Built by the Louisville & Nashville Railroad in 1892, Hopkinsville’s Rail Depot between East 9th and 10th streets last served as a home for the Pennyroyal Arts Council — before an electrical fire forced the organization to relocate.
In the four years since passed, the picturesque National Register of Historic Places property has remained dormant and virtually unattended, lending to a state of disrepair. Its paint chips in every corner and window. Its floors are dusty and covered with discarded items. Its foundation remains questionable.
And this has some Christian County and Hopkinsville citizens concerned.
Margaret Macdonald, a retired English teacher and school librarian, is one of many who remain active in a “Save our Hopkinsville L&N Depot!” Facebook group now more than 900 followers strong. In September 2021, she and well-regarded local historian William Turner brought a number of discussion points to the table of Hopkinsville City Council.
Now, at the start of 2023, she’s ready to open the table for talks again, hoping city and county officials might be willing to help with the cost of stabilizing the foundation.
Macdonald said an undisclosed proprietor in west Kentucky remains “sincerely interested” in locating a business inside its walls — perhaps an eatery of some type — but a great number of options could be on the table for the quaint spot. After all, it is a single-story frame building with six rooms. It could be a bike shop, a museum, a book store, an office, or perhaps once again a travel hub for downtown Hopkinsville, as rail continues to reinvent itself in the 21st century.
The insides can change, but its outside integrity must remain.
Whatever it potentially becomes, Macdonald issued it can’t become anything without at least some modicum of assistance of city and county funds injecting life into a property once brimming with it.
Two things that may have prevented leadership from making the property a priority in the last four years, Macdonald said, include COVID-19 and a pair of election years — all of which made budgets trickier to manage.
CSX, which buzzes by with supply chain goods on the regular, has paid the city of Hopkinsville $400,000 to close four sparsely-used streets, and she said those monies could serve as a strong start to any fiscal efforts.
Macdonald also said that local taxpayers might not take issue with city and county appropriations, especially if a prospective business gets involved.
Earlier this week, Macdonald said she sent out an email to a number of the depot’s supporters — asking about what the next steps need to be for its restoration. Is there enough support for a GoFundMe account, in order to energize donors dedicated to the cause? Are city and county leadership, most of which has changed to new faces, interested in this endeavor? Are there any grant measures that can help defray the costs?
She said she wants everything on the table.
Petitions to “save the depot” reportedly now have more than 1,200 signatures. A link to the online version can be found at: petition: Save Our Historic Hopkinsville L&N Train Depot (thepetitionsite.com).
