Our Clarke
A brick passenger station approved in January 1910, begun that spring and all but finished by August. The 1987 survey recorded it vacant; Norfolk Southern demolished it on July 2, 1990, after an effort to make it a visitors' center failed, and one of its iron window guards went up at Hogan's Alley in 2024. No source here records the day it opened. The survey says South First Street and a 2024 report says Station Avenue; the earlier freight-and-passenger station north of Main is a different building.
Approved January 1910, begun that spring, all but finished by August. Demolished July 2, 1990. One of its iron window guards returned to Berryville in 2023 and went up at Hogan's Alley in mid-March 2024.
The Clarke Courier of 3 November 1909 reported private advice from railway officials that a depot promised for Berryville — "sadly needed for so long" — would not be long in starting, and would be one of the best on the system1. Two months later, on 5 January 1910, the paper carried the headline 'New Depot Assured' over a report that the railway board had passed the Berryville depot, that it was next on the list to be erected, and that work would start when the spring weather opened. The article placed the station on McCormick land south of the turnpike and described steam heat, electric light, and accommodation for passengers, baggage, express and freight2.
Work started on Monday 2 March 1910, with a large force of men preparing the ground for the foundations1. In May the Courier named O. L. Burnett of the J. P. Pettijohn Company of Lynchburg as contractor, reported the railway's deadline of 1 August, and described excavation for foundations and cellar and a trench for a water line run from the Main Street main2. By 27 July the depot was described as rapidly nearing completion, with outside painting finished and painters at work inside. On 10 August the Courier reported the finishing touches under way and Station Agent Macomb expecting to move in 'next Sunday if everything goes well'3. What Sunday it opened, and whether Macomb kept his prediction, the record on this site does not settle.
The 1987 Berryville Historic District nomination inventoried the building as a brick station with a hipped roof, bracketed eaves, and iron grillwork over the main windows — Tudor Revival, 1910, and vacant by 19871. A 2024 Clarke Monthly report explains the geography the earlier record blurs: the first railway station, north of Main Street on First Street, handled both freight and passengers until 1910, when the Norfolk and Western built the passenger station south of Main Street on Station Avenue opposite the gristmill; the older First Street station continued as a freight station2.
Norfolk Southern Corporation demolished the passenger station on 2 July 1990, after two years in which the Berryville-Clarke County Chamber of Commerce had negotiated to take the building as a visitors' centre. The railroad had been willing to donate the building but not its land, and the negotiation failed on that condition1. Souvenir hunters took bricks and iron window guards after the demolition. One guard ended up at Hip and Humble in the mill opposite the site, Berryville Main Street acquired it in 2023, and a town crew installed it at the Main Street entrance to Hogan's Alley in mid-March 2024. Virginia Main Street separately describes the guard as repaired at a local welder's school and installed at the alley's northern entrance2.
Nine claims across the depot's whole life, from the 1909 rumor of its coming to the 2024 reappearance of one iron window guard. The Norfolk & Western built it, the town spent eighty years using it, the railway spent two years failing to give it away, and it fell in one morning in July 1990. What sits on Station Avenue today, and what the site looked like in the years between the demolition and 2024, are questions this collection has not yet opened.
The Clarke Courier of 3 November 1909 reported private advice from railway officials that the depot promised for Berryville would not be long in starting, and said the station, "sadly needed for so long", would be one of the best on the system.
That a new station had been promised and had not yet begun, a year before the building existed.
An expectation reported from unnamed officials. It fixes no decision and no date.
Evidence role: supports. The paragraph, in the OCR of page 1.
Clarke Courier (Berryville) · 1909-11-03 (publication)
Locator: Page 1, railway news paragraph (OCR, line breaks joined)
Relevant passageprivate advices from officials in a position to know indicate that it will not be a great while until the new depot promised for Berryville is started. The new station here, which has been sadly needed for so long, will be one of the best on the entire system
Checked: Existing OCR reviewed. Original image not independently inspected.
Open sourceSource family: clarke-courier-loc. Multiple passages from one source are not independent witnesses.
AI-assisted source check (Claude Opus 5) · 2026-09-10. How this project checks its sources
Under the headline "New Depot Assured", the Clarke Courier of 5 January 1910 reported a railway official saying the board had passed the Berryville depot, that it was next on the list to be erected and that work would start when the spring weather opened; the article placed the station on McCormick land south of the turnpike and described steam heat, electric light and accommodation for passengers, baggage, express and freight.
