(rshsdepot) Myrtle Beach, SC

["Jim Dent" <james.dent_@_itochu.com>]

-From the Myrtle Beach Sun News...

Wednesday, November 28, 2001

Group moves ahead with train station plans
By David Klepper
The Sun News

Retirement has not been kind to Myrtle Beach's train depot.
The trains stopped coming in 1971, and a beer distributor used the site. A
cinder block addition was added to serve as a garage for beer trucks. A ramp
and a platform were demolished.
Gradually, weeds grew ragged, and graffiti scarred the walls.
Now, broken glass and debris ring the depot.
Myrtle Beach - less than a century old itself - lacks many historic
buildings. The train depot, built in 1937, is one of the few remaining links
to the city's past, and a group determined to save it said it is close to
ensuring its survival.
"Hopefully, we can have a ribbon-cutting ceremony in May," said Jack
Thompson, director of the city's All Aboard Committee, dedicated to
preserving the station.
The committee is hoping to restore the depot to its vintage appearance,
surround it with landscaping and park facilities, and make it a downtown
cornerstone.
But the group still needs
$230,000 to do that.
"That little depot served Myrtle Beach for decades," Thompson said.
"Everyone and everything that got here came through there."
Myrtle Beach's former train yard was used from the early 1900s to 1971 for
freight and passenger travel. Trains went to Conway, Loris and beyond.
The All Aboard Committee has raised $422,000 of the $650,000 needed to
restore the building and its site.
The rest, according to city redevelopment coordinator Kelly Mezzapelle, will
depend on donations.
Earlier this month, work began at the site as workers removed the cinder
block addition.
Once the addition is removed, the committee will apply to place the depot on
the National Register of Historic Places.
That designation helps protect the site from redevelopment and could make it
eligible for tax breaks and grants. It also could elevate the status of the
depot and show it is worthy of preservation.
"It means this property is valued for its history, and it shows that it's
important to the city," said Thompson.
Starting sometime in 2002, the depot will be refurbished, rebuilt and
scrubbed clean.
Parking and walkways will be added. The lot will be seeded with grass,
flowers and trees.
The bathrooms will be upgraded and made accessible to disabled visitors.
A park containing the flagpole from the former Myrtle Beach Air Force Base
will be dedicated as a memorial to veterans of military, police and fire
service.
To finish the project, however, they must raise the rest of the money.
Thompson is confident that will happen.
"I have talked to a number of donors who have expressed interest," Thompson
said.
The committee ordered T-shirts, train whistles, train models and prints to
sell, but has not yet sold many of the items.
Donors also can have their names chiseled on bricks that will appear in a
walkway at the depot.
The station will never serve as a fully operational train station again,
Thompson said. But it could offer weekend excursion trains to Conway.
Excursion trains would cost $100,000, Thompson said. The committee would
have to come to some sort of arrangement with Horry County government, which
reserves the right to authorize passenger rail service.
"That's a ways off," Thompson said.
The station would serve partly as a museum and partly as a community
gathering place.
The committee was formed last spring when the depot was threatened with
destruction. Thompson urged the council to buy and preserve the station.
The land was purchased for $750,000, and the committee was formed to raise
money and prepare a restoration plan.
The council gave the committee $10,000, which was used on fund-raising
activities.
The committee has asked the council for $10,000 more to continue its
fund-raising efforts.
Two council members - Wayne Gray and Chuck Martino - are among the top three
private donors.
Martino said historic preservation is a basic aspect of the quality of life.
"We need to start this process of historic preservation now," Martino said.
"If we don't, there won't be anything to preserve in 100 years."

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