Beginning in 1847, the city of Auburn had a steady heartbeat. Each beat sounded of railcars barreling down tracks and the faint whistle of trains howling through the middle of town.
This central hub, and heart, of Auburn was the train depot, a historic location now crumbling into ruin.
The peeling, pale-pink brick building is the third depot Auburn has seen since 1847.
The depot was built in 1904 by Auburn architecture student, Ralph Dudley. The aging, victorian style train depot sits alone on Mitcham Avenue.
Vacant since 2003, the depot has continued to deteriorate into obscurity. As a result, the Auburn Heritage Association and the Alabama Historical Commission jointly placed the depot on the 2010 list of Places in Peril.
Mary Norman has been the president of the Auburn Heritage Association since 2004, and she has helped in aiding the preservation of the depot.
"The train depot was the center-point of Auburn," Norman said. "People think Toomer's was, but if you look at history, it is how everyone came into Auburn. Some [came] in horses and buggies, but the majority of people and students traveled on the trains."
According to Norman, the Alabama Historic Commission saw the depot was deterorating and suffering from neglect and knew something had to be done.
The Alabama Trust for Historic Preservation's 2010 Places in Peril list described the state of the depot as "suffering from deferred maintenance, a leaking roof and possible environmental problems from an adjacent gas station."
The East Alabama Male College, Auburn University's former name, was incorporated in 1839. A few years later in 1847, the first depot was built on the same site it rests on today.
The original building fell during a Union raid by General Rousseau during the Civil War. The track, running from Atlanta to Selma, was seized and destroyed to hinder supplies and communication to the two vital cities.
The second depot burned to the ground after it was struck by lightning in 1904.
The Montgomery and West Point Railroad served as transportation for people, mail and supplies to Auburn.
Across from the present depot is a historic marker bearing the details of Jefferson Davis' stop on the way to his inauguration in Montgomery.
The president of the Confederacy stopped at the depot on Feb. 16, 1861, for his first inspection of the Auburn Guard cadets at the college.
Ann Pearson, resident and Auburn historian, grew up riding the train.
"I went to the old train depot many times when I was much younger and would get a ticket to ride the train to Atlanta," Pearson said. "It had separate waiting rooms for blacks and whites and was heated with a potbelly stove."
Ralph Draughon Jr., son of former Univeristy president, Ralph Draughon, elaborated on the prank Auburn students played when the Georgia Tech football players came into town traveling by train.
"There was a big crowd waiting at the depot," Draughon Jr. said. "When the Georgia Tech train came by it just kept on going right past the depot. Auburn students had greased the track and the train just kept on gliding past the depot for miles."
The boarded-up depot sold its last ticket and boarded its final passenger in 1970, after losing money because of the growing popularity of cars and public transportation.
"It's changed and been remodeled so much it's hard to recognize what it used to look like," Draughon Jr. said. "I just hope it can be saved."
The depot has been vacant since 2003, before that it was a real estate office for 20 years.
The building is listed as being owned by MRT LLC, owned by attorney Ronald Russell in Montgomery. The city of Auburn voiced wishes to buy the depot. The asking price was $1.2 million.
"They're either going to keep the gas station next door and sell it to the city, or keep both and rehab the train depot," Norman said. "I'm just happy something is going to be done."
Draughon Jr., serves on the Alabama Historical Commission and on the Alabama Trust Historic Preservation and has been involved with the preservation attempts by the associations.
"I'm very concerned about the depot," Draughon Jr. said. "It was the center of town and a place where people came and went for years and now it's deteriorating. I'm holding my breath it gets saved."
City Manager Charles Duggan described City Council plans at a meeting held in November 2013.
"On the Tuesday night council agenda, the initial development board was looking for a resolution from the city council to buy the depot and preserve it," Duggan said.
The city tentatively plans to turn the depot into a gateway building for traffic coming from the north.
They are also planning a proposal to see if a private business would like to do something with the depot and have it in the private sector.
"There is no definitive plan except to get a hold of it and preserve it," Duggan said.
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