The approval and the intended building: where it was to stand and what it was to contain.
Everything after the headline is paraphrased: this page's OCR is badly degraded and only the headline is quoted. The facilities are what the company said it intended, not what was later observed, and the cost figure in the article is illegible and is not carried.
Evidence role: supports. The headline, quoted; the body is paraphrased from the same column.
Clarke Courier (Berryville) · 1910-01-05 (publication)
Locator: Page 1, headline of the depot report; the body's OCR is too degraded to quote and is paraphrased in the claim
Relevant passageNew Depot Assured
Checked: Existing OCR reviewed. Original image not independently inspected.
Open sourceSource family: clarke-courier-loc. Multiple passages from one source are not independent witnesses.
AI-assisted source check (Claude Opus 5) · 2026-09-10. How this project checks its sources
The Clarke Courier of 2 March 1910 reported that work on the new Berryville depot had started on the Monday and that a large force of men was preparing the ground for the foundations.
The start of construction, reported within the week by the paper of the town.
The paper says "Monday morning" without a date; this site does not convert that into a calendar day. The article's projected readiness date and cost are illegible in the OCR and are not carried.
Evidence role: supports. The report, in the OCR of page 1.
Clarke Courier (Berryville) · 1910-03-02 (publication)
Locator: Page 1, "The New Depot" (OCR, line breaks joined; ellipsis where the OCR is degraded)
Relevant passagework on the new Berryville Depot was started Monday morning ... in preparing the ground, preparatory to the laying of the [f]oundations
Checked: Existing OCR reviewed. Original image not independently inspected.
Open sourceSource family: clarke-courier-loc. Multiple passages from one source are not independent witnesses.
AI-assisted source check (Claude Opus 5) · 2026-09-10. How this project checks its sources
In May 1910 the Courier named O. L. Burnett of the J. P. Pettijohn Company of Lynchburg as contractor for the new Norfolk & Western depot, reported that the railway wanted the building finished on or before 1 August, and described excavation for the foundations and cellar and a trench for a water line run from the Main Street main.
Who was building the station, and the date the railway was working towards.
A date the company desired is not a contract date or an outcome. The May reports describe work in progress, not completion.
Evidence role: supports. The contractor, 4 May.
Clarke Courier (Berryville) · 1910-05-04 (publication)
Locator: Page 1, "The New Depot" (OCR, line breaks joined)
Relevant passageMr. O. L. Burnett, of the J. P. Pettijohn Company, of Lynchburg, Va., the contractors for Berryville's new Norfolk Western Depot, was here this week perfecting arrangements for commencing work ou the building
Checked: Existing OCR reviewed. Original image not independently inspected.
Open sourceSource family: clarke-courier-loc. Multiple passages from one source are not independent witnesses.
Evidence role: supports. Excavation and the water line, 11 May.
Clarke Courier (Berryville) · 1910-05-11 (publication)
Locator: Page 1, "Depot Work Progressing Well." (OCR, line breaks joined)
Relevant passageWork on the excavations for foundations and cellar for the new Norfolk Western Depot is progressing rapidly ... The trench for the water pipe
Checked: Existing OCR reviewed. Original image not independently inspected.
Open sourceSource family: clarke-courier-loc. Multiple passages from one source are not independent witnesses.
AI-assisted source check (Claude Opus 5) · 2026-09-10. How this project checks its sources
By 27 July 1910 the Courier described the depot as rapidly nearing completion, with outside painting finished and painters at work inside, and on 10 August reported the finishing touches under way and Station Agent Macomb expecting to move in "next Sunday if everything goes well".
How close the building was to finished in the last weeks, and what the agent expected.
A conditional expectation of moving in is not an opening. No issue confirming occupancy, a train met at the new platform or a ticket sold was recovered, so this site records no opening date for the station.
Evidence role: supports. The 27 July report.
Clarke Courier (Berryville) · 1910-07-27 (publication)
Locator: Page 1, "Depot Nearing Completion." (OCR, line breaks joined)
Relevant passageThe new depot is rapidly nearing completeion. ... The outside painting has been finished and the painters are on the inside at work.
Checked: Existing OCR reviewed. Original image not independently inspected.
Open sourceSource family: clarke-courier-loc. Multiple passages from one source are not independent witnesses.
Evidence role: supports. The 10 August report and the agent's expectation.
