Sewanee's Train Depots
In the early years, the railroad and its depots formed the heart of the commercial center of Sewanee. For many years in fact, that area was often referred to as the “Depot village.” Beginning in the mid-1850s this branch line, known locally as the Mountain Goat, brought goods and people up to the Mountain and connected the Mountain to a major railroad line.
The first depot at the Sewanee station was constructed by August 1860. It was described as a building of rough-hewn logs. The depot was reportedly rebuilt after the Civil War and by 1868, this freight depot also housed the Tomlinson store. The refounding of the University of the South following the Civil War generated significant growth in Sewanee and in 1869 the depot platform was extended 15 feet. An 1872 newspaper noted that the Sewanee railroad agent could also receive and deliver packages. The depot also housed the telegraph office.
Beginning in 1877, the local newspaper started advocating for a new depot. For the next several years these requests, along with some strongly worded commentary appeared with regularity. A July 1878 article stated, “...we need a new depot. The old building is a disgrace. It is old, ugly, and unsafe. The platform is worn out in places....” Over the years, the papers refer to the depot as an “old rattle-trap” and in October 1879 a writer claims, “...we could wish it burnt down. Anyhow we shall continue to pray for the lightning to strike it, at any time that our good-natured friend, the agent, is not in.”
Unfortunately, a new depot did not come until 1890. In their summer meeting, the University’s Board of Trustees thanked the railroad company “...for having erected a handsome StationHouse at Sewanee station....”
Both the freight and passenger depots stood on the north side of the railroad tracks, located in what is today the middle of Highway 41A. The wooden passenger depot stood in front of the building known as SHENANIGANS while the stone freight depot was next to the building occupied by TAYLOR'S.
University administrators began asking for a new station in 1916 and the railroad promised money to at least make improvements. However, that likely never happened because just a few months later the railroad began decreasing passenger trains due to World War I policies. Then the construction of the Dixie Highway in the early 1920s brought a safer road down the Mountain, and with it, a decreased reliance on the rail line. Regular passenger train service was discontinued in 1926 although the depots still functioned for freight and as stations for the passengers riding in the cabooses of the freight trains or using a bus service connecting to the railroad in Cowan.
By the time the highway bypass around the University was constructed in the 1960s, rail service was no longer an essential part of Sewanee life. Both the freight and passenger depots were razed for the bypass; however a new stone depot building was constructed as a replacement. This depot, which was placed on the south side of the railroad tracks, opened in 1964. It currently stands on the southeast corner of US Highway 41A and University Avenue.
By the early 1970s, the depot was so under-used that the railroad was considering subleasing the building. However, once it was no longer being used for railroad purposes, the depot was to revert back to the University. It housed a bait shop for a while and then found new purpose as a pharmacy. Beginning in 1982, the depot building served as the location for the newly formed Sewanee Drug Company, under the ownership of pharmacist Frank Brown. The pharmacy changed hands in 1985 and was owned and operated for twenty years by pharmacist Doug Dye. Known as the Sewanee Pharmacy, it was bought out by CVS and closed at the end of 2005. The most recent occupant, a salon called the Hair Depot, operated from 2011 until 2022. The University of the South now owns the building.
The railroad, which at its height ran 3-4 trains a day with both coal and passenger cars, stopped running freight trains in 1984 and this branch line was officially abandoned on May 1, 1985. In 1986 the tracks were removed, leaving the stone building as a depot without a rail line. The Mountain Goat Trail would be developed later where the tracks had been.
Mandi Johnson
Director, William R. Laurie University Archives & Special Collections
July 1, 2022
Photos courtesy of Horry Parker and the University Archives