1889 railway depot scores capstone donation

GREENVILLE JUNCTION — The Roxanne Quimby Foundation recently announced a $50,000 donation to the Greenville Junction Depot Friends. The donation will enable the Friends to complete restoration of the Ladies Waiting Room at the north end of the Depot.

The rehabilitation and restoration of the Ladies Waiting Room is scheduled for completion in the summer and will culminate the Friends’ nearly two-decade campaign to return a significant piece of Greenville’s history to the service of the community.

The Depot was built in 1889 by the Canadian Pacific Railway. The Ladies Waiting Room was added in 1911 to accommodate the increasing number of tourists who came to the north woods to escape the summer heat of big cities and whose final destinations were the many luxury hotels scattered around Moosehead Lake.

In a bow to the gendered conventions of the early 20th century, the CPR added the Ladies Waiting Room to the building to provide gentler women folk with a space of their own — separated from the Men’s Waiting Room by the Station Master’s Office. The new room was distinguished by its curved bench and distinctive conical roof line, both of which remain to this day.

The Depot was decommissioned and abandoned in 1965 and fell into disrepair. In 2008 Maine Preservation, a statewide non-profit dedicated to historic preservation, listed it in its yearly compilation of “Maine’s Most Endangered Historic Properties”. An article in Moosehead Messenger that year alerted a small group of friends to an endangered piece of Greenville history. “Save the Depot” became their rallying cry and over the years supporters near and far came together to raise and invest more than a million dollars to save the Depot. 

In 2010 the Friends undertook a four-phase project to restore and rehabilitate the Depot that began with condition assessments and engineering studies that indicated that the Depot could be saved. The all-volunteer Friends rolled up their sleeves and removed debris and trash from the structure while beginning fundraising efforts for work that required professional expertise. In 2015 the Depot was removed from Maine Preservation’s list of most endangered historic properties and in 2017 it was enrolled in the National Register of Historic Places as a “part of the Historical and Cultural Heritage of our nation.”

The Depot has already begun to serve the community. The freight room supported by a catering kitchen and new restrooms is available for art shows, receptions, and other events. On May 31, 2025, Greenville High School seniors held their prom at the Depot. A few months later in July, the Depot hosted Thoreau-Wabanaki Trail Festival events. And on Nov. 22, the Depot finished the year by hosting over 4,000 visitors who came to witness the Canadian Pacific Holiday Train’s first ever stop in Greenville. The Depot is alive again and there is life again in the Depot!

Roxanne Quimby and her aunt Liliane Willens visited the Depot several years ago and appreciated its architectural and historical significance. Once restored, the Ladies Waiting Room will be dedicated in Dr. Willens’s honor. Dr. Willens was born in Shanghai, China and spent the first 25 years of her life there. Her moving memoir “Stateless in Shanghai” is a coming-of-age story set in a remarkable place during remarkable times. 

Jane Hall, president of the Friends, noted “On behalf of the Greenville Junction Depot Friends, I extend heartfelt appreciation to everyone who believed in this project and gave so generously of their time, effort, and financial support. A new roof and critical underpinning quite literally ‘saved’ the Depot allowing rehabilitation to begin in earnest. Now, 18 years after that first rallying cry went out to the community, this generous gift from the Roxanne Quimby Foundation, in honor of Ms. Quimby’s aunt, will make it possible to finish restoration of the Depot to its former glory.”