Clarke Courier (Berryville) · 1910-08-10 (publication)
Locator: Page 1, "Depot Soon to be Ready." (OCR, line breaks joined)
Relevant passageThe finishing touches are being put on the new depot and the grounds surrounding it. ... Station Agent Macomb expects to move in next Sunday if everything goes well
Checked: Existing OCR reviewed. Original image not independently inspected.
Open sourceSource family: clarke-courier-loc. Multiple passages from one source are not independent witnesses.
AI-assisted source check (Claude Opus 5) · 2026-09-10. How this project checks its sources
The 1987 nomination says a new railroad depot was built by 1910 near the industrial area on South First Street, a brick station with a hipped roof, bracketed eaves and iron grillwork over the main windows, and inventories the Norfolk and Western Railway Station, Tudor Revival, 1910, as vacant in 1987.
The depot's construction date and appearance, and its vacancy at survey date, from the survey.
The survey locates it on South First Street; the 2024 article says Station Avenue south of Main Street, opposite the gristmill. Both are carried; neither is mapped.
Evidence role: supports. The architectural analysis.
Virginia Division of Historic Landmarks (nomination preparers not individually named in the pages read) · 1987 (creation)
Locator: PDF page 8, architectural analysis, on the railroad depot
Relevant passageBy 1910 a new railroad depot was built near the industrial area on South First Street. It is a typical early 20th-century brick station with a hipped roof and wide overhanging eaves supported by large curvilinear brackets. ... the fanciful iron grillwork covering the main windows.
Checked: Page text reviewed. Original image not independently inspected.
Open sourceSource family: dhr-berryville. Multiple passages from one source are not independent witnesses.
Evidence role: supports. The inventory entry, vacant in 1987.
Virginia Division of Historic Landmarks (nomination preparers not individually named in the pages read) · 1987 (creation)
Locator: PDF page 32, S. First Street inventory
Relevant passageNorfolk and Western Railway Station. Vacant-present use. Train Station-original use. Tudor Revival. 1910. Brick (irregular); 1 1/2 stories, 7 bays (asymmetrical); hipped, standing seam metal roof
Checked: Page text reviewed. Original image not independently inspected.
Open sourceSource family: dhr-berryville. Multiple passages from one source are not independent witnesses.
AI-assisted source check (Claude Fable 5.1) · 2026-09-10. How this project checks its sources
A 2024 Clarke Monthly report says the first railway station, north of Main Street on First Street, handled both freight and passengers until 1910, when the Norfolk and Western built a passenger station south of Main Street on Station Avenue opposite the gristmill, the First Street station continuing as a freight station.
That there were two stations, and which one this record is about.
A retrospective without a cited railroad record. The first station is a different building and is not profiled here.
Evidence role: supports. The two-station paragraphs.
Cathy Kuehner, Clarke Monthly · 2024-04-14 (publication)
Locator: Paragraphs on the two stations
Relevant passageThat station handled both freight and passengers until 1910. In 1910, Norfolk Southern - then Norfolk and Western - built a passenger station south of Main Street along Station Avenue, opposite the big gristmill, while the First Street station continued to receive freight.
Checked: Page text reviewed. Original image not independently inspected.
Open sourceSource family: clarke-monthly-downtown. Multiple passages from one source are not independent witnesses.
Evidence role: contextualizes. The survey's "South First Street" placement of the 1910 depot.
Virginia Division of Historic Landmarks (nomination preparers not individually named in the pages read) · 1987 (creation)
Locator: PDF page 8, architectural analysis, on the railroad depot
Relevant passageBy 1910 a new railroad depot was built near the industrial area on South First Street. It is a typical early 20th-century brick station with a hipped roof and wide overhanging eaves supported by large curvilinear brackets. ... the fanciful iron grillwork covering the main windows.
Checked: Page text reviewed. Original image not independently inspected.
Open sourceSource family: dhr-berryville. Multiple passages from one source are not independent witnesses.
AI-assisted source check (Claude Fable 5.1) · 2026-09-10. How this project checks its sources
The same report says the Norfolk Southern Corporation demolished the station on 2 July 1990, after two years in which the Berryville-Clarke County Chamber of Commerce had negotiated to take the building as a visitors' centre; the railroad would donate the building but not its land.
The demolition date and the failed reuse effort that preceded it.
Stated without a cited file; no town or railroad record was inspected. The negotiation is the article's summary.
Evidence role: supports. The demolition paragraph.
