History

A brief history of railroads and the train depot in Guntersville

Restoration of the Depot
Restoration of the Guntersville Depot was a project initiated by Guntersville Historic Society. In 1996 CSX transportation gave the City of Guntersville the depot and a small amount of surrounding land. After receipt of a $75,000 grant from the Alabama Historical Commission, fund raising from individuals, businesses, and participation by the City of Guntersville, a contract was awarded to Jack Campbell Construction Company to restore the building. The plans were prepared by Hunkapiller and Associates with James Tellefsen Jr. Architect. The restored depot was officially opened and dedicated on December 3, 2000. The depot is operated as a part of the Guntersville Museum through efforts of the Guntersville Historical Society. The restored building is only a portion of the original structure. Historic plans show the original office and waiting room areas. Restrooms have been added because there were none originally. The parking area is on the original freight area.

The Depot and railway plans

The original depot was built in 1892 when railroad lines were extended to Guntersville after half a century of effort and frustration.
General Andrew Jackson was responsible for the first legislation which congress passed concerning the railroad. In 1813, when General Jackson was in Marshall County, he conceived the idea of connecting the Tennessee and Coosa Rivers with a railroad or canal. He recommended the project to congress which passed the first action on the idea on March 2, 1819. The Alabama legislature passed its first act on the railroad during the 1847-48 session. Louis Wyeth, Marshall County’s legislative representative, secured a charter “to connect the navigable waters of the Tennessee and Coosa Rivers with the object of securing an inland system of transportation between Mobile Bay and the vast rich region through which flowed the Tennessee and it’s tributaries.”
Louis Wyeth became president of the Tennessee and Coosa Railroad when the company was organized on January 16, 1844. The railroad was to be funded through private subscription. However this was too costly and not successful. In 1854 the Alabama Legislature passed the Three Percent Fund Act, which was to pay construction costs using three percent of the land sales adjoining the railways to finance the operation. On June 3, 1856 congress passed an act that provided an inducement to help fund such projects. This act provided for the transfer of land surrounding the railroad to any one who could complete three proposed railroads.

Initial work up to the Civil War

Samuel King Rayburn, one of the organizers of the Tennessee and Coosa Railroad, was serving as a state senator when on June 30, 1857, he persuaded the Alabama legislature to pass an act giving the land donated by congress to the Tennessee and Coosa Railroad. Members of the board of directors were: George Beggs, Hugh Carlisle, Louis Wyeth, George Spence Henderson, Wyndolyn Seibold and Henry Miller. Rayburn was president and James Moore was secretary.
In 1859 a contract to construct the railway was awarded to the Henderson and Carlisle company. The bed was graded between Guntersville and Gadsden at the cost of $300,000. The grading was completed in 1861. A locomotive, four cars and rails were ordered from Sheffield, England. However, when the Civil war began all work ceased and the orders were cancelled. Work would not start again until the late 1880’s

The project restarts and continues

In 1881 the Tennessee and Coosa board of directors, because of economic conditions, voted to give the East Alabama and Cincinnati Railroad the right to their roadbed if they would pay the Tennessee and Coosa railway $25,000 and assume the debt of $40,000 plus the interest which was owed to Carlisle. In order to retain the title East Alabama and Cincinnati Railway would have to complete the work within two years.
J.B. Pennington, president of the East Alabama and Cincinnati Railway, awarded a contract to complete the railroad to the company of Bohol, Sheppard, Carlisle and Cole. By 1882 the company had laid six miles of track, with depots between Gadsden and Attalla, and had the partial line operational. However, the East Alabama and Cincinnati Railway had gone bankrupt. After long litigation, in 1883 the board of directors of the Tennessee and Coosa Railway gave all existing bonds to Carlisle. In 1885 a law suit between Carlisle and the bankrupt railroad was settled and Carlisle gained complete control of the Tennessee and Coosa Railway.
By 1887 the line was extended from Attalla to Littleton, in Etowah County, at the foot of Sand Mountain. After some time, Carlisle raised additional money and finished the work to Lane’s Switch, near Wyeth Mountain.
After several more years of litigation over ownership and trading, the Manhattan in New York sold the Tennessee and Coosa Railroad in March 1891 to the Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railroad. The N.C. & ST.L. completed the line from Lane’s Switch to Wyeth City in 1891. The first officially scheduled trip of the train was on October 3, 1892 when regular train service was opened between Guntersville and Gadsden.

The rail transfer/ferry

By 1893 the N.C. & ST. L. Railway had completed its tracks from Nashville to Hobbs Island in Madison County, Alabama. Hobbs Island was fifteen miles south and on the north bank of the Tennessee River. This left about a twenty mile stretch between Hobbs Island and Guntersville to connect the rail system from Nashville to Gadsden. After consideration of costs and ways to close the open stretch, a rail transfer or ferry was started in 1893. This transfer, was at the time, reported to be the longest of its type in the world. Two stern wheel steamboats were acquired by the railroad: The Huntsville (1) built new in 1893 at Jefferson Indiana and The Hattie McDaniel which had been built in 1891at Carrlettsburg, Tennessee. Both vessels carried passengers and towed barges of railroad cars between Hobbs Island and Gunter Landing. The Hattie McDaniel remained in operation until 1904 and The Huntsville(1) was abandoned in 1903.

The new and larger stern wheel transfer steamers were purchased in 1903, The 204 ton Guntersville(1) and the 172 ton Huntsville (2) remained in service until 1946 when the Guntersville was retired and replaced by a new tow boat of the same name. The Huntsville (2) saw little service after 1946 and was retired in 1951. The ferry service continued through 1957 by the N.C.& St. L. Until February 20, 1960 by the L & N Railroad. The service was discontinued after Guntersville was connected to Birmingham by the L & N’s continuous line running through Attalla.
After nearly sixty years of control the parent company, Louisville & Nashville merged with the N.C. & St. L. on August 30, 1957. Successors of the N.C. & St. L. are the Louisville and Nashville, The Seaboard System and the current CSX transportation.

---