Built in 1857 by the L&N as both a passenger and freight depot, this brick building served Lebanon as the railroad’s first branch line terminus, with freight handled in the rear, passenger and ticket functions in the front, segregated waiting rooms downstairs, and offices upstairs. The train ran into the rear of the building, where it was unloaded and left overnight, and the old track remained. During Gen. John Hunt Morgan’s attack and capture of the town on July 5, 1863, Colonel Chas. S. Hanson, USA, used the depot as his headquarters while defending the town. Twenty-six shells struck the roof, but the lower part of the building was not seriously damaged; after Col. Hanson’s surrender at 1:20 p.m., Gen. Morgan set the building on fire, burning the roof, floors, and partitions while leaving the walls standing and largely undamaged. The L&N restored it by rebuilding the interior frame while leaving the exterior essentially as it had been. The line was extended to Knoxville in 1865, and in 1884 the company bought an old hotel across the tracks for its express and passenger department; in 1865 the railroad also added a brick-columned overhang on the north side of the old brick depot, later removed. In 1962, correspondence from L&N officials cited company records showing the structure as built in 1857 and repaired as needed, supporting the conclusion that the depot remained the original building except for its renewed interior. The track was abandoned in 1991 and removed soon afterward, the depot was vandalized and burned in 1992, C.S.X then tore down the remaining walls, and efforts have been made to rebuild the structure.