On Thanksgiving Day, 1905, the citizens of Kingstree, South Carolina, had something special for which to give thanks. That afternoon, passenger train No. 50 made its inaugural stop at the brand new Atlantic Coast Line (ACL) Depot, located at the Main Street Crossing.
The Kingstree Train Depot as it looked shortly after its completion.
Photo courtesy Williamsburgh Historical Museum
Trains had come through Kingstree since the railroad opened in 1856, providing village residents with a lifeline to the outside world as goods came to town on the train, local farmers shipped their produce to northern markets, and everyone who could afford a ticket was able to travel to nearby towns or even farther away for shopping or for visiting friends and relatives.
Capt. Conrad Constine told the story that when the very first train was scheduled to come through town, a large crowd gathered on Main Street to watch it. Capt. Isaac Nelson reportedly joined the throng which had, as it was raining, gathered under several umbrellas. Capt. Nelson "cautioned" the group to put the umbrellas down as they "might frighten the engine." Several people immediately complied while others snickered at their gullible neighbors.
An unidentified gentlemen poses with his horse in front of the depot.
Photo courtesy Williamsburgh Historical Museum
The Kingstree Depot at that time was located in a rough, wooden building about a mile north of the one opened in 1905. It was on the east side of the tracks just north of today's Brooks Street. However, as Kingstree's commercial district developed, businessmen found that the depot was not easily accessible, and its location at the edge of town made it an easy target for burglars. In December 1896, the safe in the Southern Freight Office's section of the depot was blown open with dynamite, and the building was broken into on numerous occasions in the late 1890s, early 1900s. In 1901, burglars made off with a crate of oranges and took the time to open a box of cheese and chisel out a portion, presumably for a snack.
By the early 1900s, residents began circulating a petition to encourage the ACL to move the depot to the Main Street crossing. There were, however, others who did not look kindly on a move, and for a time those in favor of and those against moving the depot lobbied their fellow townspeople to sign their respective petitions.
Construction of the 144.2'-by-40' building began in the spring of 1905 and was completed by early summer. However, as a long freight track and an even longer pass track were also under construction, the ACL didn't move depot operations to the new location until November, causing County Record editor C.W. Wolfe to comment on October 5, "The new depot is quite satisfactory to the town from an architectural standpoint, but for all practical purposes, we are no better off than before it was built." During this time, a 40-foot cotton platform was added to the south end of the building.
The cotton platform was well-used during the early days of the depot.
Wagons loaded with cotton wait in line to unload at the depot.
Photos courtesy Williamsburgh Historical Museum
Local citizens narrowly averted disaster when, on October 10, 1905, sparks from a passing locomotive ignited a pile of shavings beneath the newly-constructed wooden platform. If these observant citizens had not noticed the blaze and extinguished it, there was little doubt that serious damage to the cotton platform would have resulted before the depot even opened.
The original wooden platform on the south end of the depot has been
replaced by a deck that provides outdoor seating for The Front Porch restaurant.
Photo by Linda Brown
The depot brought more people to Main Street, some to do business, some to watch the trains. In late 1906, two tragic accidents happened within weeks of each other. On Sunday afternoon, December 9, nine-year-old Courtney Kirk, son of local attorney Robert Kirk, was standing on the main line watching a freight train come into the pass track as passenger train No. 51 came into the station behind him. The passenger train, although moving slowly, hit him, knocking him from the track. His head hit a cross-tie on the pass track as he fell, killing him. Courtney, who was born in Copenhagen, Denmark, while his father served as U.S. Counsul to that country, is buried at the Baptist Cemetery at the other end of Main Street. As the town mourned this loss, on December 31, the No. 50 passenger train struck Austin Hines several hundred feet below the station, fatally injuring him. Hines, 55, a former ACL cook on the work train, had lived in Kingstree about two years.
The Kingstree sign on the depot.
There were comic moments associated with the depot, as well. In September 1907, ticket agent, J.P. Taylor, was surprised when he heard a commotion in the ticket office and came out of a back room to find a cow standing at the ticket window. The owners of the People's Market were driving a herd of 30 beef cattle through town when this maverick broke away and wandered in through the open ticket office door. Taylor kept his cool, and after securing a length of rope was able to lasso the errant cow. How he managed to get it turned around and out of the office was not reported in the newspaper. The paper did report that the incident attracted a large crowd of laughing people to the depot.
The depot was a busy place in the early part of the 20th century. In addition to passenger arrivals and departures, much freight was shipped and received. In 1909, over 3,000 bales of cotton grown by local farmers were shipped from Kingstree. That same year a number of farmers experimented with truck crops to see what would bring in more cash. This experiment resulted in 20-freight car loads of green beans shipped from Kingstree that summer.
The Kingstree Depot in summer and winter.
Photos by Linda Brown
But times change, and as road conditions improved, and trucking became more prevalent, the depot ceased to be the town's main shipping hub. Eventually, the Town of Kingstree acquired the building from CSX, and while AMTRAK still stops in Kingstree four times a day, the depot itself, aside from a passenger waiting room, was converted to other uses.
Various restaurants have occupied the southern end of the station since the 1980s. In August 2017, Tonya Moore opened The Front Porch restaurant in the space. She named it The Front Porch in tribute to her late father who spent many hours sitting on the front porch of his home, and her memories of him are centered on the porch. Currently the restaurant is open Tuesday through Friday from 11-2 for lunch and 5-9 for supper. It is also open on Sundays for lunch from 11:30-2. It is available for special events on Saturdays.
The Front Porch restaurant offers Southern cooking at the Kingstree depot.
For a number of years, the Williamsburg County Chamber of Commerce, later re-named the Williamsburg HomeTown Chamber, maintained offices in the depot. The chamber moved to Academy Street during the depot's last renovation, and on January 1, 2018, the depot became the official home of the Main Street, Kingstree program. It seems particularly fitting that this 113-year-old building, once the town's commercial hub, now houses the office of an organization charged with finding ways to bring new life and businesses to downtown Kingstree.
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