Excerpts from The Defiance Democrat Newspaper
Defiance Democrat - March, 1915
March 1915 – Defiance Democrat
DEPOT WAS LANDMARK
One Destroyed By Fire at Sherwood Was Constructed in 1877
Sherwood Chronicle:One Destroyed By Fire at Sherwood Was Constructed in 1877
Sunday Evening, between the hours of six and seven o’clock, the old B & O depot, used jointly by the B & O and C.N. Railways, was burned to the ground after thirty-seven years service. The fire, it is thought by those who were first upon the scene, originated between the roof and the ceiling, possibly from a defective flue.
All records, etc., were a total loss, the mail and Agent Openlander’s typewriter alone being carried out.
The building was practically doomed when the fire was first discovered, and it was only by hard work that the ware house just across the track was saved.
Although many willing workers were at hand to extinguish the flames, such was not possible. And the feeling that seems to exist among many that it is a good riddance is not the right spirit. However, recognizing the depot should be replaced by a new one, this would undoubtedly have been done in time anyhow.
On Monday, the C. N. brought in a couple freight cars and placed them along the track for temporary headquarters of office force and shelter for passengers.
In 1877, the depot was built, the material, work, etc., for its construction donated by the citizens of Sherwood, then in its infancy, as an old letter to one of our townsmen will denote, the old site being on the south side of the B & O railroad crossing on west side of Harrison street, but at the time of the building of the C. N. railway in 1887, was removed to the present location and used since then as a union depot.
But now Sherwood is certainly scheduled for a new depot, and the only question is, what kind of a building will they give us? Although the old depot was a good substantial building and filled the needs in the earlier days, there were none of the conveniences that the traveling public of today demands, and a depot should now be built with the modern accommodations. As Sherwood is a heavy transfer station, it is particularly needed. And in justice to the thousands upon thousands of dollars annually that the railroad companies draw from Sherwood, said companies should be appreciative enough to give us the modern depot we all hope for. We understand that the C. N. favors modern plans, but what the B & O wants to do, we have not learned.
However, a new depot must now be built, and the worst they could do would scarcely be as bad as the “all sorts pen” or waiting room we had before.
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