West Feliciana Railroad Right-of-Way, Woodville, Wilkinson County, MS

Significance: The sites of the West Feliciana line, its Office and Banking House, and the early twentieth-century Depot are significant as one of the most important concentrations of railroad history in the Deep South and in the nation. So far from the rail centers of the east coast, this rural region of Mississippi and Louisiana exhibited amazing foresight in railroad development, its efforts contemporary with those in the American railroad capital of Baltimore and equivalent English cities. Socially, politically, culturally, and industrially, Mississippi was still a frontier, with approximately one-half the land in the state still owned by Indian nations. Only a small fraction of the state was in the hands of private owners. The determination of a few farsighted planters from both Mississippi and Louisiana assured the West Feliciana's charter in 1831 as the first interstate railroad company in the southern United States. Its Office and Banking House, though architecturally significant, is more important as one of the four oldest extant railroad buildings in America, as well as one of Mississippi's three oldest existing banking houses. Combined with the railroad line and the Office and Banking House, the twentieth century Depot represents the peak of the system's development, physically establishing the mid-point of this mature railroad's history.
Survey number: HAER MS-1
Building/structure dates: 1835-1842 Initial Construction