Historic Cleveland train station
photo by Wes Schultz
View of the depot
photo by Wes Schultz
From the railroad side
photo by Wes Schultz
Before restoration
photo by Wes Schultz
Depot was long out of use
photo by Wes Schultz
Center tower
photo by Wes Schultz
Office area
photo by Wes Schultz
Train nearby
photo by Wes Schultz
Ornate house on a hill above the railroad station
photo by Wes Schultz
Nearby mill with smokestack
photo by Wes Schultz
View of the old Charleston, Tn., depot
photo by Wes Schultz
Current condition of the station
photo by Wes Schultz
One of the historic structures at Charleston, Tn.
photo by Wes Schultz
Historic Henegar house at Charleston, Tn.
photo by Wes Schultz
Cleveland, Tn., the county seat of Bradley County, showed early promise as a railroad town. The East Tennessee and Georgia line coming down from Knoxville in the early 1850s had a Cleveland stop, though it bypassed Chattanooga and went instead to Dalton, Ga.
A stout wooden bridge across the Hiwassee River that had opened for general traffic in 1842 was shared with the rail line. It was the first railroad bridge completed in Tennessee. The bridge was constructed of white oak and heart pine timber and supported by two abutments and two limestone piers. This bridge was burned on Oct. 8, 1861, and rebuilt at the close of the Civil War. Near the close of the war, President Lincoln advised the Union troops, “It will be better to take the railroad at Cleveland, Tennessee than the railroad at Richmond.”
The first rail cars had arrived in Cleveland on June 10, 1851. In early August 1851, a schedule was announced connecting Cleveland with Blair's Ferry (Loudon) on the north and Dalton on the south. On Sept. 5, 1851, trains ran all day between Charleston, Tn., and Cleveland to allow all the passengers that could get on to enjoy the new phenomenon. The line to Knoxville, which included a bridge over the Tennessee River, was open by 1855 and it reached Bristol, Va., three years later.
Later, a line of the East Tennessee and Georgia was added from Cleveland to Chattanooga, going through a narrow gap in White Oak Mountain at Ooltewah. This was completed in 1858. Charleston, Tn., had competed for the Chattanooga connection, but lost out.
However, Cleveland never added other rail lines since it was hemmed in on the west by the wide Tennessee River and on the east by mountains and hills. It is said that Meigs County to the north is the only county in the country without a railroad.
The ornate depot building at Cleveland dates to early in the 20th Century. It was long out of use after passenger service ended in the early 1970s. However, it has been renovated to house the city bus service.