Hopkinsville L & N Railroad Depot

The L & N Railroad Depot in the Hopkinsville Commercial Historic District of Hopkinsville, Kentucky is a historic railroad station on the National Register of Historic Places. It was built by the Louisville & Nashville Railroad in 1892.[2]

Hopkinsville L & N Railroad Depot
LocationHopkinsville, Kentucky
Coordinates36°51′49″N 87°29′7″W
Built1892
NRHP reference No.75000745[1]
Added to NRHPAugust 1, 1975

The year 1832 saw the first of many attempts to woo a railroad to Hopkinsville. This first attempt was to connect Hopkinsville to Eddyville, Kentucky. In 1868 Hopkinsville finally obtained a railroad station, operated by the Evansville, Henderson, & Nashville Railroad. The Louisville & Nashville Railroad acquired the railroad in 1879.[3]

The Hopkinsville depot is a single-story frame building with a slate roof. It has six rooms: a Ladies Waiting room (the room closest to the street), a General Waiting Room, a Colored Waiting Room, a baggage room (the furthest room from the street), a ticket office (the only room which connected to all three waiting rooms), and a ladies' restroom. Immediately outsides were warehouses for freight, usually tobacco.[4]

Its last long distance train was the Louisville and Nashville's Georgian, last operating in 1968.[5]

During its operating years, the Hopkinsville depot was a popular layover spot for those traveling by train. It was the only Louisville & Nashville station between Evansville, Indiana and Nashville, Tennessee where it was legal to drink alcohol. Hopkinsville got the nickname "Hop town" due to train passengers asking the conductors when they would arrive at Hopkinsville, so they could "hop off and get a drink".[6]

The Hopkinsville L & N Railroad Depot was placed on the National Register of Historic Places on August 1, 1975. It is now used by the Pennyrile Arts Council. The organization was founded in 1977 to promote culture in the Hopkinsville area. CSX, which bought out the Louisville & Nashville, still run trains on the tracks next to the depot, but do not stop.[7]

References
  1. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. April 15, 2008.
  2. Prairie Bluestem: Hopkinsville's Railroad
  3. "Railfanning in Hopkinsville, Ky". Archived from the original on 2008-05-10. Retrieved 2008-06-07.
  4. Berg, Walter. Buildings and Structures of American Railroads (J. Wiley & Sons, 1893) pg.334,335
  5. Georgian at 'American Rails' https://www.american-rails.com/georgian.html
  6. Rennick, Robert. Kentucky Place Names (University Press of Kentucky, 1984) pg.144
  7. Pennyroyal Arts Council - Hopkinsville, KY
Preceding station Louisville and Nashville Railroad Following station
Kelly
toward St. Louis
 St. Louis – Nashville Casky
toward Nashville
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