Story By John Mann

Guntersville Rail Depot Museum tucked back on Railroad Avenue right next to the train tracks, but anyone who stops by will find a great collection of items that show off Guntersville’s history.

“Anyone who hasn’t stopped by is missing out,” Rail Depot Chair Deborah Belcher said. “They’re missing out on their heritage. Maybe their grandparents or great-grandparents came through here, back then we all functioned and were ruled by trains. They were produce, they were transportation, they were commerce they helped build America.”

The depot originally opened in 1892 when railroad tracks were finally brought to Guntersville thanks in no small part to general and later president of the United States Andrew Jackson who visited Marshall county in 1813 and conceived of connecting the Tennessee and Coosa rivers. 

The depot would operate throughout the majority of the twentieth century, serving up to the 1940s and continuing to serve as a freight depot into the 1960s.

The depot restoration began after the city of Guntersville was given the property in 1996 by CSX Transportation and with the help of a grant from the Alabama Historical Commission the building was reopened in December of 2000. Originally one hundred and thirteen feet long the restored building is just forty feet long and is made up of the original office and waiting rooms. 

Visitors to the museum today can see a whole wealth of original memorabilia from the railroad days including lanterns of every shape and size, signage, a telegraph station, tools used to work on the trains, dining car dishes and more.

The depot also has a good collection of books about trains and railroads for visitors to look through, many of which were donated by the Ross family who own Ross-Graden Lumber in Albertville.

“We have a collection of books here,” Belcher said. “It can be hard to find books about trains anymore but we have a whole collection people can come in and look through. They were donated to us by John O. Ross, John was an avid train collector and we have over one hundred artifacts just from the Ross family, some donations and some on loan.”

Back when the depot was still in service passengers would use it to travel all over the state with many using it to reach the nearby city of Gadsden. Paved roads didn’t become common in Alabama until the fifties and not every family owned a car they could use for travel. What would be a short trip today would have taken much longer in the early 1900s, making the railroads the most convenient way to travel.

“A lot of people still remember this train going to Gadsden,” Belcher said. “Back then a lot of people didn’t have cars and the roads didn’t become paved until the mid-century. So you could get on a dirt road in a 1930s model car or go to the rail depot. It brought in a lot of money to this area and was a major part of our identity and history.”

The Guntersville Rail Depot is managed by the Guntersville Historical Society and will be one of the highlighted sites when the Alabama Historical Commission comes to Guntersville this October for their Fall Pilgrimage. The museum will be open through the end of August on Saturdays from one to four pm. The museum is located at 905 Railroad Avenue and admission is free. For more information contact them at 256-571-7560.