Location Information
(for the Yazoo & Mississippi Valley Y&MV Depot)
Name:Yazoo & Mississippi Valley (Y&MV) Depot [Durant Depot]
Address:436 Mulberry Street, East
City/County:Durant, Holmes County
Architectural Information
Construction Date:c.1909
No. of Stories:1
Registration Information
NR Listing Date:19 Jan 2016
View National Register Nomination Form
Mississippi Landmark Information
Designated:10-08-2010
Recorded:12-03-2010
Book/Vol. No.:Book 2010/p1295
Easement Information
Date Signed:08-19-2014
Expires:08-19-2039
Easement Type:Preservation/Maintenance
Book/Vol. No.:V. 2014 Pg. 2031-33
Context/Comments
The Durant Depot is historically significant for its association with transportation and commerce. The City of Durant was founded in 1858 as a stop on the Mississippi Central Railroad, which later became part of the Illinois Central Railroad. By the end of the 19th century, ICRR established a roundhouse and machine shop in Durant. Small frame depots served the community, but c. 1909 the current brick depot was completed. The depot served the community as both a freight and passenger depot until the late 1990s when the City of Durant acquired the building. The roundhouse and machine shop have been demolished leaving the Durant Depot as the last major resource illustrating Durant’s history as a railroad town.
Brief Description
The Durant Depot was designed by architect Frank D. Chase, who was employed by the Illinois Central Railroad. After a fire destroyed a frame station in 1908, the ICRR submitted plans for a brick station to the Mississippi Railroad Commission. The Commission approved the plans in December 1908 and ordered that construction begin within sixty days. Durant was an operations center for the ICRR with a repair yard and large roundhouse. This may explain the rather ornate design of the Durant Depot. Clad in red brick with cast stone belt courses and with a clay tile roof, the building is much more ambitious than most simple frame depots around the state. A bold Dutch gable graces the primary façade and is repeated in a bay that allowed depot employees to view the tracks. It is a unique structure for Durant and an exceptional local example of Spanish Colonial style.
Reports
Durant Depot: Mississippi Landmark Significance Report June 2010 Bill Gatlin, MDAH