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Terminal Station (Macon, Georgia)

{{Short description|Train station in Macon, Georgia}}

{{Use American English|date=March 2024}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2024}}{{Infobox station

| name = Terminal Station

| symbol_location =

| symbol =

| type =

| image = Terminal Station from Cherry St.jpg

| alt = View of Terminal Station from Cherry Street

| caption = View of Terminal Station from Cherry Street

| address = 200 Cherry St, Macon, Georgia

| borough = Macon-Bibb County

| country = United States

| coordinates = {{coord|32|50|1.557|N|83|37|34.7658|W|display=inline,title}}

| owned = Macon-Bibb County Transit Authority

| operator =

| transit_authority = Macon-Bibb County Transit Authority

| line =

| distance =

| platforms =

| tracks =

| train_operators =

| connections =

| structure = At-grade

| parking = At street level, on either side of the station

| bicycle =

| accessible =

| architect = Alfred T. Fellheimer

| architectural_style = Beaux-Arts

| code =

| zone =

| website = {{URL|http://mta-mac.com/terminal-station}}

| opened = 1916

| closed = 1971

| passengers =

| pass_year =

| pass_rank =

| services =

| other_services_header = Former services

| other_services_collapsible = yes

| other_services = {{Adjacent stations|system1=Central of Georgia Railway|line1=Main|left1=Macon Junction|right1=Griswold|line2=Lockhart-Macon|left2=Rutland|line3=Macon-Athens|right3=Ocmulgee Bridge|system4=Seaboard Air Line Railroad|line4=Macon, Dublin and Savannah Railroad|right4=Smithsonia|system5=Southern Railway|line5=Chattanooga-Jacksonville|left5=Holton|right5=Reid|system6=Georgia Railroad|line6=Camak-Macon|right6=Postell}}

| mapframe = yes

| mapframe-custom = {{Maplink|frame=yes|plain=yes|frame-align=center|frame-width=300|frame-height=180|zoom=12|type=point|marker=rail}}

| nrhp = {{Infobox NRHP

| embed = yes

| name = Macon Historic District (Boundary Increase)

| nrhp_type =

| image =

| caption =

| location= Roughly, Adams St. and Linden Ave. S, W and N of Tattnall Sq. and Broadway and Third Sts. between Poplar and Pine Sts., Macon, Georgia

| locmapin = USA Georgia

| built = {{Start date|1871}}

| architecture = Queen Anne, Bungalow/craftsman, Art Deco

| added = July 27, 1995

| area = {{convert|91|acre}}

| refnum = 95000233{{NRISref|version=2013a}}

}}

}}

Terminal Station, Macon, Georgia, is a railroad station that was built in 1916,{{cite web| url=http://railga.com/Depots/macon.html| title=Macon Terminal Station| website=Georgia's Railroad History & Heritage}} and is located on 5th St. at the end of Cherry St. It was designed in the Beaux-Arts style by architect Alfred T. Fellheimer (1875–1959), prominent for his design of Grand Central Terminal in New York City in 1903. The station building is part of the Macon Historic District, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.{{cite web| url={{NRHP url|id=95000233}}| title=National Register of Historic Places Registration Form: Macon Historic District (revised)| publisher=National Park Service| page=16| date=June 27, 1995| access-date=December 8, 2015}} While no longer an active train station, it has been the location of the Macon Transit Authority bus hub since 2014.{{cite news |last1=Gaines |first1=Jim |title=MTA gets Terminal Station |url=https://www.macon.com/news/article30134529.html |access-date=30 May 2022 |work=The Macon Telegraph |date=16 July 2014}}{{subscription required}}

Early history

Col. Robert L. Berner, a prominent Macon attorney and former state legislator, filed a petition on September 28, 1912, with the Georgia Railroad Commission, asking that the railroads calling at Macon be required to erect an adequate union passenger station in Macon. His efforts culminated in the construction of Terminal Station, which was officially opened in 1916.Terminal Station Opens, April 6, 1917, The Macon Telegraph, Macon, Georgia

The Terminal Station building has a limestone exterior, with the main lobby and waiting areas having floors and walls of pink Tennessee marble.{{cite web| url=http://railroadstrains.blogspot.com/2010/02/macon-georgia-terminal-railroad-station_10.html| website=Railroadstrains blog| title=Macon Georgia Terminal Station| first=John| last=Pluta| date=April 25, 2013}}

Terminal Station encompassed 13 acres and was owned by the Macon Terminal Company. By the mid-1920s, the station dispatched an estimated 100 arrivals and departures per day. The station was served by the Georgia Railroad, Central of Georgia Railway, Macon, Dublin and Savannah Railroad, and Southern Railway.{{cite book|title=Official Guide of the Railways|date=June 1941|publisher=National Railway Publication Company}}

