Area less than one acre NRHP Reference # 04000344 Added to NRHP 21 April 2004 | Built 1913 Opened 1913 | |
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Location 1400 N. 1st St., St. Louis, Missouri Architectural style Railroad freight depot, Other Address 1400 N 1st St, St. Louis, MO 63102, USA Similar Cotton Belt Depot Train Mus, Stan Musial Veterans, White Water Branson, Worlds of Fun, City Museum | ||
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The Cotton Belt Freight Depot in St. Louis, Missouri at 1400 North 1st Street in the Near North Riverfront neighborhood. It was listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places in 2004.
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The st louis cotton belt freight depot
Current Status
The depot is vacant and graffiti litters its walls, but the building retains integrity of design, workmanship, setting, and association.
The Cotton Belt Freight Depot has been named "Best Old Building" by the Riverfront Times, a weekly newspaper in St. Louis.
The building and grounds have been used as a setting for wedding, engagement, and graduation photos.
History
The St. Louis Southwestern Railway (reporting mark SSW), known by its nickname of "The Cotton Belt Route" or simply Cotton Belt, is a former US Class I railroad which operated between St. Louis, Missouri, and various points in the states of Arkansas and Texas from 1891 to 1992.
The five-story freight depot was constructed in 1911 to handle freight movement for SSW. It has been vacant since 1959.
Architecture
The building is notable for its long, , narrow shape. The concrete building is approximately 750' on its east and west elevations and only 30' on the north and south. The five stories include a series of loading dock doors on both sides that are sheltered by a concrete awning. Widely spaced metal-frame industrial type windows line the upper stories. A slightly taller cornice line marks the section of the building where the company offices were located. Most of the building's detail is reserved for this section where the company's name is displayed in two levels over a bay window.
Other details include terra cotta medallions on the corners bearing the name "Cotton Belt Route"; a Classical style frame around the office door; keystones that decorate the windows near the building's north end; and copper lion's heads that join the awning poles to the building.
The Cotton Belt Freight Depot has been named "Best Old Building" by the Riverfront Times, a weekly newspaper]] in St. Louis.
Direct link to National Register nomination document: http://dnr.mo.gov/shpo/nps-nr/04000344.pdf
Artica
Since 2002, the Cotton Belt Freight Depot has been the usual location of Artica, an annual grassroots outdoor and multidisciplinary arts festival.
"Migrate" Mural
Work was completed to utilize the depot's distinctive eastern wall for a large scale mural; a renovation that intends to transform the site into a welcoming visage for those traveling entering the state via the upcoming Mississippi River bridge.