HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (WHNT) — The Huntsville Historic Depot building is the oldest surviving railroad depot in the state. It’s been a fixture in downtown Huntsville for 165 years, but now, city officials said it’s time for the depot to serve a new purpose.
“The city is asking a simple but important question: what could this place become?” said Huntsville Mayor Tommy Battle.
They want the public’s help deciding what that looks like.
“We’ve already seen some tremendous interest…more than 1,400 people took time to complete a public survey, and that’s a clear sign that the site matters to our community,” said Mayor Battle.
In Wednesday’s community conversation session, people shared their opinions on options like a restaurant, public park space, farmers market and more.
Cody Gilliam is a Huntsville Native who was one of many who attended.
“It made me a lifelong lover of history,” Gilliam said. “The first tour I took with my grandfather was when I was about eight years old…actually, I still have the ticket at home.” “I really would love for that to pass on to a new generation.”
That’s why he’s in favor of the depot being preserved and transformed into a museum.
He believes many others feel that way, too.
“I’ve certainly worked the room a little bit, and it seems to me most people I’ve talked to and most people I’ve engaged in the community have said that it really needs to open back up as a museum,” he said.
Although, with how large the space around the depot is, city leaders said there may be room for multiple things.
This is something attendee Kevin Davis supports.
“There’s so many things going on in the community, I think it should be available to all for a lot of different users for a lot of different purposes,” said Davis.
As far as next steps, the city said they are reviewing all of the responses and will look for big trends in responses and go from there.
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