Huntsville City Depot Transportation Bus Station Complex Maps

Depot Complex Maps I These maps of the Huntsville Depot Complex are circa 1888 – 1898. The drawing was stitched together using two maps, one each from 1888 and 1898. The facilities, however, were completed by 1864, and these maps represent a very accurate depiction of that time period.

Noting the scale and relatively small area involved, it is easy enough to determine the proximity of the still standing Depot and Freight building to the original Turn Table and shops.

These maps were originally taken from insurance maps that are very accurate. However, the maps that were actually copied for this presentation may have been second or third generation copies themselves. The scale on the two maps is exactly the same, however, some scaling was necessary in order to bring all points to a perfect fit. As such, horizontal and vertical scale may be off somewhat. Given the relatively small area involved, it shouldn’t be more than a few feet (+/-~10′) across the entire map.

When using the old fashioned rudimentary measure of pacing it off, Cleveland Street seems to fall about 80 feet further North than these maps would indicate. Again, total measurement error shouldn’t be as far off as the Cleveland Street discrepancy would seem to indicate.

A later map that is less detailed, and whose accuracy cannot be considered as accurate, seems to show Cleveland slightly further South – by about 50 feet or so. This would be consistent with the pacing measure, but other clues seem to indicate that the western mouth of Cleveland is still in the same spot.

One clue is the area found during the excavation that clearly was a “pit” of ashes that measures 4-5 feet deep and approximately 75 feet across. That would be consistent with the notion that when the shops were demolished, they were burned down with the ashes being piled into the Turn Table pit, to fill it prior to being covered over.

*These maps originate from — The Sandbord Map & Publishing Co., Limited — and were first published in 1888 and 1898. Subsequently, they are on record with the Library of Congress photoduplication service. Hard copies are on record in the Heritage Room of the Huntsville/Madison County Public Library, and can be reviewed by the public. Efforts to find these maps online with the LOC were not successful, probably due to the large volumes of material currently in the process of being documented for the Internet by the LOC.

Depot Complex Maps II This is the same composite map used above, and so has the same minor problems with scale.

The yellow tinted corner section represents the area of the current construction project, and is based on the (somewhat suspicious) location of Cleveland Street’s large mouth on the West side.

The green lines represent the continuation of Cleveland Street to the East, and also assumes the mouth of Cleveland to the west to be in the exact same location. The additional green lines represent the Interstate, and it’s ramps (6 overpasses in all), that pass over the site parallel to Cleveland, as well the Washington Street access ramps (2 overpasses) that run perpendicular to both. All green lines, and the yellow construction area, are based on the proximate location of the Western mouth of Cleveland Street.

If the western mouth of Cleveland Street was moved to the South, by about 50 to 80 feet, then all the proximate roadway locations represented by the green lines, as well as the yellow tinted construction area, would actaully be further north by that amount. The proximate east-west location of the Washington Street ramps would be essentially unaffected since they run north-south.

Either way, in the final analysis, the original site of Turn Table and Shops is being encroached upon by the current construction project.