[USA: Denver] Melancholy but Happy Old Depot


I took this photo along one of my regular bike commute routes in beautiful evening sunlight. Every time I pass this cute abandoned 1915 suburban train depot, I feel a bit sad.

It's in the first inner suburb just a bit south of my family's place in Denver. They maintain a great bike route network.

While I was shooting, I could hear the main line freight passing just over 100 yards away. The building is at an angle to the local streets, but I think that's just an illusion of authenticity. The railroad was expanded and moved to align with a giant highway project nearby in the 1960s and I think this building was moved so that it wouldn't need to be demolished. There are no tracks immediately adjacent anymore nor any evidence of them. It hadn't had passenger traffic since the 1940s when it was a commuter line to southwest Denver suburbs.

Denver re-opened commuter rail service in 1994 with the first light rail right along this line but they didn't restore the old depot. The new station is a concrete pad 500 yards away.

I always feel it's a shame such a beautiful little building isn't in use. Preparing this post, I did a search and discovered that a local art group that restores and uses old iron printing presses for artsy poster making is raising money to restore this building for their new art space. That makes me happier.