| The Alabama and Vicksburg Railroad Depot was constructed as a passenger and freight depot in 1904, a time in which Newton experienced significant growth. This growth, which increased the population of the city from 750 in 1904 to about 3,000 in 1906, was primarily caused by the completion in 1904-1905 of the Mobile, Jackson and Kansas City line from Mobile, through Newton, to as far north as Jackson, Tennessee. The opening of this north-south railway, which later became part of the GM&Q Railroad, not only opened to development new timber lands near Newton but also resulted in a junction with the Alabama and Vicksburg Railroad the major east-west railroad through Mississippi that had been completed in 1860 at Newton. This juncture made Newton the major transshipment point for lumber and cotton in its region and the most important town between Meridian and Jackson. It also allowed the city to enjoy a thriving economy possessing telegraph, telephone, express, and banking facilities as early as 1907, as well as numerous manufacturing plants until at least the late 1920s, when Mississippi's lumber industry began a significant decline. The juncture of these two rail lines also provided the Alabama and Vicksburg Railroad the incentive to replace its old depot with the present brick structure. Other surviving, relatively intact small town railroad depots of the turn of the century include those at Brookhaven (1907), Magnolia (c. 1895), Ocean Springs (1907), and Pascagoula (1904), all individually listed in the National Register; and Hazlehurst (c.1900). The depot at Newton is historically significant as the primary embodiment of the town's historical identity as a railroad town and of the railroad as the major economic factor in Newton's turn-of-the-century growth. The depot was designated a Mississippi Landmark on 4 April 1990. It was listed on the National Register on 12 July 1990. The building is included in "Buildings of Mississippi" (2020) (pp. 224-225, EM28). |