Huntington station, also known as Heritage Station, is a historic
railroad depot located at
Huntington,
Cabell County, West Virginia
Cabell County is a county located in the U.S. state of West Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 94,350, making it West Virginia's fourth most-populous county. Its county seat is Huntington. The county was organized in 1809 and ...
.
History
It was built in 1887, by the Huntington and Big Sandy Railroad, later the
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad
The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad was the oldest railroads in North America, oldest railroad in the United States and the first steam engine, steam-operated common carrier. Construction of the line began in 1828, and it operated as B&O from 1830 ...
. The former passenger station is two stories and constructed of brick with a
slate
Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous, metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade, regional metamorphism. It is the finest-grained foliated metamorphic ro ...
roof and two chimneys. The former baggage section to the east is one story. The front facade of the former passenger station features a bay window extending from the basement to the roof and dividing it into two sections. At the rear of the passenger station is the former freighthouse. The freighthouse is a brick building with a slate roof completed in 1890, and expanded in 1897, 1911, and 1916.
It was listed on the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...
in 1973 as the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Depot.
Present Day
The complex includes an original steam engine with a "Pullman" train car, an outdoor performance area, and a building that used to house one of Huntington's first banks—which was the easternmost bank robbed by the
James-Younger Gang. Heritage Station was turned into a shopping center called "Heritage Village" during the 1970s. For decades, the station sat hidden and virtually unused just two blocks from the city center, until Create Huntington got involved in 2006. Today, Heritage Station is an artisan retail complex, with locally owned shops, and home to public events like the annual
Diamond Teeth Mary
"Diamond Teeth" Mary McClain (born Mary Smith, August 27, 1902 – April 4, 2000) was an American blues and gospel singer and vaudeville entertainer, whose career as a performer extended from the 1910s to the 1990s.
Biography
Smith was born ...
Blues Festival, named for the blues singer born in the town.
In 2025
Nomada Bakery, located in Heritage station, was ranked as the top cake shop in the United States by
USA Today
''USA Today'' (often stylized in all caps) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth in 1980 and launched on September 14, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headq ...
.
Gallery
See also
*
References
External links
Railway stations on the National Register of Historic Places in West Virginia
Railway stations in the United States opened in 1887
Buildings and structures in Huntington, West Virginia
National Register of Historic Places in Cabell County, West Virginia
Former Baltimore and Ohio Railroad stations
1887 establishments in West Virginia
Former railway stations in West Virginia
{{WestVirginia-railstation-stub