National Register of Historic Places

Old A.C.L. Union Depot

Palatka, Putnam County, Florida
Listed
February 25, 1988
Type
Building
Period
Civil War
Ref No.
88000162

About this property

Palatka station is an Amtrak train station in Palatka, Florida. It is served by the daily Floridian and Silver Meteor trains. The 1908-built station houses the Palatka Railroad Preservation Society and the David Browning Railroad Museum. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1988 as Old A.C.L. Union Depot. The station was built in 1908 for the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad (ACL) and was constructed in the Richardsonian Romanesque style. It served as a union depot for the ACL's Jacksonville-Tampa-Sarasota mainline as well as for the Florida Southern Railway and the Georgia Southern and Florida Railway. In addition to local service to Sarasota, the station served the ACL's West Coast Champion (New York City – Sarasota). Until 1936, the station also served passenger trains operated by the Florida East Coast Railway, whose trains crossed the St. Johns river over a railway bridge in Palatka. This railway bridge was removed in the 1950s. In 1914 the station began to serve the short-lived Ocklawaha Valley Railroad. In 1988, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places. In 1971, most passenger service in the United States was transferred to Amtrak, however Palatka had its stop discontinued. In 1976, Amtrak decided to reinstate the stop at Palatka, under a trial period. They would later add Palatka as a permanent stop in 1979. In November 2021, the US Department of Transportation awarded $1.5 billion in RAISE discretionary grants for infrastructure projects around the nation. One such grant awarded $8.2 million to fund the development of the A. Philip Randolph Regional Multimodal Transportation Hub. Under this redevelopment, the station's platform will be lengthened to accommodate a baggage area and raised to meet accessible requirements, and allow bicycles to be loaded and unloaded at the station. Other improvements around the station include resurfacing the roadway, installing new accessible-compliant sidewalks and curb and gutter designating bike lanes, and adding other accessory safety improvements in the project area. On November 10, 2024, the Silver Star was merged with the Capitol Limited as the Floridian. The station is home to the David Browning Railroad Museum, operated by the Palatka Railroad Preservation Society. The museum features a model train layout, historic documents, photographs, maps, signs and railroad artifacts. Media related to Palatka (Amtrak station) at Wikimedia Commons Palatka, FL – Station history at Great American Stations (Amtrak)

Location

200 N. Twelfth St.
Palatka, Putnam County, Florida
29.64956, -81.64038

Categories

TRANSPORTATION
National Register nomination ›
Sources

Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).

Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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Nearby Historic Sites

Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church
Industrial
0.3 mi
Central Academy
Industrial
0.4 mi
Palatka South Historic District
Listed
0.5 mi
Larimer Memorial Library
Industrial
0.6 mi
Palatka North Historic District
Listed
0.6 mi

Questions about this property

When was Old A.C.L. Union Depot listed on the National Register?

Old A.C.L. Union Depot was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on February 25, 1988.

What type of historic resource is Old A.C.L. Union Depot?

Old A.C.L. Union Depot is classified as a building in the National Register of Historic Places.

What is the period of significance for Old A.C.L. Union Depot?

The period of significance for Old A.C.L. Union Depot is recorded as the civil_war era.

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