The Virginian Railway Roanoke Passenger Station

The Virginian Railway reached the Roanoke area later than the city’s other railroad and grew from the Deepwater Railway in the hills of West Virginia. In 1902, Henry Huttleston Rogers entered the railroad business by helping acquire the Deepwater, and in 1904 he formed the Tidewater Railway to connect with it and create a mine-to-market line to Norfolk, financing construction from his own fortune. His era was known for “nothing but the best,” and the Roanoke passenger station reflected that standard. Rogers made a single tour of the completed line on April 4-7, 1909, then died at his New York home on April 18, 1909, at age 69, before seeing the railroad’s full development. Built in 1909-1910 as the Virginian Railway’s Roanoke showpiece, the station had a design unique to the railroad and served passenger trains until the last run on January 29, 1956. It then housed offices until the merger with the Norfolk and Western on December 1, 1959, and afterward was leased to a private concern until January 29, 2001, when a fire nearly destroyed it. Restored by 2016, it once again stands as the most visible part of the Virginian in Roanoke and honors former employees and others who made its preservation possible.

Roanoke, Virginia · United States