South Carolina Historic Preservation Award
Myrtle Beach Train Depot, Myrtle Beach
City of Myrtle Beach
Myrtle Beach All Aboard Committee
A. Dale Gilliland, Architect
Each year the Office of the Governor, the Palmetto Trust for Historic Preservation, and the South Carolina Department of Archives and History recognize exceptional accomplishments in the preservation, rehabilitation, restoration, and interpretation of our architectural and cultural heritage. On March 31, 2005, Dale Gilliland and a select few were recognized at the eleventh annual South Carolina Historic Preservation Awards ceremony.
National Register Properties in South Carolina
The Myrtle Beach Atlantic Coast Line Railroad Station, constructed in 1937, is significant for its role in the transport of passengers and materials into Myrtle Beach during its early period of growth and prosperity, as an unusual variant of the standard rail-road station used by the Atlantic Coast Line (ACL) Railroad during the first half of the twentieth century, and for its association with the Myrtle Beach Farms Company, who was responsible for the construction of the station and for the development of Myrtle Beach into a vacation destination in the early and mid twentieth century.
The Myrtle Beach Farms Company was organized in 1912 and was a major factor in the development of Myrtle Beach from a naval stores operation into a thriving beach community because of their large land holdings. In 1936 the company entered into a land exchange with the ACL Railroad in which the company was responsible for constructing the new depot and then relinquishing ownership to the railroad.
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The Palmetto Trust for Historic Preservation is an excellent source for understanding the need for restoring our historical structures in South Carolina.
This one-story rectangular building was constructed with the standard ACL bi-level floor plan that has a raised freight room with steps leading down to the lobby/office area. However, the exterior architectural detailing, reflecting Colonial Revival, Craftsman, and Mission stylistic influences, is much more elaborate than other ACL Railroad stations in the south. The station has a hipped roof, brick bearing walls, a stepped parapet roof in the square bay, nine-over-nine windows, concrete sills, a decorative belt course above the windows, scroll sawn rafter ends and a large roof overhang with open eaves.
In 1999 when the abandoned and deteriorated building was threatened with demolition, the Myrtle Beach All Aboard Committee came to its rescue. The Committee obtained National Register listing for the depot and, working with the City, raised more than $650,000 in grants and private donations to restore the structure and improve the site with parking facilities, lighting, and landscaping. Today the old depot serves as a community center. Listed in the National Register July 22, 2002.
The National Register of Historic Places