Constructed in 1891 as a union depot for the East Tennessee & Western North Carolina Railroad, nicknamed “Tweetsie,” and the East Tennessee, Virginia & Georgia Railroad, the building served as a passenger railway terminal until 1940. From 1912 until 1930, it served ET & WNC only. The narrow gauge ET & WNC Railroad was a construction marvel along its mountainous 60-mile route between Johnson City, Tennessee and Boone, North Carolina.