Berea Union Depot

The Berea Union Depot is a train station in Berea, Ohio, United States, which was built in 1876.[2] As the railroad facilities through town grew, there was a demand in the early 1870s by developers and townspeople for a new passenger and freight station. When it was dedicated on May 3, 1876, The Plain Dealer called it "the finest facility outside the big cities."[3] As a union station, it served the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway and the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railway, both of which became part of New York Central Railroad. It ceased to serve as a railway depot in 1954. In 1980, the building was restored as a restaurant and gathering place.[4]

Berea
Location30 Depot Street
Berea, Ohio 44017
Coordinates41.3810°N 81.8545°W / 41.3810; -81.8545
Operated byCleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati and Indianapolis Railway (1876 – 1889)
Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railway (1876 – 1914)
Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railway (1889 – 1930)
New York Central (1914 – 1954)
Tracks5 (current)
Other information
Websitehttps://www.bereadepot.com
History
Opened1876
Closed1954
Former services
Preceding station New York Central Railroad Following station
Olmsted Falls
toward Chicago
 Main Line Linndale
toward New York
Terminus Old Main Line West Park
toward Nottingham
West View
toward St. Louis
 Big Four Route Main Line Linndale
toward Cleveland
West View
toward Cincinnati
 Cincinnati – Cleveland (Big Four)
Berea Union Depot
Location30 Depot St., Berea, Ohio
Coordinates41°22′52″N 81°51′16″W
Arealess than one acre
Built1876
Architectural styleGothic
NRHP reference No.80002976[1]
Added to NRHPNovember 21, 1980

Built of sandstone with elements of slate,[5] the depot is a Gothic Revival structure with Victorian-influenced components. Both the sandstone and the styling are uncommon in northeastern Ohio, where masonry depots were typically brick, and where wooden stations outnumbered masonry.[2]

Critical to the station's establishment was Berea's stone-based economy; in the late nineteenth century, the city's sandstone quarries were the world's largest, and a typical day in the 1880s saw eighteen trains at the station.[2] One century later, the depot was named a historic site: it was added to the National Register of Historic Places in November 1980, qualifying because of its place in local history and because of its historically significant architecture.[1]

Platform sign originally from Cleveland Union Terminal

References
  1. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. March 13, 2009.
  2. Owen, Lorrie K., ed. Dictionary of Ohio Historic Places. Vol. 1. St. Clair Shores: Somerset, 1999, 191-192.
  3. "Berea Union Depot". Waymarking. Retrieved 26 October 2019.
  4. Ohio Historic Marker, 2003, Berea Historical Society and the Ohio Historical Society. (Marker Number 43-18.)
  5. Berea Union Depot, Ohio Historical Society, 2007. Accessed 2014-02-11.
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