MassachusettsThe Chatham Railroad Depot at 153 Depot Road, now home to the Chatham Railroad Museum, is the only remaining railroad station on Cape Cod in its original condition and a good example of late-19th-century Queen Anne/Stick Style architecture. Built in 1887 by builder David Howes for the Chatham Railroad Company and Old Colony Railroad Company, the 1.5-story, gable-roofed depot has a hexagonal rear tower, molded stringcourses, bracketed eaves, and 2/2 sash windows. The rail line, which ran seven miles connecting Chatham to the Old Colony main line at Harwich, boosted the town's tourist trade and shifted its economy away from saltwater trades and agriculture; passenger and freight service ended in the 1920s-30s and the Chatham Railroad Company went bankrupt in 1937, but the depot was saved from demolition when purchased by Mrs. Phyllis Graves Cox in 1959 and opened as a museum in 1960.
Chatham Railroad Depot
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Chatham Railroad Depot is a landmark in Chatham, Barnstable County. It is one of 6,558 landmarks documented in Barnstable County, among 6,897 historic sites cataloged across the county on MassRoam.
The site sits at 41.6857, -69.9616 near Chatham. The nearest cataloged historic site is Bearse, Horace D. - Thomson, Robert House (landmark), about under a tenth of a mile away. Others within a short drive include Nickerson, Joseph W. Building, Eldridge, Edwin F. House, and Old Harbor Cafe.
This record is drawn from public historical records. Use the map below for its exact position and turn-by-turn directions.
The Chatham Railroad Depot on Depot Road was built for the Chatham Railroad, which opened between Harwich and Chatham in November 1887 and was quickly leased to the Old Colony Railroad. The 1½-story wooden station, distinguished by an octagonal tower forming a trackside bay window, served until passenger service ended in 1931 and freight in 1937, when the branch became the first Cape Cod line to be abandoned. Saved from demolition, it was purchased in 1959 and reopened in 1960 as the Chatham Railroad Museum, and it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.
Sources: en.wikipedia.org
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