Bunkie station is an historic
train station
A train station, railway station, railroad station or depot is a railway facility where trains stop to load or unload passengers, freight or both. It generally consists of at least one platform, one track and a station building providing suc ...
in
Bunkie, Louisiana
Bunkie is a city in Avoyelles Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 4,171 at the 2010 census.
History
Bunkie was founded as a station terminus on the Texas and Pacific Railroad line. It was named for the daughter (whose nickname w ...
.
History
The
Texas and Pacific Railway
The Texas and Pacific Railway Company (known as the T&P) was created by federal charter in 1871 with the purpose of building a southern transcontinental railroad between Marshall, Texas, and San Diego, California.
History
Under the influence of ...
established a station on the main line at Bunkie in 1882. A town formed around it as a shipping point for cotton and cotton-related industries such as cotton seed oil production. The current depot, built in 1911, is not the original freight depot, but is the only existing reminder of the importance of the railway to the founding of Bunkie.
[ With .]
The 1911 depot is a two-story brick building alongside the railroad tracks in downtown Bunkie. Of no particular architectural style, the building sits on a heavily stuccoed
dado and has a distinctive bay window overlooking the tracks. It is one of only three remaining larger multi-story urban train depots in Louisiana built in the early 20th century, the others are the
Central Railroad Station in
Shreveport
Shreveport ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Louisiana. It is the third most populous city in Louisiana after New Orleans and Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Baton Rouge, respectively. The Shreveport–Bossier City metropolitan area, with a population o ...
, and the
Kansas City Southern Depot in
DeQuincy.
[
]
Later years
Though the building has gone through several changes over the years, it remains easily identifiable as a train depot. The depot was listed on 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 ...
in 1991 as the Texas and Pacific Railroad Depot. It was remodeled in 2001 and houses a small railroad museum and the headquarters of the Bunkie Chamber of Commerce.[
]
References
See also
* National Register of Historic Places listings in Avoyelles Parish, Louisiana
Railway stations on the National Register of Historic Places in Louisiana
Railway stations in the United States opened in 1911
National Register of Historic Places in Avoyelles Parish, Louisiana
Bunkie
1911 establishments in Louisiana
Former railway stations in Louisiana
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