Cathy Kuehner, Clarke Monthly · 2024-04-14 (publication)
Locator: Paragraph on the demolition
Relevant passagedemolished the Berryville train station on July 2, 1990 ... the Berryville-Clarke County Chamber of Commerce negotiated with the corporation for possession of the circa-1910 station to create a visitors' center. Norfolk Southern was willing to donate the brick building but not its land
Checked: Page text reviewed. Original image not independently inspected.
Open sourceSource family: clarke-monthly-downtown. Multiple passages from one source are not independent witnesses.
AI-assisted source check (Claude Fable 5.1) · 2026-09-10. How this project checks its sources
The report says souvenir hunters took bricks and iron window guards after the demolition, that one guard ended up at Hip and Humble in the mill opposite the site, that Berryville Main Street acquired it in 2023, and that a town crew installed it at the Main Street entrance to Hogan's Alley in mid-March 2024; Virginia Main Street separately describes the guard as repaired at a local welder's school and installed at the alley's northern entrance.
What survives of the depot and where it is now: a salvaged fitting reused as a public-history feature, not the building.
"Last year" in an April 2024 article is read as 2023. The guard's provenance between 1990 and its arrival at the shop is not documented. Two source families now describe the installation; neither dates the demolition, which still rests on the 2024 local retrospective alone.
Evidence role: supports. The window-guard paragraphs.
Cathy Kuehner, Clarke Monthly · 2024-04-14 (publication)
Locator: Paragraphs on the window guard
Relevant passagesouvenir hunters gathered bricks ... including its heavy iron window guards. ... one of the window guards ended up at Hip and Humble ... Last year, Berryville Main Street ... acquired the ... iron window guard ... In mid-March, a Town of Berryville ... crew installed an old iron window guard
Checked: Page text reviewed. Original image not independently inspected.
Open sourceSource family: clarke-monthly-downtown. Multiple passages from one source are not independent witnesses.
Evidence role: supports. Virginia Main Street, December 2024, on the repaired guard at the northern entrance.
Virginia Main Street (Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development) · 2024-12-05 (publication)
Locator: Paragraph on the alley's features
Relevant passagea historic iron window guard from the former Berryville Train Depot. The window guard was repaired at a local welder's school and installed at the alley's northern entrance
Checked: Page text reviewed. Original image not independently inspected.
Open sourceSource family: virginia-main-street. Multiple passages from one source are not independent witnesses.
AI-assisted source check (Claude Fable 5.1) · 2026-09-10. How this project checks its sources
The 1987 nomination says a new railroad depot was built by 1910 near the industrial area on South First Street, a brick station with a hipped roof, bracketed eaves and iron grillwork over the main windows, and inventories the Norfolk and Western Railway Station, Tudor Revival, 1910, as vacant in 1987.
The 1987 nomination says a new railroad depot was built by 1910 near the industrial area on South First Street, a brick station with a hipped roof, bracketed eaves and iron grillwork over the main windows, and inventories the Norfolk and Western Railway Station, Tudor Revival, 1910, as vacant in 1987.
The depot's construction date and appearance, and its vacancy at survey date, from the survey.
The survey locates it on South First Street; the 2024 article says Station Avenue south of Main Street, opposite the gristmill. Both are carried; neither is mapped.
Evidence role: supports. The architectural analysis.
Virginia Division of Historic Landmarks (nomination preparers not individually named in the pages read) · 1987 (creation)
Locator: PDF page 8, architectural analysis, on the railroad depot
Relevant passageBy 1910 a new railroad depot was built near the industrial area on South First Street. It is a typical early 20th-century brick station with a hipped roof and wide overhanging eaves supported by large curvilinear brackets. ... the fanciful iron grillwork covering the main windows.
Checked: Page text reviewed. Original image not independently inspected.
Open sourceSource family: dhr-berryville. Multiple passages from one source are not independent witnesses.
Evidence role: supports. The inventory entry, vacant in 1987.
Virginia Division of Historic Landmarks (nomination preparers not individually named in the pages read) · 1987 (creation)
Locator: PDF page 32, S. First Street inventory
Relevant passageNorfolk and Western Railway Station. Vacant-present use. Train Station-original use. Tudor Revival. 1910. Brick (irregular); 1 1/2 stories, 7 bays (asymmetrical); hipped, standing seam metal roof
Checked: Page text reviewed. Original image not independently inspected.
