MATTHEWS DEPOT
- Program
- Subject
- Location
- Lat/Long
- Grant Recipient
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Historic Transportation
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Site, Transportation
- Depot Shopping Center, 210 Matthews Station St, Matthews, NC 28105, USA
- 35.116153477415, -80.719320202156
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Matthews Historical Foundation
MATTHEWS DEPOT
Inscription
MATTHEWS DEPOTEST. BY 1875 ON CAROLINA
CENTRAL RAILWAY. INCORPORATED
AS TOWN OF MATTHEWS IN 1879.
DEPOT LATER SERVED SEABOARD
AIR LINE RR, CLOSED BY 1967.
WILLIAM G. POMEROY FOUNDATION 2024
The Carolina Central Railway Company was incorporated in 1873. The railroad was built to connect Charlotte to Monroe, North Carolina, with the first train running on the line in December 1874. Eventually named the Carolina Central Railroad, it would be extended to connect Charlotte to Wilmington, North Carolina and offered freight and passenger service. In Mecklenburg County, a depot was established by 1875 that was named after Edward Matthews, one of the organizers of the railroad company. In 1879, the town of Matthews was officially incorporated, with the Carolina Central depot laid out as the center point of the new town.
Matthews grew around the depot, with the railroad as a major influence on the town’s growth and development. In 1900, the Carolina Central Railroad was acquired by the Seaboard Air Line Railway, which became the Seaboard Air Line Railroad in 1945. By 1967, the depot in Matthews was closed. Passenger service at the depot ended in the late 1950s and freight by 1967. The former depot building now serves as the Matthews Chamber of Commerce, and as a visitors center and museum open to the public.