Spring Street Freight House

Spring Street Freight House
Location: Jeffersonville, Indiana
Built: 1925
Architect: Unknown
Architectural style: Craftsman
Governing body: Ohio River Bridges Project
NRHP Reference#: 07000209
Added to NRHP: March 29, 2007

The Spring Street Freight House is a site on the National Register of Historic Places, located in Jeffersonville, Indiana. It was placed on the Register in May 2007, after being nominated by the Indiana Department of Transportation. It is one of the few railhouses built in the 1920s still standing.

It was built by Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railway (CCC & St. L RR), also known as the Big Four, around 1925. It was built Craftsman-style, and is 1.5 stories high. Its foundation and walls are made of wood, and the roof is asphalt shingles. It includes a brick chimney. The property upon which the freight house is upon covers 0.52 acres (2,100 m2).[1]

It was originally part of "Jeffersonville Springs", a resort that featured mineral springs, which being chalybeate was deemed back then to be good for the body. This lent the name to a nearby street, Spring Street. The resort was started by Swiss immigrant John Fischli, who originally owned 13 acres (53,000 m2) of the property, until his death in 1838. In 1852 it was bought by a Methodist church, who converted the gambling houses by it into school houses. The hotel which Fischli had built burned down in 1857.[2]

The property was bought by the Big Four in 1890. There were initially plans by the railroad to rebuild the resort, but that never happened. In 1907 the Railroad had destroyed the Springs.[3]

After the railroad abandoned it in 1963, R.A. Alms & Sons Feed Wholesalers used it from 1970-1975. In the 1980s a cable company used it. It is currently unused, but the Ohio River Bridges Project had plans to restore it in 2008 and turn it into its headquarters; as of August 2009 nothing has been done to renovate it.[4]

It was placed on the Indiana Register of Historic Sites and Structures and the National Register of Historic Places on March 29, 2007.

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References

  1. ^ Branigan Sec.7, p.1
  2. ^ Branigan Sec.8, pp.5,6
  3. ^ Branigan Sec.8, p.7
  4. ^ Branigan Sec.8, p.11