Open sourceSource family: dhr-berryville. Multiple passages from one source are not independent witnesses.
AI-assisted source check (Claude Fable 5.1) · 2026-09-10. How this project checks its sources
A 2024 Clarke Monthly report says the first railway station, north of Main Street on First Street, handled both freight and passengers until 1910, when the Norfolk and Western built a passenger station south of Main Street on Station Avenue opposite the gristmill, the First Street station continuing as a freight station.
A 2024 Clarke Monthly report says the first railway station, north of Main Street on First Street, handled both freight and passengers until 1910, when the Norfolk and Western built a passenger station south of Main Street on Station Avenue opposite the gristmill, the First Street station continuing as a freight station.
That there were two stations, and which one this record is about.
A retrospective without a cited railroad record. The first station is a different building and is not profiled here.
Evidence role: supports. The two-station paragraphs.
Cathy Kuehner, Clarke Monthly · 2024-04-14 (publication)
Locator: Paragraphs on the two stations
Relevant passageThat station handled both freight and passengers until 1910. In 1910, Norfolk Southern - then Norfolk and Western - built a passenger station south of Main Street along Station Avenue, opposite the big gristmill, while the First Street station continued to receive freight.
Checked: Page text reviewed. Original image not independently inspected.
Open sourceSource family: clarke-monthly-downtown. Multiple passages from one source are not independent witnesses.
Evidence role: contextualizes. The survey's "South First Street" placement of the 1910 depot.
Virginia Division of Historic Landmarks (nomination preparers not individually named in the pages read) · 1987 (creation)
Locator: PDF page 8, architectural analysis, on the railroad depot
Relevant passageBy 1910 a new railroad depot was built near the industrial area on South First Street. It is a typical early 20th-century brick station with a hipped roof and wide overhanging eaves supported by large curvilinear brackets. ... the fanciful iron grillwork covering the main windows.
Checked: Page text reviewed. Original image not independently inspected.
Open sourceSource family: dhr-berryville. Multiple passages from one source are not independent witnesses.
AI-assisted source check (Claude Fable 5.1) · 2026-09-10. How this project checks its sources
The same report says the Norfolk Southern Corporation demolished the station on 2 July 1990, after two years in which the Berryville-Clarke County Chamber of Commerce had negotiated to take the building as a visitors' centre; the railroad would donate the building but not its land.
The same report says the Norfolk Southern Corporation demolished the station on 2 July 1990, after two years in which the Berryville-Clarke County Chamber of Commerce had negotiated to take the building as a visitors' centre; the railroad would donate the building but not its land.
The demolition date and the failed reuse effort that preceded it.
Stated without a cited file; no town or railroad record was inspected. The negotiation is the article's summary.
Evidence role: supports. The demolition paragraph.
Cathy Kuehner, Clarke Monthly · 2024-04-14 (publication)
Locator: Paragraph on the demolition
Relevant passagedemolished the Berryville train station on July 2, 1990 ... the Berryville-Clarke County Chamber of Commerce negotiated with the corporation for possession of the circa-1910 station to create a visitors' center. Norfolk Southern was willing to donate the brick building but not its land
Checked: Page text reviewed. Original image not independently inspected.
Open sourceSource family: clarke-monthly-downtown. Multiple passages from one source are not independent witnesses.
AI-assisted source check (Claude Fable 5.1) · 2026-09-10. How this project checks its sources
The report says souvenir hunters took bricks and iron window guards after the demolition, that one guard ended up at Hip and Humble in the mill opposite the site, that Berryville Main Street acquired it in 2023, and that a town crew installed it at the Main Street entrance to Hogan's Alley in mid-March 2024; Virginia Main Street separately describes the guard as repaired at a local welder's school and installed at the alley's northern entrance.
The report says souvenir hunters took bricks and iron window guards after the demolition, that one guard ended up at Hip and Humble in the mill opposite the site, that Berryville Main Street acquired it in 2023, and that a town crew installed it at the Main Street entrance to Hogan's Alley in mid-March 2024; Virginia Main Street separately describes the guard as repaired at a local welder's school and installed at the alley's northern entrance.
What survives of the depot and where it is now: a salvaged fitting reused as a public-history feature, not the building.
"Last year" in an April 2024 article is read as 2023. The guard's provenance between 1990 and its arrival at the shop is not documented. Two source families now describe the installation; neither dates the demolition, which still rests on the 2024 local retrospective alone.
