vicariously. At Stryker and at other stations along the Lake Shore line, a favorite pastime of villagers was to "meet the train. Town and country folk alike participated, driving their buggies (and later their automobiles) to the station to watch the trains come and go.

There were plenty to watch. As early as 1879, over 6,000 passengers passed through the Stryker depot. As late as World War II, eighty trains a day still traveled the Lake Shore line.

Declining passenger service in the 1950's spelled the end of the Stryker depot as an active railroad station, a scene that was repeated in countless places across the country. After being vacant for several years the building was purchased by Buzz and Marnie Osborn and converted into an antique shop. This shop later closed. In 1985 Erie Sauder, a local philanthropist, purchased the depot and gave it to the Village of Stryker. The village is currently refurbishing the depot and will maintain it as an office and community center.

Some interior alterations are necessary in order to bring the building up to current building codes and to accommodate the handicapped. However, the current adaptive reuse will enable the Stryker depot to continue to be used as a public space, in historic function for which it was intended.

The Stryker Depot was evaluated locally against the Wauseon Depot, the only other surviving brick and stone depot on the former "Air Line Route." Built approximately four years earlier, the Wauseon Depot is nearly identical in plan. Exterior features are similar, including the brick and stone wall treatment, roof type, eaves, brackets or braces and windows. The major exterior difference is the type of brick used. A traditional-size red brick was used in the Wauseon Depot. The floor plans and interiors of the two buildings are similar. However, the highly polished Mahogany stained tongue and groove paneling of the Stryker Depot give it a more elaborate appearance.

The building is constructed of sandstone and brick and contains both large and small waiting rooms, a separate baggage area and combination ticket and operators office. The depot's 72' x 26' dimensions place it in a "class one or two" category of standardized depot designs. Such buildings were normally intended for county seat towns where the population, commerce and corresponding passenger service supported the larger facility.

Distinctive characteristics of the Stryker Depot include its brick and stone wall treatment, deep set window placement, wide overhanging hip roof supported by knee braces and a capped parapet gable with a palladian window. The Roman brick may reflect the increasing popularity of Frank Lloyd Wright's Prairie Style by 1900, while the other major features of the building suggest both the increasing standardization of depot construction and the possible influence of late Victorian era Richardsonian Romanesque architecture adapted to the needs of the railroad.

Building Description

The Stryker Depot is located on Depot Street, in the center of the original plat of the village of Stryker, Williams County, a northwestern Ohio community of 1423.

The depot is a rectangular structure 72 feet x 26 feet and is an unusually elaborate example of a traditional depot design.

The Stryker depot sits on a sandstone foundation with a beveled watertable. The lower one-third of the walls consist of alternating smooth and rusticated sandstone, capped with a rounded or beveled stringcourse. The upper two-thirds of the walls are buff, Roman brick, with sandstone quoins and sills framing all windows and doors. Stacked sandstone blocks also separate paired windows on opposite ends of the building.

The hip roof has wide overhanging eaves supported by beveled timbers joined at a diagonal (sometimes referred to as a lap joint) and fastened with square wooden pegs. Also supporting the eaves and the timbers, are larger knee braces mounted on sandstone bases cantilevered from the walls. The eaves have a tongue-and-groove paneled soffit. The outside edge of the eaves is covered with aluminum siding. The roof is covered with slate on the north side and replacement asphalt shingles on the south side.

The front or south side of the roof has a parapet gabled dormer with brick face and palladian style windows framed in sandstone. The stone framing the central arched window includes a keystone which extends to the sandstone cap of the parapet. The rear or north side of the roof includes a large off-center chimney trimmed in brick and sandstone. There are crockets at each end of the roof ridge.

The six bay front or south elevation has a symmetrical fenestration and includes a central observation bay window flanked by matching single panel doors with a single large pane. The windows are one over one double-hung and include Elizabethan style leaded glass in the smaller upper portion of the window. The doors are in turn flanked by similar large paired windows. The only variation is the presence of stylized dentils on the window head just below the meeting rail. One-over-one double-hung windows with leaded glass are also found on the other three elevations.

The two bay east elevation has two one-over-one windows while the two bay west elevation includes a single one-over-one window with a double-six panel door (the baggage room entrance).

The eight bay north or rear elevation is similar to the south elevation. The only difference is the presence of two small single glaze windows instead of the bay window. All windows are covered with wood and plexiglass storm windows added recently to protect the leaded glass.

The depot is divided into a large and small waiting rooms, baggage room, ticket office with access from both waiting rooms (apparently because the large waiting room was closed off during the winter months) and two restrooms. There is also a quarter basement, which is entered through a door in the floor. Outside openings originally provided for coal delivery and ash removal. Though now closed off, the coal chute and arched opening on the opposite wall still provide evidence of these earlier basement functions.

The main feature of the interior is the mahogany stained, pine, tongue-and-groove paneling which covers the walls and coved ceiling. The vertical wall paneling is divided at the top of the window surrounded by a narrow cornice molding. From there it extends another eighteen inches to the bottom edge of an entablature crown molding with cornice, dentils and plain frieze. This molding serves as a transition from the wall lines to the ceiling. The coved portion of the ceiling is covered with horizontal paneling, divided at the corners with vertical molding and further defined with a smaller entablature crown molding at the ceiling level.

Entablature door and window surrounds repeat the ceiling theme. However, the vertical portion of window and door casings also include single rectangular recessed panels. A six-panel solid wood door separates the small and large waiting rooms.

A small alcove or hall separates the two waiting rooms and is defined by a horizontal molding with recessed panels and brackets projecting from the walls.

Other interior features include original hardware, locks and decorative metal fixtures, ticket office countertop with bracketed supports, original "ticket office" lettering and early light fixtures probably installed when the depot was wired for electricity. The glass chandeliers are of recent vintage.

The depot has undergone only minor alterations. They include: replacement of slate with asphalt shingles on the south side of roof; replacement of hot water heating with forced air system; updating of wiring, lighting, plumbing and heating to meet current codes; and replacement of some interior sills in main waiting room.

Additional changes are now being made in preparation for the depots adaptive reuse as a village office and community center. They include the installation of new restrooms, construction of an outside entrance to the basement and handicap ramps at the new (formerly the rear) main entrance. Some woodwork, including two door surround cornices, have been replaced. A new door was also installed between the two waiting rooms.