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Manzanola Train Depot restored to become town center

The trains in Manzanola are long gone, but the old depot survived and now stands newly restored to remind one small Colorado community of its historic roots.

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Growing competition from automobiles in the middle of the last century decreased people’s dependence on the train and made rail passenger service less profitable. During this time, the Manzanola Train Depot in Otero County, Colo., also saw a shift in people’s travel patterns and soon passenger services to the 1913-built Santa Fe Railway depot were discontinued altogether.

Shortly after passenger service stopped, the railway shifted its freight operations to the Rocky Ford and La Junta depots and subsequently closed Manzanola. This left the building that once served as a gateway for passengers traveling to and from the Arkansas Valley during much of the 20th Century open for community use if the community could figure out what to do with all of it.

Wear and Tear

The building was originally built to replace an older, first-generation depot and is an intact example of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad Cos. combination passenger and freight depots, according the State Register of Historic Places. The inside of the building has men and women passenger waiting areas and a separate area for freight. It features solid brick construction, functional convenience and mission revival-inspired styling. Since its closing, the depot has been used for community functions, private events and storage.

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Built in 1913, the building began to show wear in the late 1990s. The depot had undergone few alterations since its construction. Inside, the ticket office had been converted into a kitchen in the late 1970s, exterior doors were changed and the clay tile roof was replaced with an asphalt one. During much of this time, Manzanola seniors were using the passenger side for a community center and meeting place, but the other end was deteriorating, since its sole use had been for storage. The signs of deferred maintenance began to show.

“The building was completely run down,” says Lisa Werdel, a Manzanola native who researched the history of the building for the National and State Registers of Historic Places. “On the freight side, there were holes in the roof and holes in the floor and during the project, we discovered that hazardous materials were being stored there. The building was just neglected.”

Town Center

In 2003, Denver architect Marc Diament, president and principal of Marc Diament Architecture, which specializes in historic preservation and rehabilitation, came to Manzanola and revealed his plans to restore the Mission Revival-inspired train depot.
“The community goal was to preserve the depot as a key element in the town’s commercial center,” says Diament. “It is one of the most important historic buildings in Manzanola, and was in dire disrepair.”

Then, Werdel, who had joined White Construction Group of Castle Rock in 2005 as a lead project coordinator, was a student at the University of Colorado at Denver, pursuing her bachelor’s degree in history. She heard about the project from her mother the town clerk and decided to help restore the train depot as part of a school project.

“I’m excited that I got to be part of this,” she says. “This one project has paved a path for me professionally, but I think it is also an integral piece that will re-build the Manzanola community.”

In December, four years after the initial plans were revealed, White Construction Group and Marc Diament Architecture completed the restoration and renovation on the depot. Major repairs were done on the interior of the building, a new roof was built and the exterior brick was re-done. The building now serves the community as a police station, town hall, senior center and museum.

Werdel completed the extensive research to create the application for the Manzanola depot to be placed on the National and State Registers of Historic Places, which occurred in February 2007. As a result of her work, the town of Manzanola received funding from 17 grants for the restoration project.

The renovation and restoration of this building has transformed it into a multi-functional space that serves the entire town. The seniors have taken over the freight side, which has been designed as a community room, including meeting spaces and a kitchenette.

The middle of the building serves as a new museum that displays the history of the area and the building. The passenger side of the depot has been updated to serve as the courthouse and police station.

“We are excited to be part of the transformation of a historic Colorado landmark into a Mecca for this community, and working with Werdel added another facet to the vitality of the restoration,” says Courtney White, project manager and member of the White Construction Group ownership team.

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