SOUTH WINDHAM – Not wanting to let a piece of history slip through its hands, the Windham Historical Society is considering all options regarding an old train depot located in South Windham.

Made aware about three weeks ago that a local developer had purchased the 1-acre parcel on which the depot and two other buildings sit, the society has been working quickly to figure out how to salvage the depot.

The building, located on Depot Street near the intersection of High Street, was built in 1909 as part of the Maine Central rail line, says Linda Griffin of the society.

The 50-foot-long by 15-foot-wide wooden structure features a classic train depot look, complete with overhanging roofline, wainscoting, rooftop window and prominent, L-shaped roof brackets.

The building is owned by Jim Cummings, who recently purchased an acre near the corner of Depot and High streets from the owners of the adjacent Keddy Mill, Lumas Inc.

Cummings, who intended to raze the decrepit depot but supports the society’s salvage efforts, is in the process of obtaining Planning Board permission to build a 12-unit condominium project on the site. He said that would require the removal of three buildings, including the depot.

“If they can find some use for it, I’d be happy for them,” Cummings said.

However, with a contracted time frame and after having a chance to gauge the condition of the building, the society’s original plan of moving the depot to the group’s Village Green project in Windham Center might be impossible.

“Jim will let us have it. He wishes we would move it and take it away. But we may have to take salvage if we can’t move it fast enough,” said Griffin. “But there isn’t much left. It’s very shabby. So we’re trying to figure out how to proceed.”

Griffin has had three moving companies come to assess the cost of hauling the building up Route 202 about five miles to the Village Green. Bids range from $20,000 to $25,000. That is a major investment, Griffin said, especially when the society has major fundraising projects it is pursuing, revolving around the Village Green, which aims to create a miniature version of the Old Sturbridge Village adjacent to the society’s headquarters at the intersection of Route 202 and Windham Center Road.

Though the building poses some challenges, Griffin said, the society isn’t giving up.

“There are very few railroad depots left and it’s an endangered building. And there are actual railroad clubs that work to save them and move them and keep them up. So, I’ve been writing them and learning more than I ever dreamed about railroad clubs. There are a lot of them,” she said.

Jack Sutton, president of Maine Rail Group, based in Augusta, said train depots are a tie to Maine’s past that should be preserved. Sutton said there are other salvage efforts under way in Maine.

“They are an endangered species in Maine, very much so,” Sutton said. “I think the key to it is to have a local or regional group that focuses on the facility in questions and defines a purpose for it and a need for it and a use for it, and then there’s some ability to build momentum to get the job done. It all comes down to funding available to do it and a solid plan to do it. And without that, there’s not too much hope of it.”

Sutton’s group is focused on saving useful rail lines in Maine, and said “stations are a part of that.” He has been in talks regarding the conversion of the Mountain Division Rail Line, which received $4 million in funding two years ago to rebuild the track from Portland to Windham. It still needs an estimated $20 million to continue through Fryeburg. Sutton said the old South Windham train depot could be used to enhance the line should it ever again seen rail traffic.

“It’s very important to consider it in relation to the reactivation of the Mountain Division rail line on which it served,” Sutton said. “I would hope that if there is anything done with the station that it could be done in conjunction with the rehabilitation and reuse of the rail line.”

Griffin said other clubs’ members “have had some very interesting ideas,” including some that include asking National Guard to move it or seek funding from Maine author, and sometime-philanthropist, Stephen King.

“But these groups, while they have limited means, are concerned, and they are alerting other members. So maybe something will materialize,” Griffin said.

In her research, Griffin has also learned most old depots are transformed by rail enthusiasts into other uses, like ice cream shops, museums and restaurants.

“Gorham’s station is now a restaurant. And Yarmouth’s is a flower shop. They’re all made into other uses,” she said.

Even if they raise the money to move the building, Griffin said, rot in the posts and foundation sills might make transport and reassembly difficult. The height of the depot would require removal of the roof, a section of which has already collapsed. With these issues, Griffin said, partial salvage could be the next best approach.

“We obviously can’t do it financially with all the other projects we have going on,” Griffin said. “But we are not giving up. One idea is to take a third of the building, the right-hand side, which is the better side of the roof and building, and recreate a smaller version at the Village Green, maybe 20 feet by 14 feet. So that might be doable.”

If reconstruction is impossible, the least the society will do is store as much of the siding, windows, roof brackets as possible for future assembly.

While the society doesn’t have time to do a formal fundraising push, Griffin is pursuing a donation from private businesses that might have the means to pay for or provide transport of the structure.

“And if we get enough, we would name the building after them as a way to thank them, but I don’t know if we can do it. We’re going to try,” Griffin said.

Direct connection

There aren’t too many structures in Windham with such a strong connection to railroading’s past, if any.

Though located out of sight and out of mind under some trees, the train depot was the center of the once-bustling South Windham until 1981, when the rail line shut down due to the rise of trucks as the preferred method for hauling freight.

The train depot, Griffin said, was Windham’s center of commerce since Maine Central and, before that, the Portland & Ogdensburg Railroad (which opened in 1870), hauled freight and passengers through South Windham on the line that connected Portland with St. Johnsbury, Vt., 131 miles away. The train depot served as a ticket counter, temporary storage for supplies and as a railroad office.

“What is so sad is that this was the lifeblood of the town, this was the center when the railroad opened in 1870. It was such an incredible thing for the town,” Griffin said. “It brought in goods from everywhere. You could order from your Sears & Roebuck catalog and it would come by rail. You’d go down and pick it up, or pick up grain, or whatever you were buying after it came in on the rail line. So it really opened the town with communicating with all these groups out there that had supplies.”

Griffin said the train depot also allowed Windham residents to take jobs in the bigger cities south of town.

“You could get on the train and go to Portland or take a job in Westbrook, which you couldn’t have done before because you didn’t have transportation,” she said. “And now you could travel back and forth, so it was very important to the town of Windham.”

The South Windham train depot was once the bustling center of commerce in town.    
Though severely compromised from a structural point of view, the old train depot in South Windham still has some charm, seen in its distinct lines and materials. The Windham Historical Society is attempting to salvage the building, in whole or in part, for possible reassembly in its proposed Village Green in Windham Center.

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