By JULIA N. STREET
ll wot once
о
busy place, used by 2 roil-oy systems. Bui by 1969 the depot -on no longer in use
because troms didn't stop there; the roilroad gore it to the town. Following on unusuol community
ellorl. it is now one of the finest small libraries to be found anywhere.
Resurrection at
the Apex Depot
In llu»ir Con I on nia I Year, citizens
here joined forces lo reclaim a de¬
scried railway station — with remark¬
able results.
When (he Twentieth Century was in
its teens, the favorite amusement of the
town of Apex’s teen-agers was going
to the depot at train time to sec who
was traveling to or from Raleigh on the
Shoo-fly, the fast train between Rich¬
mond and Miami that furnished local
service to drummers and other trav¬
elers.
One could board a train in the morn¬
ing, a day coach of course, spend the
day in the Capital City 14 miles away
and return in time for supper. If a
youth could slip away from morning
chores and supervising adults, he had
a head start on the news of travelers;
but almost every boy and girl managed
to meet the afternoon Shoo-fly. find
out who had been where, then stroll to
the post office to wait for the mail to be
put up.
Now that the railroads have ceased
using the old depot, and the simple
pleasures of meeting trains and collect¬
ing mail have given way to more so¬
phisticated entertainment, many young
folk in Apex still go to the depot
14
to satisfy their curiosity; but it’s curi¬
osity of a different kind. They go seek¬
ing knowledge of many kinds, for the
old depot has been converted into a li¬
brary, and what a fine library it is.
On Sunday afternoon. May thir¬
teenth. nineteen seventy-three, as a part
of Apex’s week-long Centennial Cele¬
bration. the depot-turned-library was
formally opened with a tea for the
whole population, and visitors.
This opening marked the culmina¬
tion of more than a year’s community
planning and hard labor — an effort that
has united the whole community as
probably nothing else could have done.
Near Ihe Frog Fond
The origin of the name Apex has
never been positively documented, but
according to a map of the period it was
in existence in 1871. It is thought to
have evolved from the fact that the par¬
ticular spot where the library now
stands was the highest point on the
first railroad to run through that section
of Wake County. When the old Chat¬
ham Railroad was begun during the
war of 1861-65, as a vehicle for ship¬
ping supplies for the Confederacy, the
builders picked a place just above what
was then known as Frog Fond, as a
watering station for the proposed
trains. At that time the land round
about was deeply wooded and in¬
habited by deer, foxes, raccoons and
rabbits as well as bullfrogs and snakes.
Although the tracks were not laid
until the late 1860s, the Chatham Rail¬
road served a forty-mile stretch be¬
tween southeastern Chatham County
and Raleigh, mainly hauling coal from
Chatham. The town of Apex was char¬
tered in 1873.
By 1906 The Seaboard Airline had
incorporated the old Chatham Rail¬
road and was serving the whole Atlan¬
tic seaboard from Richmond to Miami.
The Durham and Southern Railroad,
which ran between Dunn and Durham,
transporting tobacco, mainly, bisected
the Seaboard Railway at Apex and a
station was built to serve the town of
about six hundred people.
(■iven to Town
In 1914 the wooden structure was
destroyed by a great fire that leveled
a large portion of the business section
of Apex. People still tell of seeing by
the light of the flames, huge gray rats
fleeing from the burning depot. To¬
ward the end of that year the present
building was built of brick, with hand-
The old "Scoboord Troin Bulletin" it «till there.
Reno«otion »os plonned to preterre the original
character of the building at much at vat
practical.
THE STATE. JULY 1973