Evidence role: supports. The window-guard paragraphs.
Cathy Kuehner, Clarke Monthly · 2024-04-14 (publication)
Locator: Paragraphs on the window guard
Relevant passagesouvenir hunters gathered bricks ... including its heavy iron window guards. ... one of the window guards ended up at Hip and Humble ... Last year, Berryville Main Street ... acquired the ... iron window guard ... In mid-March, a Town of Berryville ... crew installed an old iron window guard
Checked: Page text reviewed. Original image not independently inspected.
Open sourceSource family: clarke-monthly-downtown. Multiple passages from one source are not independent witnesses.
Evidence role: supports. Virginia Main Street, December 2024, on the repaired guard at the northern entrance.
Virginia Main Street (Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development) · 2024-12-05 (publication)
Locator: Paragraph on the alley's features
Relevant passagea historic iron window guard from the former Berryville Train Depot. The window guard was repaired at a local welder's school and installed at the alley's northern entrance
Checked: Page text reviewed. Original image not independently inspected.
Open sourceSource family: virginia-main-street. Multiple passages from one source are not independent witnesses.
AI-assisted source check (Claude Fable 5.1) · 2026-09-10. How this project checks its sources
The Clarke Courier of 3 November 1909 reported private advice from railway officials that the depot promised for Berryville would not be long in starting, and said the station, "sadly needed for so long", would be one of the best on the system.
The Clarke Courier of 3 November 1909 reported private advice from railway officials that the depot promised for Berryville would not be long in starting, and said the station, "sadly needed for so long", would be one of the best on the system.
That a new station had been promised and had not yet begun, a year before the building existed.
An expectation reported from unnamed officials. It fixes no decision and no date.
Evidence role: supports. The paragraph, in the OCR of page 1.
Clarke Courier (Berryville) · 1909-11-03 (publication)
Locator: Page 1, railway news paragraph (OCR, line breaks joined)
Relevant passageprivate advices from officials in a position to know indicate that it will not be a great while until the new depot promised for Berryville is started. The new station here, which has been sadly needed for so long, will be one of the best on the entire system
Checked: Existing OCR reviewed. Original image not independently inspected.
Open sourceSource family: clarke-courier-loc. Multiple passages from one source are not independent witnesses.
AI-assisted source check (Claude Opus 5) · 2026-09-10. How this project checks its sources
Under the headline "New Depot Assured", the Clarke Courier of 5 January 1910 reported a railway official saying the board had passed the Berryville depot, that it was next on the list to be erected and that work would start when the spring weather opened; the article placed the station on McCormick land south of the turnpike and described steam heat, electric light and accommodation for passengers, baggage, express and freight.
Under the headline "New Depot Assured", the Clarke Courier of 5 January 1910 reported a railway official saying the board had passed the Berryville depot, that it was next on the list to be erected and that work would start when the spring weather opened; the article placed the station on McCormick land south of the turnpike and described steam heat, electric light and accommodation for passengers, baggage, express and freight.
The approval and the intended building: where it was to stand and what it was to contain.
Everything after the headline is paraphrased: this page's OCR is badly degraded and only the headline is quoted. The facilities are what the company said it intended, not what was later observed, and the cost figure in the article is illegible and is not carried.
Evidence role: supports. The headline, quoted; the body is paraphrased from the same column.
Clarke Courier (Berryville) · 1910-01-05 (publication)
Locator: Page 1, headline of the depot report; the body's OCR is too degraded to quote and is paraphrased in the claim
Relevant passageNew Depot Assured
Checked: Existing OCR reviewed. Original image not independently inspected.
Open sourceSource family: clarke-courier-loc. Multiple passages from one source are not independent witnesses.
AI-assisted source check (Claude Opus 5) · 2026-09-10. How this project checks its sources
The Clarke Courier of 2 March 1910 reported that work on the new Berryville depot had started on the Monday and that a large force of men was preparing the ground for the foundations.
The Clarke Courier of 2 March 1910 reported that work on the new Berryville depot had started on the Monday and that a large force of men was preparing the ground for the foundations.
The start of construction, reported within the week by the paper of the town.
The paper says "Monday morning" without a date; this site does not convert that into a calendar day. The article's projected readiness date and cost are illegible in the OCR and are not carried.
Evidence role: supports. The report, in the OCR of page 1.
