Keysville Depot Receives $81,000 VDOT Grant

Doris Thompson, President of the Friends of the Fort Mitchell and Keysville Depots, announced today that the Keysville Depot has received a VDOT Transportation Enhancement grant to aid in the restoration of the Keysville Depot. The grant is a matching grant which requires $21,000 to be raised from supporters.

The support can be in monetary donations, materials, or labor on the depot. In addition, items can be donated for resale with the proceeds going to the depot renovations.

Every dollar raised will be matched by the grant with almost four dollars. This means a $100 tax deductible donation will generate almost $500 for the repairs.

After years of neglect, the Keysville Depot was donated to the Friends of the Fort Mitchell and Keysville Depots by Norfolk-Southern Railroad. The building was stabilized but continued to deteriorate for another five years.

In 2012 The Friends began work on stabilizing and repairing the Keysville Depot using donations and local volunteer labor. Following complaints to the Department of Historic Resources that the work was not being done properly, the Friends were forced to postpone work pending approval of a plan by DHR.

The plan was approved by the Department of Historic Resources in September. DHR will be following the progress to insure the work is in compliance with DHR standards.

The first “Depot Day” is scheduled for October 19, 2013 starting at 9:00 a.m. Volunteers will begin with cleaning the property, cutting weeds and working on repairing leaks in the temporary roof. Everyone who is interested in the Keysville Depot is invited to bring their work gloves. Again, all work counts against the match for the grant.

A website, (keysvilledepot.com), email address (keysvilledepot@gmail.com,) and Facebook page (Facebook.com/keysvilledepot) have been set up.

Donations for the Keysville Depot can be made at the Southside Messenger Office beside the Depot. This includes items donated for the planned yard sale.