The North Creek Railroad Depot

The North Creek Railroad Depot. . , The Depot is a fine architectural example of the typical rural railroad station of the late 19th century. The original one room depot, built in 1871, was abandoned and the present depot was built with platforms fitted with two bays to accommodate stagecoaches and freight wagons. The freight house was built in 1903. The depot is part of the railroad complex which consists of the ticket depot, freight house, engine house, tool house, 90 foot turntable, sand tower and stagecoach stables. To the north of the freight house was the ice house, water tank, a grain shed, a coal shed, a lumber platform and a garnet shed and platform. , The depot is a simple, rectangular, gable-roofed building with broad overhanging strut-supported roof. The exterior of the “stick style” building is covered with vertical boards with batten strips, a decorative element referred to as “carpenter gothic revival”. The only strong decorative elements are the “hoods” over the depot’s windows and doors which come from the contemporary Italianate influences of the period. At the depot’s south end, a gable-roofed open pavilion was added in 1880. Like the station, this porch is executed in the “stick style”, with notched rafter ends and an “egg and dart” decorative border at the gable end. The roof is covered in cedar shakes. Early photographs indicate that the “egg and dart” motif also decorated the roof crest at one time. In 1890 this addition was partially enclosed to become a separate ladies waiting room. , An analysis of paint samples indicated that the station’s exterior was painted a light brown called “Johnsburg Brown”, a paint made locally, using clay as a pigment. The label molding was painted green and the tall narrow window sashes red.