Zwolle was founded through the railroad vision of Kansas City Southern entrepreneur Arthur E. Stilwell and the financial backing of Dutch coffee merchant Jan De Goeijen, who helped extend the line through Arkansas and Louisiana. Long before the railroad arrived, the area had been settled by Native American, Spanish, and French families, and the community's hospitality influenced De Goeijen to establish a railroad station here instead of at Clyde, then the trade center. He named the town for his birthplace, Zwolle, Holland, and helped finance its founding. On July 14, 1896, Teofilo "T." Laroux, a community leader and descendant of the early families, donated 20 acres to the KCS for a depot and townsite, and on Oct. 15, 1896, Paul M. Potts donated another 22.05 acres. The Arkansas Townsite Company developed the townsite, and the official charter was granted on June 12, 1898. The original depot opened at Zwolle Station on Oct. 26, 1896, and served until the present depot was reconstructed by the KCS about 1914. The linear clapboarded building has gabled eaves, bungalow-style brackets, a freight area occupying more than half the depot with a platform and wide doors, two beaded-board rooms with a ticket window between them, and a long freight and baggage area. The railroad brought new prosperity and changed the town's future, allowing Zwolle to flourish as a transportation center for lumber, oil, and cotton. Though it no longer functions as a railroad depot, it remained important to the town's history; the KCS gave it to the Town of Zwolle on Dec. 23, 1970, it was placed on the National Register of Historic Places on Aug. 7, 1989, and in 2000 James Q. Salter used it as his office while writing Zwolle, Louisiana: Our Story.