HauntBound archive · catalog record
Reported phenomena, as catalogued
Auburn's 1904 train station, built on a site first used as a depot in 1847 and destroyed twice, now operates as a fine-dining restaurant with legends of a tragic wartime love story and a reported 1970s murder in its former bar.
124 Mitcham Avenue, Auburn, AL 36830
Research updated May 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
$$
Fine-dining restaurant; dinner entrees approximately $25–$50. No admission fee to dine.
Access
Wheelchair OK
Level restaurant floor; historic building.
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1904 · Depot site continuously used since 1847 — one of Alabama's oldest railroad locations · Original 1847 depot destroyed in Rousseau's Raid, July 1864 — a major Union cavalry operation · Listed on Auburn Historical Commission's Places in Peril (2010) · Restored as fine-dining restaurant in 2015 after decade-long vacancy
Auburn's train depot history spans nearly 180 years of Alabama transportation. The first structure on the site was built in 1847 to serve the Montgomery & West Point Railroad. During the Civil War, the depot's tracks played a critical role in Confederate logistics, moving supplies and troops through Lee County. In July 1864, Union Major General Lovell Harrison Rousseau led a cavalry raid that targeted the Montgomery & West Point Railroad specifically to disrupt Confederate supply lines; his forces destroyed the tracks and the depot itself in one of the most consequential cavalry raids of the war.
A second depot was rebuilt in 1870 on the same site, only to burn down after a lightning strike. The current brick building was constructed in 1904 and served as Auburn's passenger rail hub through much of the 20th century, with the final ticket sold in 1970. After rail service ended, a real estate agency occupied the building for several decades before it sat empty from 2003 onward.
In 2010 the Auburn Historical Commission placed the depot on its 'Places in Peril' list. The Auburn City Council purchased the building in 2013 and undertook a comprehensive restoration. The Depot restaurant opened in 2015, offering globally inspired cuisine in a space that preserves original architectural details including the high ceilings, transoms, and platform-facing windows of the 1904 structure. The site is at 124 Mitcham Avenue, downtown Auburn.
Sources
The Auburn Depot carries two strands of paranormal folklore, both rooted in violent deaths at the site. The more romantic story involves a young couple who repeatedly met at the depot against the wishes of the woman's father, who had arranged another marriage for her. According to local legend, the couple planned to elope by train, but her brother discovered the plan, intercepted them at the depot, and killed her lover. Overcome with grief, the young woman stepped in front of an arriving train; local accounts say her cry was indistinguishable from the train whistle, and some visitors report hearing a woman's wail in the building even today.
This legend is independently documented in Haunted Auburn and Opelika by Faith Serafin, Michelle Smith, and John Mark Poe (Arcadia Publishing, 2011), a regional ghost-history book covering Lee County's most storied paranormal sites. According to that book's account, the building has seen 'a number of strange doings' attributed to staff experiences over the years since the restaurant opened. The book's coverage provides independent corroboration of the elopement/murder legend as an established part of Auburn's paranormal oral tradition.
A second, grimmer tradition involves the early 1970s, the depot's final years as a passenger station. At that time a bar operated on the premises, and according to some accounts a man was killed there in an incident involving a bladed weapon. No newspaper records confirming the specific event have been located in available online archives, and this strand of the lore should be treated as unverified local rumor.
Notable Entities
Media Appearances
Where this legend is told
Dine in the restored 1904 train station, which retains original architectural elements from its days as a rail hub. The Civil War-era history of the site and the persistent local ghost legends make this a historically atmospheric meal.
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