The city of Hopkinsville is preparing to sell the historic L&N Train Depot as surplus property.
The iconic downtown building, constructed in 1892, has been in a state of structural decline for several years, and city officials estimated more than a year ago that the building required at least $2 million for restoration.
Sealed bids will be accepted at the Hopkinsville Municipal Center until 10 a.m. Wednesday, Oct. 23. At that time, the bids will be opened.
“The Depot is registered with the National Register of Historic Places and a requirement for purchasing the building will include keeping the historical and architectural appearance of the depot preserved and maintained,” the city notice states.
The notice does not include any requirement that bidders explain how they would preserve the “historical and architectural appearance” of the building. But it does state, “The City has the right to reject any all bids.”
The building has been vacant since a small fire on Jan. 15, 2019, forced the Pennyroyal Arts Council staff to move its headquarter out of the building.
Since then, people without housing have frequently used the concrete apron around the depot’s perimeter as a place to sleep. Personal belongings, blankets, shoes and trash are often left around the building.
A group of local residents interested in saving the depot as a historic site began meeting with city officials several years ago but were not able to lobby enough support for the city to attempt the costly work.
They created a Facebook page, Save our Hopkinsville L&N Depot!, to share updates and seek support.
Retired librarian Margaret Macdonald, one of the organizers, wrote in an Aug. 25 Facebook post:
“At the City Council Committee of the Whole meeting on Thursday [Aug. 22] there was some discussion with regard to investors in the depot as a potential business site.
“Almost 3,000 people have expressed their support through this FB page, the paper petition, and a designated FB petition that I established a couple of years ago. I think that kind of support is remarkable.
“Let’s hope our beautiful building will become a place that we all can be proud of and enjoy. There is so much potential! Let’s do what we can to save our historic buildings. We have so many — more than most small cities! That is something to be proud of!”
In January 2023, two men who have construction businesses in Hopkinsville bought the L&N Freight Station — which is across the tracks and on the other side of East Ninth Street from the passenger depot — for $165,000 at auction. The Hopkinsville Water Environment Authority had owned the freight station and used it as a storage facility but sold it after it was no longer needed. The new owners also use it for storage.
The historical significance of both the passenger depot and the freight station is rooted in stories of travel and commerce. The depots connected Hopkinsville to the rest of the country.
Christian County Historian William T. Turner previously told Hoptown Chronicle that the passenger depot was the hub of Hopkinsville activity in the first half of the 20th century. A dozen passenger trains passed through the city daily, and up until about 1950, most merchandise sold in local stores arrived here on a rail car.
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In the early 1900s, when several prominent thoroughbred farms dotted the countryside, valuable yearlings and the grooms who cared for them were placed on railcars bound for auction on Saratoga, New York.
News came to town on the trains, printed on newspapers, written in letters and delivered in person by travelers.
“Anything residents ordered from a catalog came on a train, either by freight or in the mail,” Turner said. “All of the mail came on the train. Newspapers, too. Every day the post office sent a truck to the depot. The railroad station was the center of the town. People came just to see who was getting on and who was coming off.”
The depot’s survival has been a concern for decades. In a story he reported on various Hopkinsville preservation projects in 2001, former Kentucky New Era editor David L. Riley wrote, “The loss of passenger train service here in 1971 left many petrified that the town’s beloved passenger depot would be razed.”
Additional information about the sealed bid process for the depot is available from Gary Ruebush, the budget officer, at 715 S. Virginia St., P.O. Box 707, Hopkinsville, KY 42240. His phone number is 270-890-0247.
Jennifer P. Brown is co-founder, publisher and editor of Hoptown Chronicle. You can reach her at editor@hoptownchronicle.org. Brown was a reporter and editor at the Kentucky New Era, where she worked for 30 years. She is a co-chair of the national advisory board to the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, governing board past president for the Kentucky Historical Society, and co-founder of the Kentucky Open Government Coalition. She serves on the Hopkinsville History Foundation's board.
