The Central Railroad Hotel

The Central Railroad Hotel, built by the railroad company in the late nineteenth century across the tracks from the present Red Caboose, stood among a grove of trees and became famous along the railroad line for excellent management and quality food, especially spoonbread. Each day at noon, when northbound train No. 12 and southbound train No. 13 met at Central, porter John Stokes, wearing a snow white coat, rang a large dinner bell and welcomed passengers to the dining room with the promise of blackberry pie and fresh Seneca River salmon. After guests were served, waiters customarily moved among the tables asking if they wanted more. The south part of the building contained the large dining room and hotel rooms, while the north end held a ticket office, passenger waiting room, and the railroad office. The hotel burned on June 8, 1936, at 10 p.m., and, according to the Greenville News, the three-story frame structure made a tremendous blaze, but lack of wind and recent rain prevented damage to other structures. The hotel was fortunately unoccupied because the Southern Railroad Company had it for sale. Just west of the hotel entrance stood the Central Railroad Water Tank, where, when a train stopped to take on water, a fireman pulled down a discharge pipe, extended it to the proper track, and pumped water into the locomotive's tender tank.

Central, South Carolina · United States