Kershaw Depot

National Register Listing

Street Address:

Cleveland St., Kershaw, SC (Lancaster County)

Alternate Name:

Southern Railway Depot

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NRHP Nomination

Record Number:

S10817729022

Description and Narrative:

(Southern Railway Depot) The Kershaw Depot, built in 1926, is significant both as an intact example of early twentieth-century depots built in South Carolina and for its association with the transportation of passengers and freight on the Southern Railway from about 1926-1940. It was the second or third depot built in Kershaw, which developed in the 1880s after railroad service was introduced to that section of Lancaster County. This depot replaced an earlier passenger and freight depot/cotton platform that burned in 1926. Its primary use was to handle passengers; it also handled cotton, cottonseed and cotton oil products from nearby farms and cotton oil mills, and textiles from nearby textile mills. The interior plan is basically intact with a central ticketing area flanked by white and “colored” waiting areas. Men’s and women’s lounges and restrooms are located in the south end, adjacent to the white waiting area. Storage and loading areas are located at the opposite end and have been divided but this has not permanently damaged its integrity. Details such as beaded-board paneling on the ceilings and walls, and the ticket counter, are intact. The Southern Railway sold the depot to the present owners in 1945. It has since been used as a florist and craft shop. Listed in the National Register February 16, 1990.

Period of Significance:

1926

Level of Significance:

State

Area of Significance:

Architecture

National Register Determination:

listed

Date of Certification:

February 16 1990

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