Godbold Transportation Center Explained

Style:Amtrak
Address:440 North Railroad Avenue
Borough:Brookhaven, Mississippi
Country:United States
Coordinates:31.5831°N -90.4411°W
Owned:City of Brookhaven
Line:Illinois Central (CN)
Platforms:1 side platform
Tracks:1
Code:Amtrak code

BRH

Opened:1907 (Union Station)
2011 (Transportation Center)
Other Services Header:Former services
Other Services Collapsible:yes
Mapframe:yes
Mapframe-Marker:rail
Mapframe-Zoom:14

The Godbold Transportation Center is a train station in Brookhaven, Mississippi, United States, served by Amtrak's City of New Orleans passenger train.

The facility is located in the town's old power plant, originally constructed in 1890. Renovation plans called for partial demolition of the power plant, but the soaring smokestack was retained as a symbol of the building's industrial heritage. Large expanses of glass on the principal elevations allow natural light to flood the waiting room. The wooden benches used by passengers were once located in the old Illinois Central depot.[1]

History

Brookhaven was a hub between the Illinois Central (formerly the New Orleans, Jackson and Great Northern), the Brookhaven and Pearl River Railroad, the Mississippi Central, and the Meridian, Brookhaven, and Natchez Railroad. In 1907, Illinois Central constructed the Union Station and freight house in downtown Brookhaven. Designed by F. D. Chase, the Tudor-revival brick building was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.

The old station building, located at 125 South Whitworth Avenue,(31.5789°N -90.4431°W) is now occupied by the Military Memorial Museum.[2]

Godbold Transportation Center, named after a former Brookhaven Mayor Bill Godbold,[3] opened in 2011. This replaced a small shelter beside the old depot building that had been used by Amtrak.

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Brookhaven Station. Amtrak's Great American Stations. 3 December 2014.
  2. Web site: Museums and Points Of Interest . About Brookhaven . Brookhaven Chamber of Commerce . Military Memorial Museum (old railroad depot) South Whitworth Avenue. Photos, artifacts and personal items of area veterans; plus displays of military equipment dating back to WWI. . 20 December 2015.
  3. Web site: Former Brookhaven mayor dies . 2010-09-12 . Archives . Hattiesburg American . One of Godbold's last projects was the city's multi- modal transportation facility, which is still being built. Current Mayor Les Bumgarner says the facility is named for the Godbold family . 20 December 2015 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20151222165534/http://archive.hattiesburgamerican.com/article/20100912/NEWS01/100912015/Former-Brookhaven-mayor-dies . 2015-12-22 .