This turn-of-the-20th-century depot in the Smyth County town of Marion provided passenger service, express freight, and telegram service to the area for 67 years. Marion was a hub of regional transportation as early as the 1840s. In 1903 the Norfolk and Western Railway Company chose Marion as a site for a new passenger and freight station, and contracted with J. C. Nesbit of Harrisburg, Pa. to build the facility. The carefully detailed structure, with its spreading hipped roof and wide dormers, illustrates the high standards of design for N & W Railway facilities. Such stations were usually designed by railroad company architects. Passenger service was continued here until 1971. In 1993 the Marion Norfolk & Western Railway Depot building was converted to office and retail use, a project that preserved a handsome relic of a fast-disappearing aspect of the American scene.
Many properties listed in the registers are private dwellings and are not open to the public, however many are visible from the public right-of-way. Please be respectful of owner privacy.
Abbreviations:
VLR: Virginia Landmarks Register
NPS: National Park Service
NRHP: National Register of Historic Places
NHL: National Historic Landmark
Nomination Form
Programs
DHR has secured permanent legal protection for over 700 historic places - including 15,000 acres of battlefield lands
DHR has erected 2,532 highway markers in every county and city across Virginia
DHR has registered more than 3,317 individual resources and 613 historic districts
DHR has engaged over 450 students in 3 highway marker contests
DHR has stimulated more than $4.2 billion dollars in private investments related to historic tax credit incentives, revitalizing communities of all sizes throughout Virginia