Windsor-Mt. Ascutney (Amtrak station)

Windsor
Location 26 Depot Avenue
Windsor, VT 05089
Coordinates 43°28′48″N 72°23′06″W / 43.4801°N 72.3849°WCoordinates: 43°28′48″N 72°23′06″W / 43.4801°N 72.3849°W
Owned by NL Wilson/Windsor Station Pub
Line(s)
Platforms 1 side platform
Tracks 1
Construction
Parking Yes
Other information
Station code WNM
History
Opened 1901
Rebuilt 1970s
Traffic
Passengers (2013) 1,126[1] Increase 17%
Services
Preceding station   Amtrak   Following station
Vermonter
toward St. Albans

Windsor, also known as Windsor-Mt. Ascutney, is a train station in Windsor, Vermont served by Amtrak, the national railroad passenger system of the United States. It is currently served by the Amtrak Vermonter line and is home to the Windsor Station Restaurant & Barroom, owned by Stacy and Jon Capurso, who also own the historic building.

History

As the first town in Vermont to break ground for the railroad, Windsor briefly leaped to the forefront of mid-19th century commercial development. Around the turn of the century, when Windsor's original 1847 railway station burned, the Burlington contractors Mason & Co. were hired to build "a good type of a modern Railway Station...after the standard design of the Central Vermont Railway Company." Complete with electric lights throughout, a modern hot water heater, birch veneer side seating, and separate waiting rooms for men and women, the new station was to cost about $10,000 and be completed by January 1, 1901.

Like many railway stations erected during this period, the Central Vermont's standard design combined function with style. The low hipped roof (a Romanesque feature) extends beyond the wall surface creating a large over-hang to shelter a waiting platform. Decorative brackets and columns support the roof and round arched windows and doors penetrate the four façades, typical of the style. The verge or barge board, a wooden ornamental motif along the eaves, was borrowed from the Gothic Revival style, a contemporary of the Romanesque. Many of the original materials used to build the station remain intact, such as the yellow pine interior sheathing, buff pressed brick, and window and door sills of Barre granite. The sounds and vibrations of the train rushing down the tracks completes this preserved early 20th century environment.

Architecture

A 1-1/2 story building of brick construction, the station's long, rectangular form is dominated by an expansive hip roof which overhangs the walls 6-1/2 feet and is supported by bracketed, wood outriggers. The west (front) and east (trackside) elevations are punctuated by round-arched fenestration, three doors with flanking windows on the east and alternating doors and windows on the west. Near the south end of the west facade, the eaves line of the hip roof is broken by a projecting gable with decorative infill in the peak which covers a projecting pavilion with a paid of round-arched windows. On the east elevation in a corresponding position a station agent's office projects in a similar fashion but also projects through the hip roof, without breaking the line of the eaves, and terminates in the form of a gable-roofed dormer. The building's round-arched fenestration is visually tied together by belt course slightly below impost level.

Recent history

In 2008, NL Wilson purchased the building and business—and operated as Windsor Station Pub until October 2011.

In April 2013, Jonathan and Stacy Capurso purchased the empty building and began a full restoration and upgrade. It is currently operating as The Windsor Station Restaurant & Barroom. www.windsorstationvt.com

References

  1. ↑ "Amtrak Fact Sheet, FY2013, State of Vermont" (PDF). Amtrak. November 2013. Retrieved 3 December 2013.

External links

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