Excerpt from Historic Furnishings Report: Thurmond Passage Depot and Offices, New River Gorge National River, Thurmond, West Virginia

The Thurmond Passenger Depot and Offices Historic Structure Report [hereafter cited as Historic Structures Report] covers the evolution of the depot's interior and exterior spaces in a very detailed manner, so only a summary will be provided here. However, during research for this report four additional floor plans for the depot were discovered: a plan showing both the first and second floors, 1926 (revised in a detail of the men's and women's downstairs bathrooms, 1940; a plan of the first floor, ca.l944; and a partial plan of the first floor, 1947. These floor plans support this report's conclusion that the internal layout of the Thurmond Depot (aside from two modern partitions in the waiting rooms built very recently) has existed as it appears now since ca.1930. These newly discovered floor plans are included in Appendixc.

Altogether, nine floor plans exist which encompass the period from 1904 to 1947. All were produced as the result of either proposed or completed alterations to the depot's interior. Because of fewer alterations to the second floor the majority of the plans deal with the first floor only. Although at times inconclusive, these plans are invaluable in tracing the evolution of the depot's interior partitions. The following summary of the structural history is largely derived from these floor plans contained in the Historic Structures Report.

The present Thurmond Depot was constructed during 1904 and 1905 on the site of an earlier depot which was destroyed by fire in 1903. The depot which burned in 1903 was constructed ca.1897. This earlier depot was probably a standard single story depot and freight house with an octagonal telegraph cabin centered on top, like a number of others along the Chesapeake and Ohio [hereafter cited as g&oj in the New River Gorge. The only published photograph of the old depot (ca.l9oo) shows an octagonal signal tower located a third of the distance down the structure's length instead of being centered, which was the standard procedure. This could mean that a section was added after original construction due to increasing demand for a larger facility. There was also a sizable building between the depot and the river which housed railroad offices and possibly handled freight. This building was also destroyed in the fire of 1903 and rebuilt at the same time as the depot.

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