Trains first reached Clinton in the late 1850s through the Knoxville & Kentucky Company, but they were destroyed during the Civil War. The first train then passed through Clinton in 1869, operated by the Knoxville & Ohio Company, which was eventually sold to the Southern Railway. These rail lines were crucial to the county's growing coal & timber business. Across the street from the depot stood Southern Railway Park, where citizens gathered every Sunday. At peak operation, 45 to 50 trains passed through Clinton daily, 8 of them passenger trains. The current depot, the second or third on this site, was built around 1914-1915.