LOXLEY — The Museum of Loxley held a ceremony on Thursday, July 23, for a commemorative marker recognizing the site of the former L&N Railroad Depot.

Loxley’s L&N Railroad Depot operated from 1905 until it was destroyed by a fire in 1965. The depot served as a place for residents to travel across Baldwin County as well as for out-of-towners traveling from other parts of the country. The railroad’s passengers included John Loxley, a Michigan native and the namesake founder of the city who established his lumber camp after arriving to the area.

The depot also served as an important freight line for the local agriculture industry, transporting Loxley’s large potato production as well as corn, radishes and cucumbers.

Kim Marsh, curator of the Museum of Loxley, said the marker symbolizes a significant point of community in the city’s history.

“They came in on the railroad from all different places in the United States in those early days in the beginning settling days, and they would come step out onto the depot platform, and the first thing they would see would be the old Loxley Hotel that was right across the street,” Marsh said. “The L&N Railroad Depot that was once here symbolizes so many things going back to that time period."

The commemorative marker was funded with an America 250AL Semiquincetennial Community Grant. Elected leaders in attendance included Loxley Mayor Richard Teal and state Rep. Donna Givens, R-Loxley, who donated items to the museum’s collection: two vintage hats from the Loxley-based companies R.M. Black Jr. Produce Inc. and Dean Black Truck Line, which were in her family’s possession, and the desk from the Alabama State Capital that was used by Givens and her predecessor, Harry Shiver, during legislative sessions.

Following the ceremony, the Loxley Farm Center, located just steps away from the marker, was open to the public for viewing. The Loxley Farm center was built in 1965 by Rube Childress, operating as a potato shed, the last surviving structure of its kind in the area. It went through different owners throughout the decades, later serving as a feed and seed store before being acquired by the City of Loxley in 2022. It now serves as a meeting place for civic organizations and additional display space for the Museum of Loxley’s artifacts.