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At the heart of this core is the Depot Museum. It now serves as an ever growing resource for Avon Park. Built in 1926 by the Seaboard Airline Railroad Company, the train station served thousands of passengers until closing in 1976.
Today its main function is that of a historical museum to showcase the years of progress of Avon Park and the surrounding area.
The museum features a number of ever-growing exhibits that tell the stories of Avon Park and environs in a people-pleasing manner.
Along with the exhibits the museum boasts a research room with a large collection of local period newspapers, many out of print. They include The Avon Park Sun, The Sebring News, News-Sun, Avon Park Times, Highlands Pilot and Highlands County News.
Guided and self-guided tours are frequently in progress throughout the museum.
A California Zephyr railroad dining car, built in 1948, was purchased by the Historical Society in 1986 and sits adjacent to the museum. It is rapidly becoming a popular site for people-pleasing luncheons, historical programs and other private functions.
The train no longer stops here, but every day four passenger train rumble past the former depot, along with several freight trains. Each time a train passes, the museum seems to shiver with delight, as if recalling the glory days of yesterday. The building, along with the railroad dining car, serves as a magnet for railroad buffs from all over. Many depots have been lost to history. Ours remains as a reminder of the golden days of railroading and the progress of a great small town American city known as Avon Park, Florida.
www.avonparkdepotmuseum.com
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