Depot burns (Seneca, Westminster: lease, home, train)

On the night of Tuesday 17 January 2006, the former Southern Railway depot in Westminster burned in a fire that probably was not arson-caused. The 10:30 p.m. fire on Main Street was extinguished about 2:30 a.m. with the 1916-era structure gutted but still standing. Fire departments from several nearby communities responded to the blaze. The depot housed the Westminster Chamber of Commerce office and has been the home of the South Carolina Apple Festival for 45 years.

Passenger service at the station ended April 30, 1972 and the freight agent was replaced by a mobile agency out of Seneca, S.C. on April 2, 1973. The citizens of town had rallied to preserve the historic building which faces the business district and in 1976 it was named a National Historic site. The depot had witnessed the passing of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's funeral train in 1945, the American Freedom Train in 1976, and President George H. W. Bush's campaign train in 1992.

The town owns the building but pays a $600 lease to the Norfolk Southern railroad who owns the land. It is unclear how this may affect a rebuilding effort.

Mark Sublette
Falls Church, Virginia