The railroad station is among the most threatened of American architectural forms. Perhaps less than ten percent of our extant stations are used for their original function. Many that are not abandoned now serve new uses. Temporarily closed to passenger service in 1993, Danville’s Southern Railway Passenger Depot found new life as a branch of the Science Museum of Virginia, with one waiting room refurbished for Amtrak passenger service. The elongated structure, decorated with fancy stepped gables, recalls the Renaissance architecture of the Low Countries. It was designed by Frank P. Milburn, and completed in 1899, serving a principal stop on the Southern’s Washington-to-Atlanta route. The depot burned in 1922 and was rebuilt within its original walls in modified form. A central tower was not reconstructed and the interior was simplified. The Danville Southern Railway Passenger Depot is now owned by the city of Danville, and contributes to the listed Danville Tobacco Warehouse and Residential District.
Many properties listed in the registers are private dwellings and are not open to the public, however many are visible from the public right-of-way. Please be respectful of owner privacy.
Abbreviations:
VLR: Virginia Landmarks Register
NPS: National Park Service
NRHP: National Register of Historic Places
NHL: National Historic Landmark
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Programs
DHR has secured permanent legal protection for over 700 historic places - including 15,000 acres of battlefield lands
DHR has erected 2,532 highway markers in every county and city across Virginia
DHR has registered more than 3,317 individual resources and 613 historic districts
DHR has engaged over 450 students in 3 highway marker contests
DHR has stimulated more than $4.2 billion dollars in private investments related to historic tax credit incentives, revitalizing communities of all sizes throughout Virginia