{"nrhp_refnum":"78002103","name":"Old Amherst Freight Depot","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"Franklin St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Amherst","county":"Lorain County","state":"OH","lat":41.39516549500007,"lon":-82.21877156399995,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1978-11-21","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A one-story rectangular brick freight depot on Franklin Street in Amherst, Lorain County, Ohio, built in 1905 by the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railroad and later renovated as a community meeting hall and railroad museum.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the depot survives largely as built around 1905 and represents the standard plain brick freight depot of the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern line, with oversized eave brackets. It is also valued as a community center, an educational display of railroad memorabilia, and an example of sensitive adaptive reuse. The Amherst passenger depot no longer exists, so the freight depot remains an important part of this rail system.","narrative":"Built in 1905 by the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railroad, this one-story brick freight depot on Franklin Street in Amherst, Ohio, has a broad slate gable roof with brackets at the eaves. It is five bays long and two bays wide, with segmental brick arches, stone sills, brick-patterned pediments and round attic windows at the gable ends. The railroad favored plain, well-built brick freight depots with oversized eave brackets, and this one survives largely as constructed, while the line's Amherst passenger depot is gone. After the New York Central abandoned the building, the Nordson Corporation acquired it and renovated it. The interior keeps exposed brick walls, heavy wooden rafters and the original working freight scale. The large storage room now serves as a public meeting hall, and two passenger cars and a caboose parked alongside are used for tours. The depot is valued as a railroad survivor and as a thoughtful reuse of an obsolete building.","period_of_significance":"1905","architect_builder":"Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railroad","architectural_style":null,"criteria":[],"status_note":"Renovated and in use as a public meeting hall and railroad museum, with tours offered; the interior was restored and the original freight scale remains operational.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:53:12.758388-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_OH/78002103.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/78002103/e79a5ebc21-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/78002103/e79a5ebc21-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"dkallas","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Old_Amherst_Freight_Depot_2012-09-25_08-52-40.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">dkallas</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Old_Amherst_Freight_Depot_2012-09-25_08-52-40.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71989857","wikipedia":null,"wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q138472858"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/ohio/lorain-county/old-amherst-freight-depot-78002103/"}