Cherryvale, KS

Santa Fe's masonry depot architecture arguably reached its zenith in the brick county seat depots of the early 1900's. Details of the design changed almost from year to year, but the overall appearance of the buildings, with their broad eaves, arched windows, and stylized Santa Fe emblems, carried across nearly all of them. Cherryvale is one of the best preserved of numerous surviving examples. It is essentially a mirror image of the Plainview, TX depot, which was built in 1910. Unlike Plainview, Cherryvale features a covered "carriage porch" on the rear. The depot is now used by shortline operator Watco and by a local model railroad club. Its survival is remarkable considering the near-total destruction of other Santa Fe depots in southeast Kansas. The large edifice at Chanute is the only other brick depot to survive out of a group that once included Girard, Humboldt, Iola, and Independence. Frame depots fared little better.

Cherryvale, KS

Santa Fe's masonry depot architecture arguably reached its zenith in the brick county seat depots of the early 1900's. Details of the design changed almost from year to year, but the overall appearance of the buildings, with their broad eaves, arched windows, and stylized Santa Fe emblems, carried across nearly all of them. Cherryvale is one of the best preserved of numerous surviving examples. It is essentially a mirror image of the Plainview, TX depot, which was built in 1910. Unlike Plainview, Cherryvale features a covered "carriage porch" on the rear.

The depot is now used by shortline operator Watco and by a local model railroad club. Its survival is remarkable considering the near-total destruction of other Santa Fe depots in southeast Kansas. The large edifice at Chanute is the only other brick depot to survive out of a group that once included Girard, Humboldt, Iola, and Independence. Frame depots fared little better.

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