About the Depot |
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The Contoocook Railroad Depot is located in the village of Contoocook. The depot was completed in 1849 as the first substantial railroad passenger stations west of Concord on the Concord and Claremont Railroad, which later became the Boston & Maine Railroad in 1887. The building is one of the best preserved of a small number of gable-roofed railroad stations surviving from the first decade of rail development in New Hampshire. The station exemplifies the pioneering period of rail development in the state and is one of the earliest and least altered depots of the 1850 period. Displaying the Greek Revival style, with modifications that proclaim its identity as a new building type, the depot is an important artifact in the history and evolution of railroad architecture in New Hampshire.
Because the Concord and Claremont Railroad remained a small and under-capitalized short line, with minimal investment, the Contoocook Depot has survived as one of a very small group of comparable structures. Other comparable depots on the Concord and Claremont line, and on its sister Contoocook Valley Railroad, have disappeared. Very similar stations once stood at West Concord and Bradford, but no longer exist. The Contoocook Valley Railroad, built at the same time as the Concord and Claremont by the same builder, Joseph Barnard (and joining the latter just west of the Contoocook Depot), once had nearly identical depots. The destroyed station at Hillsborough Bridge, the original terminus of the Contoocook Valley Railroad, was a virtual twin to the Contoocook Depot. Like the Contoocook and Warner buildings, it measured twenty-four by fifty feet.
Throughout the period from 1849 to 1960, the Contoocook Depot was the commercial hub of Contoocook Village. The building not only served as the point of arrival and departure for travelers to and from the village, but also offered other forms of communication. The railway mail was delivered here, and for some years the depot served as the Contoocook Post Office. The depot was connected to the remainder of the consolidated Boston and Maine system by the railway telegraph, and also served the public as the local public telegraph office from 1866. The depot was connected to the Western Union system during the early twentieth century. When the first telephone connections were installed in Contoocook Village in 1884, one of two telephone offices was at the depot, with Amos H. Currier as agent.
At first, rail connections from Contoocook largely focused on Concord. Travelers going east from Contoocook were able to connect to the Concord Railroad, thereby gaining rail access to Manchester, Nashua, Lowell, and Boston; or to the Northern Railroad, providing access to all towns on the route from Concord to West Lebanon on the Connecticut River and to White River Junction, Vermont; or to the Boston, Concord, and Montreal Railroad, thereby gaining access to Woodsville on the Connecticut River and to Wells River, Vermont.
At first, rail connections from Contoocook largely focused on Concord. Travelers going east from Contoocook were able to connect to the Concord Railroad, thereby gaining rail access to Manchester, Nashua, Lowell, and Boston; or to the Northern Railroad, providing access to all towns on the route from Concord to West Lebanon on the Connecticut River and to White River Junction, Vermont; or to the Boston, Concord, and Montreal Railroad, thereby gaining access to Woodsville on the Connecticut River and to Wells River, Vermont.
Trains traveling northwesterly on the Concord and Claremont Railroad's tracks were limited at first by the tracks' termination in Bradford, which was reached in July 1850. Not until the Newbury Cut was completed in 1871 were trains at last able to travel to Newport and finally, in 1872, to make contact with the Connecticut River at Claremont on the railroad's tracks. Similarly, the Contoocook Valley Railroad, which connected with the Concord and Claremont in Contoocook, was initially completed only as far south as Hillsborough Bridge.
By 1858, there were many manufactories and shops in Contoocookville. Among them were Kimball's carpenter shop, Osgood's carpenter shop, Merrill's cooper shop, Joab and David N. Patterson's woolen mill, Burnham and Brown's sawmill, grist mill, and shingle mill, a carriage shop, a mackerel kit manufactory, another sawmill, a blacksmith shop, and Abbott's hot houses. The compact part of the village also included two schoolhouses and the Contoocook Academy. By that time, the railroad depot was accompanied by a freight house, and the building now known as the Kirk Building, which stands adjacent to the railroad station, was then owned by the railroad. As noted, the Contoocook Depot was located at the junction of the lines of two initially separate railroad corporations. A summary history of the incorporation and merger of the two lines that met near the depot is given in a description of the Concord and Claremont Railroad in the Thirty- Fifth Annual Report of the Railroad Commissioners of the State of New Hampshire (1879): This road is the outcome of a long series of conflicting and unsuccessful railroad schemes.
The depot was the local office for Railway and American Express companies. Standing at the junction of the Concord and Claremont and the Contoocook Valley Railroad lines, the Contoocook Depot also served as the focus of a small but very active rail service center. The Schedule of Property Transferred by the Northern Railroad to the Boston & Lowell Railroad Corporation, Under Lease, In Effect June 1, 1884, shows that the Contoocook rail center then contained the following buildings: the depot, measuring 25 by 50 feet; a depot "ell," measuring 13 by 24 feet; a freight house, measuring 34 by 50 feet; an engine house, measuring 21 by 50 feet; a water house, measuring 15 by 26 feet; a woodshed, measuring 30 by 147 feet; two hand car houses, each measuring 14 by 18 feet; another hand car house, measuring 12 by 12 feet; and a rail shop. Nearby stood a covered bridge, supported by trusses of Childs' patent; this bridge was replaced by the existing double Town lattice truss railroad bridge in 1889. See our page "The Bridge" for more information on this.
The depot was the local office for Railway and American Express companies. Standing at the junction of the Concord and Claremont and the Contoocook Valley Railroad lines, the Contoocook Depot also served as the focus of a small but very active rail service center. The Schedule of Property Transferred by the Northern Railroad to the Boston & Lowell Railroad Corporation, Under Lease, In Effect June 1, 1884, shows that the Contoocook rail center then contained the following buildings: the depot, measuring 25 by 50 feet; a depot "ell," measuring 13 by 24 feet; a freight house, measuring 34 by 50 feet; an engine house, measuring 21 by 50 feet; a water house, measuring 15 by 26 feet; a woodshed, measuring 30 by 147 feet; two hand car houses, each measuring 14 by 18 feet; another hand car house, measuring 12 by 12 feet; and a rail shop. Nearby stood a covered bridge, supported by trusses of Childs' patent; this bridge was replaced by the existing double Town lattice truss railroad bridge in 1889. See our page "The Bridge" for more information on this.
All of the structures of the Contoocook rail center, with the exception of the depot, freight house, and bridge, had been removed by 1904. The freight house has since disappeared. The engine house and its connected water house are shown in a surviving photograph that can be dated between 1884 and 1887 by the presence of a Boston and Lowell Railroad locomotive.
The passenger service ended in 1955 and freight service terminated in 1962. The Contoocook Riverway Association bought the depot from the town of Hopkinton for one silver dollar in 1999. The depot currently serves as a museum which is open occasionally during the summer months for the Contoocook Farmers Market, which is held throughout the summer on the depot property extending towards the Contoocook River in the park. Second floor renovations took place in 2013 which included a meeting room, museum displays, historic document archives and an additional bathroom. The building contains an elevator indoors for handicapped access to the second floor.
The passenger service ended in 1955 and freight service terminated in 1962. The Contoocook Riverway Association bought the depot from the town of Hopkinton for one silver dollar in 1999. The depot currently serves as a museum which is open occasionally during the summer months for the Contoocook Farmers Market, which is held throughout the summer on the depot property extending towards the Contoocook River in the park. Second floor renovations took place in 2013 which included a meeting room, museum displays, historic document archives and an additional bathroom. The building contains an elevator indoors for handicapped access to the second floor.
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