File:Terminal Station, at night, Macon, Georgia (8368122138).jpg

The last trains running from there were the Royal Palm (1970) and the Nancy Hanks (1971). The final run of the Nancy Hanks on April 30, 1971, ended 125 years of intercity rail service in Macon.{{cite news|url=http://www.mindspring.com/~teeth/caution/aboard0123.htm|title=She burnt the wind: Last ride of the Nancy Hanks|last=McKay|first=Archie |newspaper=The Macon Telegraph|date=May 1, 1971|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19990901173744/http://www.mindspring.com/~teeth/caution/aboard0123.htm|archive-date=1999-09-01|url-status=live|location=Aboard the Nancy}}

A bronze statue of William Morrill Wadley was erected outside the station in 1885, three years after his death.{{Cite journal |last=Stewart |first=Dorothy Houseal |date=Spring 1994 |title=Survival of the Fittest: William Morrill Wadley and the Central of Georgia Railroad's Coming of Age, 1866-1882 |journal=Georgia Historical Quarterly |publisher=Georgia Historical Society |volume=78 |issue=1 |pages=39–65 |issn=0016-8297 |jstor=40582984}}

= Notable trains =

The Central also operated a Birmingham - Columbus - Savannah night train through the station in the early 1950s.{{cite journal |title=Central of Georgia Railway, Table 4|journal=Official Guide of the Railways |publisher=National Railway Publication Company |volume=84 |issue=7 |date=December 1951}}

Recent history

After almost sixty years of service, Terminal Station closed in 1971, and the building remained unused. In 1982, it was purchased by Georgia Power Company and utilized as offices until the 1990s. The City of Macon purchased the Terminal Station in 2002, and funded the restoration of the building. The city council voted in 2014 to give the property to the Macon Transit Authority.

Greyhound Lines announced in July 2019 that it was moving its existing operations in Macon to the Terminal Station. The stated goal for the move was to bring passengers more local transportation options, namely the Macon Transit Authority's bus hub.{{cite news |last1=Kousouris |first1=Abby |title='It's all here in the same building:' Greyhound station relocates to Macon Transit hub |url=https://www.13wmaz.com/article/news/greyhound-station-relocates-to-macon-transit-hub/93-75c3b023-c5a7-4161-91ae-8e4b6b7ce0e8 |access-date=29 May 2022 |work=13wmaz.com |date=31 July 2019}}

In 2020, the Terminal Station was used as a filming location for scenes from the award-winning Amazon series The Underground Railroad.{{cite news |title=Upcoming Amazon series 'The Underground Railroad' features scenes at Macon's Terminal Station |url=https://www.13wmaz.com/article/news/local/upcoming-amazon-series-the-underground-railroad/93-70e41979-efb8-48b0-bea7-7f3cbf38d4bf |access-date=26 May 2022 |work=13wmaz.com |date=11 May 2021}}

Brosnan Yard

Occupying the former Central of Georgia shop complex just southwest of the Terminal Station is Norfolk Southern's Brosnan Yard. The rail yard was opened in 1967 and named after William Brosnan, then president of Southern Railway.{{cite news |last1=Kovac Jr. |first1=Joe |title=You may have never seen it, but Macon's Brosnan Yard is a railroad wonder |url=https://www.macon.com/news/local/article179352196.html |access-date=7 January 2023 |work=The Macon Telegraph |date=17 October 2017}}{{subscription required}} In 2020, it was announced that Brosnan Yard was one of several yards being idled, as part of Norfolk Southern's transition to precision railroading.{{cite news |last1=Stephens |first1=Bill |title=Norfolk Southern to idle its sixth hump, at yard in Macon, Ga. |url=https://www.trains.com/trn/news-reviews/news-wire/norfolk-southern-to-idle-its-sixth-hump-at-yard-in-macon-ga/ |access-date=26 May 2022 |work=Trains.com |date=8 October 2020}}

References

{{Reflist}}

External links

{{commons category|Terminal Station (Macon, Georgia)}}

  • [https://www.mta-mac.com/terminal-station/ Official website]

{{Macon, Georgia}}

{{National Register of Historic Places}}

Category:Railway stations in the United States opened in 1916

Category:Former railway stations in Georgia (U.S. state)

Category:Railway stations on the National Register of Historic Places in Georgia (U.S. state)

Category:1916 establishments in Georgia (U.S. state)

Category:1975 disestablishments in Georgia (U.S. state)

Category:National Register of Historic Places in Bibb County, Georgia

Category:Railway stations in Macon–Bibb County, Georgia

Macon

Macon

Category:Repurposed railway stations in the United States

Category:Railway stations in the United States closed in 1975