Ardmore, OK (ADM)

Ticket Revenue

FY 2011

$126,999

Station Ridership

FY 2011

9,941

Note: Fiscal year is from
October through September.

The Ardmore station is one of two that the city once had; it was built in 1916 as a joint effort between the Santa Fe Railway and a now-extinct branch of the Rock Island Railroad. The second station, the Oklahoma, New Mexico and Pacific Railroad depot, lies a few block further north, but is no longer in service to a railroad. Built of brick with stucco walls, the cross-gabled Santa Fe depot is roofed in barrel-tiles in a southwestern style.

In 1998 BNSF (the successor to the Santa Fe) sold the Ardmore depot to the Ardmore Main Street Authority (a trust of the city of Ardmore) for $1 and sold the land for $20,000. In exchange, the Main Street Authority agreed to provide a facility for the BNSF.

The Main Street Authority also purchased the vacant Railway Express Agency building at the north end of the property from BNSF. Its renovation and platform work were the first part of the Ardmore Main Street Authority’s project; restoration of the depot building itself came later, as BNSF had to move to the new facility before the station project could begin. The Authority received a TEA-21 grant through the Oklahoma Department of Transportation, a $10,000 grant from the Great American Stations Foundation, and funding from two local foundations. BNSF still occupies the former express building.

Completed in 2001, the comprehensive restoration cost approximately $1.6 million. Grants and funding were in place before Amtrak returned to Oklahoma, so a waiting room was not included in the plan sent to the State Historic Preservation Office. However, a gazebo as a shelter, platform and landscaping were included in the restorations.

A small office area on the west side of the renovated building was initially used as a satellite police office for the city's community services officer. When the city relocated the office back to the headquarters, the Main Street Authority approached the city about using the room as a waiting room and it was agreed. As of August 2009, passengers use this waiting room area. The Authority also provides volunteers who greet the passengers entraining and detraining.

The Ardmore post office in Indian Territory, between the Arbuckle Mountains and the Red River, opened in 1887 when the Santa Fe Railway came through; Ardmore was not settled by the great 1889 Land Run. Among the Santa Fe crews building the line was a foreman who had been previously employed by the Pennsylvania Railroad. He suggested that they name the town for the one in Pennsylvania (which also is served by Amtrak today). By 1895, the town became a transport center for cotton going to market. The city was incorporated in 1899.

Other Ardmore milestones include the construction of a Carnegie library, paved streets and an interurban rail system and the beginning of an oil boom in 1913 with the discovery of the Healdton Field. Soil depletion in the region caused the cotton trade to decline; however, the oil industry has filled that economic void.

The region today provides a number of natural attractions, including the Arbuckle Wilderness with its petting zoo and animal safari, and Lake Murray State Park; and entertainments such as those of the Tivoli Theater and the Greater Southwest Historical Museum; as well as venues for large events, particularly the Ardmore Convention Center, which opened in 2001, and the venerable but still operating Hardy Murphy Coliseum, which is a regional venue for rodeos and horse shows.

Amtrak does not provide ticketing nor baggage services at this facility.

Ardmore is served by two daily trains.