The Virginian Railway Passenger Station was constructed in 1909, the year that the Virginian Railway completed track from coalfields in West Virginia to Sewells Point at Hampton Roads. Henry Huddleston Rogers financed the Virginian Railway when it became apparent that he would not succeed John D. Rockefeller as the head of Standard Oil. Construction of the Virginian Passenger Station in Roanoke began within two months of completion of the line. The brick, hip-roofed, passenger station with Tudor Revival detailing was in service until the mid- to late 1950s, when passenger service was discontinued and the line and facilities were merged with the Norfolk & Western Railway. Damaged by fire in 2001, the Virginian Passenger Station was rehabilitated with the use of state and federal tax credits.