Seaboard Air Line Railway Depot
National Register Listing
Street Address:
1100 West DeKalb Street (US Highway 1), Camden, SC (Kershaw County)
Alternate Name:
Amtrak Depot
NRHP Nomination
Record Number:
S10817728018
Description and Narrative:
The Seaboard Air Line Railway Depot is significant as a representative example of a mid-twentieth-century railroad station and for its role in the economic development of the local area. By the late 1930s the volume of passenger traffic in Camden had increased markedly, leading Seaboard officials to build a new station. The brick, one-story station, built at a cost of $30,000 by the Wadesboro Construction Company of Wadesboro, North Carolina, was a replica of the Seaboard station at Williamsburg, Virginia. It replaced the original Seaboard freight and passenger depots in Camden, which dated to 1900. The new station opened on November 25, 1937, and was a gala affair. The building has undergone no significant alterations since its construction and retains historical appearance and integrity. The design of the station reflected contemporary trends in architectural style and the functional requirements of small-town railroad depots. The influence of the Colonial Revival style was evident in exterior details such as quoins, gable-end pediments with bold, decorative medallions, and the symmetry of overall design. A passenger shed over 400 feet long, reputedly “one of the longest on the Seaboard system,” was erected at trackside in the rear of the building. The arrangement of the interior space made clear the building’s fundamentally utilitarian role. As soon as it entered operation, the new station immediately assumed a place at the center of civic affairs in Camden. Listed in the National Register June 2, 2000.
Period of Significance:
1937
Level of Significance:
Local
Area of Significance:
Transportation;Architecture
National Register Determination:
listed
Date of Certification:
June 2 2000