Clarke Courier (Berryville) · 1910-03-02 (publication)
Locator: Page 1, "The New Depot" (OCR, line breaks joined; ellipsis where the OCR is degraded)
Relevant passagework on the new Berryville Depot was started Monday morning ... in preparing the ground, preparatory to the laying of the [f]oundations
Checked: Existing OCR reviewed. Original image not independently inspected.
Open sourceSource family: clarke-courier-loc. Multiple passages from one source are not independent witnesses.
AI-assisted source check (Claude Opus 5) · 2026-09-10. How this project checks its sources
In May 1910 the Courier named O. L. Burnett of the J. P. Pettijohn Company of Lynchburg as contractor for the new Norfolk & Western depot, reported that the railway wanted the building finished on or before 1 August, and described excavation for the foundations and cellar and a trench for a water line run from the Main Street main.
In May 1910 the Courier named O. L. Burnett of the J. P. Pettijohn Company of Lynchburg as contractor for the new Norfolk & Western depot, reported that the railway wanted the building finished on or before 1 August, and described excavation for the foundations and cellar and a trench for a water line run from the Main Street main.
Who was building the station, and the date the railway was working towards.
A date the company desired is not a contract date or an outcome. The May reports describe work in progress, not completion.
Evidence role: supports. The contractor, 4 May.
Clarke Courier (Berryville) · 1910-05-04 (publication)
Locator: Page 1, "The New Depot" (OCR, line breaks joined)
Relevant passageMr. O. L. Burnett, of the J. P. Pettijohn Company, of Lynchburg, Va., the contractors for Berryville's new Norfolk Western Depot, was here this week perfecting arrangements for commencing work ou the building
Checked: Existing OCR reviewed. Original image not independently inspected.
Open sourceSource family: clarke-courier-loc. Multiple passages from one source are not independent witnesses.
Evidence role: supports. Excavation and the water line, 11 May.
Clarke Courier (Berryville) · 1910-05-11 (publication)
Locator: Page 1, "Depot Work Progressing Well." (OCR, line breaks joined)
Relevant passageWork on the excavations for foundations and cellar for the new Norfolk Western Depot is progressing rapidly ... The trench for the water pipe
Checked: Existing OCR reviewed. Original image not independently inspected.
Open sourceSource family: clarke-courier-loc. Multiple passages from one source are not independent witnesses.
AI-assisted source check (Claude Opus 5) · 2026-09-10. How this project checks its sources
By 27 July 1910 the Courier described the depot as rapidly nearing completion, with outside painting finished and painters at work inside, and on 10 August reported the finishing touches under way and Station Agent Macomb expecting to move in "next Sunday if everything goes well".
By 27 July 1910 the Courier described the depot as rapidly nearing completion, with outside painting finished and painters at work inside, and on 10 August reported the finishing touches under way and Station Agent Macomb expecting to move in "next Sunday if everything goes well".
How close the building was to finished in the last weeks, and what the agent expected.
A conditional expectation of moving in is not an opening. No issue confirming occupancy, a train met at the new platform or a ticket sold was recovered, so this site records no opening date for the station.
Evidence role: supports. The 27 July report.
Clarke Courier (Berryville) · 1910-07-27 (publication)
Locator: Page 1, "Depot Nearing Completion." (OCR, line breaks joined)
Relevant passageThe new depot is rapidly nearing completeion. ... The outside painting has been finished and the painters are on the inside at work.
Checked: Existing OCR reviewed. Original image not independently inspected.
Open sourceSource family: clarke-courier-loc. Multiple passages from one source are not independent witnesses.
Evidence role: supports. The 10 August report and the agent's expectation.
Clarke Courier (Berryville) · 1910-08-10 (publication)
Locator: Page 1, "Depot Soon to be Ready." (OCR, line breaks joined)
Relevant passageThe finishing touches are being put on the new depot and the grounds surrounding it. ... Station Agent Macomb expects to move in next Sunday if everything goes well
Checked: Existing OCR reviewed. Original image not independently inspected.
Open sourceSource family: clarke-courier-loc. Multiple passages from one source are not independent witnesses.
AI-assisted source check (Claude Opus 5) · 2026-09-10. How this project checks its sources
See a related record at the Clarke County Historical Association
Also indexed as: Berryville train station; Berryville passenger station.
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A railroad station's four dates, each from a different kind of source, and the one piece of it still on Main Street.
What the evidence says Construction sequence documented contemporaneously; 1987 vacancy from the survey; demolition and reuse retrospective; no opening date.