The Central Railroad Hotel

The Central Railroad Hotel. . Across the railroad tracks from the present Red Caboose once stood a long rambling hotel among a grove of trees built by the railroad company in the late nineteenth century, known as the Central Railroad Hotel. The hotel was famous up and down the railroad line due to its excellent management and reputation for quality food, spoonbread being one of the hotel's specialties., When northbound train No. 12 and southbound train No. 13 met every day at Central at noon, the passengers were greeted by a porter named John Stokes. Stokes would wear a snow white coat and would start ringing a large dinner bell and welcoming everyone to the dining room saying, “Come right in ladies and gentlemen, this is where you get blackberry pie and fresh Seneca River Salmon.” It was custom that once the guests were served, the waiters passed among the tables and said, “Please sir, will you have some more.”, The south of the building housed the large dining room and hotel rooms. The northern end of the building encompassed a ticket office, passenger waiting room and the railroad office., The Central Railroad Hotel burned on June 8, 1936 at 10 p.m. in the evening. The building, according to the Greenville News, was a “three-story frame structure and made a tremendous blaze. The lack of wind and the recent rain kept other structures from being damaged.” Fortunately, the hotel was unoccupied, as the Southern Railroad Company had the building on the market for sale., [Sidebar] , The Central Railroad Water Tank was located just west of the entrance to the Railroad Hotel. When a train stopped to fill its water tanks, a fireman would pull down a discharge pipe, extend it to the proper track and pump water into the locomotive's tender tank., Though the water tank is no longer standing today the concrete footings can be found beside the railroad track adjacent to the intersection of Church and Main streets in downtown Central., Captions , [Center, top] The Central Railroad Hotel and water tank looking south (pre-1936). , [Center, bottom] Train passengers and hotel guests outside the Central Railroad Hotel., [Right] The Central Railroad Hotel, 1920.