Yarmouth station of

Yarmouth, Maine Yarmouth is a town in Cumberland County, Maine, United States, twelve miles north of the state's largest city, Portland. When originally settled in 1636, as North Yarmouth, it was part of Massachusetts, and remained as such for 213 years. In 1849, ...

, is located on the east side of the railroad tracks, just south of Maine State Route 115, the town's Main Street. The railroad station was built in 1906 by the

Grand Trunk Railroad The Grand Trunk Railway (; french: Grand Tronc) was a railway system that operated in the Canadian provinces of Quebec and Ontario and in the American states of Connecticut, Maine, Michigan, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont. The rail ...

, and is a well-preserved example of an early 20th-century passenger rail depot, an increasingly rare sight in the state. The building, which is now in commercial use, was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

on July 10, 1979.

Description and history

Yarmouth's former Grand Trunk station stands just south of SR 115, on the east side of the

Maine Central Railroad The Maine Central Railroad Company was a U. S. Class I railroad in central and southern Maine. It was chartered in 1856 and began operations in 1862. By 1884, Maine Central was the longest railroad in New England. Maine Central had expanded to w ...

tracks. (The

Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...

'' Downeaster'' service between

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: * Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States * Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...

and Brunswick runs on the

Boston and Maine Railroad The Boston and Maine Railroad was a U.S. Class I railroad in northern New England. Originally chartered in 1835, it became part of what was the Pan Am Railways network in 1983 (most of which was purchased by CSX in 2022). At the end of 1970, B ...

line, which crosses this track just to the north. It does not stop in Yarmouth.) The station is a single-story wood-frame structure, set on a high granite block foundation. It has a hip roof and clapboard siding, and is roughly rectangular in shape, with small projecting sections on the either side, and a semicircular northern end. The roof has extended eaves, in a form typical of many railroad stations, with the eaves supported by large decoratively-cut brackets. The station was built in 1906 by the

Grand Trunk Railway The Grand Trunk Railway (; french: Grand Tronc) was a railway system that operated in the Canadian provinces of Quebec and Ontario and in the American states of Connecticut, Maine, Michigan, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont. The rai ...

as a passenger depot on its line between Portland and

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

. (There were three lines in total at the time of the station's construction.) It is architecturally unique in Maine, particularly for its high granite base, apsoidal curved end, and departure from more traditional Stick style architecture. The Yarmouth Village Improvement Society purchased the station from the Grand Trunk's successor

Canadian National Railway The Canadian National Railway Company (french: Compagnie des chemins de fer nationaux du Canada) is a Canadian Class I freight railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, which serves Canada and the Midwestern and Southern United States. CN i ...

for $500 in 1968 to save it from demolition. It housed a florist until February 2018, when it was put on the market for $165,000. It is now occupied by a branch of Gorham Savings Bank."Bank plans ‘concierge’ setup at Yarmouth depot"
- ''Portland Press Herald'', October 4, 2018 The

apsidal In architecture, an apse (plural apses; from Latin 'arch, vault' from Ancient Greek 'arch'; sometimes written apsis, plural apsides) is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical vault or semi-dome, also known as an ''exedra''. In ...

form of its northern end is found in no other Maine station.''Maine's Historic Places'', Frank Beard (1982) The waiting room for the station stood on the land now occupied by Hancock Lumber (formerly Yarmouth Market) and

Bank of America The Bank of America Corporation (often abbreviated BofA or BoA) is an American multinational investment bank and financial services holding company headquartered at the Bank of America Corporate Center in Charlotte, North Carolina. The bank w ...

, as denoted by a plaque in the flowerbed of the properties.

References

{{National Register of Historic Places Railway stations on the National Register of Historic Places in Maine Railway stations in the United States opened in 1906 Transportation buildings and structures in Cumberland County, Maine Commercial buildings in Yarmouth, Maine

National Register of Historic Places in Cumberland County, Maine Former railway stations in Maine

Description and history

See also

References