Winter Park, FL (WPK)

Amtrak/SunRail Station
148 West Morse Boulevard
Winter Park, FL 32789-3825

Station Hours

Annual Ticket Revenue (FY 2023): $1,853,967
Annual Station Ridership (FY 2023): 21,009

• Ownerships
• Routes Served
• Contact
• Local Community Links

• Facility Ownership: City of Winter Park
• Parking Lot Ownership: City of Winter Park
• Platform Ownership: Florida Department of Transportation
• Track Ownership: Florida Department of Transportation

• Silver Meteor
• Silver Star

Todd Stennis
Regional Contact
governmentaffairsnol@amtrak.com
For information about Amtrak fares and schedules, please visit Amtrak.com or call 1-800-USA-RAIL (1-800-872-7245).

• City of Winter Park
• Lynx buses
• SunRail

On March 3, 2014, officials representing Amtrak, the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) and the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) gathered with Winter Park Mayor Ken Bradley, U.S. Congressman John Mica and residents to dedicate the city’s new train station. The 2,400 square foot building, which accommodates Amtrak intercity passenger rail service and SunRail commuter service, replaced a 1962 structure built by the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad. Following the ribbon-cutting, attendees were invited to tour the facility and a SunRail train.

Designed by local firm ACi Inc., the new $1.2 million depot fronts Central Park and the adjacent shopping and dining district. Craftsman-style detailing reflects Winter Park’s historic early 20^th century architecture. Features include decorative brackets in the eaves, eyebrow and shed dormers, a fanciful cupola and latticework along the columned porch. Looking up, travelers spot a unique weather vane bearing the city’s official symbol—a peacock.

Inside, passengers enter a sun-filled Grand Hall flanked by a seating area, ticket office and fully accessible restrooms. Rich cherry wood is used in the trim around doors and windows, as well as in the beams on the ceiling. Craftsman-style chandeliers feature groups of small lanterns. Around the ticket desk, glass tile in shades of green, royal blue and brown mimic a peacock’s lustrous feathers.

The building achieved a LEED Silver certification due to the incorporation of environmentally sustainable design solutions. The architects used building products that include recycled content, sourced locally-available materials and diverted 75 percent of construction waste from landfills through recycling, reuse on site and resale. Water efficient systems reduce the burden on the city’s water supply and wastewater systems.

The station and platform canopies were largely funded through a $950,000 grant from the the FTA’s Bus and Bus Facilities program, which the city matched with community redevelopment area funds. The project was eligible for the federal support because the new station is also a stop for LYNX buses serving the greater Orlando area.

As part of the planning for SunRail service, each proposed stop received $6,500 from FDOT to fund public artwork through the “Art in Transit” program. The city’s Public Art Advisory Board worked with FDOT to solicit installations “evocative of Winter Park’s character, aesthetic and unique sense of place.” Resident artist Diane Gillett Boswell won the commission. Her work, entitled “Tree Whisperers,” features eight photographic panels dominated by elegant trees echoing those found throughout the downtown.

Construction of the SunRail commuter rail system is divided into phases. The first phase, a 32-mile segment running from Sand Lake Road to DeBary, opened for service in May 2014. A 17.2-mile extension south to Poinciana opened in July 2018, and a future expansion north to DeLand is planned.

The area that became Winter Park was uninhabited by European-Americans until 1858, when David Mizell, Jr. built the first eight-acre homestead between Lakes Virginia, Mizell, and Berry (called Osceola). The area, dotted with pine forests and many small clear lakes, did not develop much until 1880, when a South Florida Railroad track was laid a few miles west of Osceola. Loren Chase saw the opportunity in the land thereabouts and with a wealthy New Englander, Oliver Chapman, assembled a large tract of land upon which they plotted the town of Winter Park. Promoted as a healthful investment, the settlement was planted with orange trees and all buildings were required to meet strict stylistic standards, In 1885, Chapman and Chase sold the town to the newly-formed Winter Park Company, during which time there was a land boom characteristic of Florida, with real estate prices peaking at $300 an acre.

In 1885, New England Congregationalists founded Rollins College in Winter Park. It is the oldest college in Florida and a liberal arts college of excellent reputation. The next year, 1886, the Seminole Hotel opened as a grand resort amidst much fanfare, and in 1887, the town incorporated, including the Osceola settlement. Work had also begun on the Orlando and Winter Park Railroad, often called the Dinky Line, which operated until the 1960s, when the last of its tracks were removed. The Temple orange, a hybrid of sweet orange and tangerine, was discovered in the 1890s and Winter Park became one of the places it was grown. It was named in honor of W.C. Temple, former manager of the Florida Citrus Exchange, who initially spread word of the new fruit. By the 1950s, lemons became very important in Winter Park—especially the Villa Franca variety.

In May of 1981, a massive sinkhole opened near the corner of Denning Drive and Fairbanks Avenue during a period of record low-water levels for Florida’s limestone aquifer. In a single day, the hole widened to 320 feet and attained a depth of 90 feet, thereby destroying a car dealership, an entire two-story house, and a public pool. The depression is now managed by city engineers and is referred to as Lake Rose.

Image courtesy of the city of Winter Park.

Station Building (with waiting room)