Happy Birthday, Statham Depot!

The city of Statham is a Barrow County municipality awash in history. Like many small towns and cities in the South during the late 1800s, Statham grew up out of the railroad tracks that snaked their way through North Georgia.

Although Statham was first established from a combination country store and post office run by Mr. and Mrs. M. J. C. Statham, it is the railroad that made it a town and eventually a city. Shortly after the railroad came to town, Statham was incorporated and received its charter Dec. 20, 1892.

As a matter of fact, the incorporated area of Statham extends one mile in every direction from the Seaboard Airline Railway Depot, which was originally constructed in the center of town about 1900. A second depot took its place in 1912. The year 2012 marks 100 years since the construction of the second depot in Statham, which still stands proudly in the heart of town.

Although CSX trains continue to pass by the depot every day, the building has not welcomed guests and supplies arriving by train for decades. Rather appropriately so, the century-old depot now houses an antique store aptly named .

Sandwiched between Atlanta Highway and the railroad tracks at 1921 Railroad St., Along the Line Antiques is a self-described “part-time retail shop and full-time online merchant” that specializes in unusual and hard-to-find items, as well as antique advertising, original signs, Victorian pieces, pottery and more. Set hours at the shop are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesdays and noon to 5 p.m. Sundays. The shop is also open on other rotating days and times and may open by appointment by calling 770-725-8680. To view available items online, visit Along the Line Antiques Etsy and ebay pages. To stay up-to-date on the latest Along the Lines Antiques news, be sure to “like” the business Facebook page.

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Check back every Wednesday for a new City Spotlight on Statham.