Thurmond Depot

The Chesapeake and Ohio (C&O) Railway built the Thurmond depot in 1904 to handle passengers and freight, mostly coal, replacing an earlier depot that had burned the year before. Because the railroad was the only practical way in and out of New River Gorge, rail traffic through the gorge was heavy; by 1906 there were 36 rail stops in 53 miles, and Thurmond was the busiest. During its heyday the depot was active throughout, with 20 passenger trains stopping each day at one time, and an estimated three million people passing through between 1910 and 1950. In 1910 alone, it served 76,000 passengers. The long, narrow building reflected the limited space between the mainline tracks and the riverbank, with passenger areas downstairs and offices upstairs, including the office of track supervisor Mr. William Bennett in 1906. The C&O closed the Thurmond offices in 1984, and the National Park Service restored the depot and opened it as a visitor center in 1995.

West Virginia · United States