Florence is enjoying a remarkable urban renewal in its core area. The newly built, elegant and magisterial public library is a civic treasure, as grand us any structure in Charleston. The new and newly rising cultural buildings up and down Dargan Street are likewise praise worthy. Too, the city can be proud of so much more, such as its fine airport.
In glaring contrast stands the woefully inadequate little railroad station, a fact especially disturbing considering the importance of the railroad in building Florence. Today, Florence has the second busiest Amtrak Station in South Carolina (Charleston is first). Four passenger trains a day stop here. On many days hundreds of people pass through the station, not including the many people waiting on relatives and friends to arrive and depart. The little building simply cannot accommodate the crowds using it. People often have to stand outside on sidewalks, streets, and parking lots, not a good idea in bad weather.
Unaddressed, this problem will only worsen as more and more people turn to rail travel. Amtrak ridership’s rises every year, up a third in the last decade. Indeed, some trains are sold out in advance. Gas prices and intrusive airport security are sending more people to rail travel.
I believe the best solution to Florence’s station problem is simply to return to the existing grand old depot, one of the best historical structures in the city. The local governments could negotiate with the current owners, McLeod, to do this. Charleston is now investing millions of dollars to build a new train/bus station that will look remarkable like the old one that once stood miles away, near the old Citadel. It is time to return it to its original purpose as a passenger train station worthy of the city that is still the railroad center of eastern South Carolina.
Ron Caldwell
Florence
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