Southern - Whitesburg Depot

Southern Depot_Whitesburg.jpg

Whitesburg, Tennessee is located in Hamblen County between Russellville and Bulls Gap.  The railroad came to Whitesburg in 1856.  In The Morristown Gazette Mail, dated March 8, 1959, Kate Davis Weesner told Howard Hill that her father, Pleasant Johnson Davis, was the first station depot agent for ETV&G railroad at Whitesburg.  It was during his tenure that the "modern system of telegraphy was established, the Morse Code."  Called a "typical railroad family," Davis taught the code to his sons.  Upon his death, his son, William Hezekiah Davis became the depot agent.

J. B. White was listed as the Depot Agent in the June 1862 edition of the Tri-Weekly Banner.

This photograph of the Whitesburg Depot was taken in the 1890s.  The depot features vernacular construction with Gothic Revival style influence, sided with horizontal planking and raking eaves extending down from the roof.  A prominent chimney is visible on the roof.  A semaphore signal is on the left.  A planked walkway is visible with steps leading down to the tracks.  The name of the depot is featured prominently on the upper portion of the side wall.  

As was the custom at the time, numerous people have come to watch the train as it approaches the station, while others wait to catch the train.  

In an article in the May 10, 2020 Citizen Tribune entitled "Back When," Jim Claborn stated:

With the arrival of the railroad in Whitesburg in 1856, the town already had two taverns, a saloon, a livery stable, and one or two churches. By 1870 Whitesburg was larger than Morristown with many business places around the town square and the train depot.

A centennial celebration book, Historic Hamblen, credits the railroad for turning a territory from agricultural into a village with business centered arount the town square and the depot.

 

Whitesburg Train Timetable 1879.jpg

The East Tennessee, Virginia, and Georgia Railroad announces train arrival and departure times in the June 12, 1879 edition of The Whitesburg Times.

In 1929, the building of Highway 11E, and the Great Depression, brought more changes to the town of Whitesburg.  The new highway provided a more direct route to the county seat, and the business district soon followed the highway and traffic for the railroad shifted and forever changed the face of Whitesburg.

In July, 1957, the Morristown Gazette Mail announced that Southern Railway was authorized by the Tennessee Public Service Commission to dismantle the Whitesburg depot, which, with the exception of shipments, had not been used since May 16, 1938.  The article stated that the building "is fast deteriorating, is of no more advantage to the citizens of the community, and is becoming a nuisance."  

Southern - Whitesburg Depot