Gainesville, GA (GNS)

116 Industrial Boulevard
Gainesville, GA 30501

Station Ownership

Facility:
Norfolk Southern Railway

Parking:
Norfolk Southern Railway

Platform(s):
Norfolk Southern Railway

Track(s):
Norfolk Southern Railway

Amtrak Contact

Todd Stennis

Routes Served:

• Crescent

History

The red brick Gainesville station was formerly the Gainesville Southern Railway Depot, built in 1910. An earlier Southern Railway station was severely damaged by the passage of a tornado through Gainesville in 1903. Norfolk Southern, which owns the station, has made some improvements, with a new roof and electrical maintenance. Most of the building is railroad offices in this industrial section of town, with some space reserved for a passenger waiting area. However, should an Atlanta-area commuter rail project under discussion come to fruition, Gainesville and its station would become the northernmost end of that line.

There is also a passenger station that was built for the Gainesville Midland Railroad, circa 1914, which has been restored and now is home to the Smithgall Arts Center in Gainesville.

Gainesville is located along Lake Lanier and in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Lake Lanier is a flooded Appalachian valley, and was created in 1958 when the Army Corps of Engineers damned a portion of the Chattahoochee River for purposes of creating hydroelectricity and flood control.

Originally an Indian trail crossing, the town began as the second settlement in Hall County, Mule Camp Springs; Hall County was created in 1818 from Cherokee lands ceded by treaty. In 1821, the town was officially incorporated as Gainesville, in honor of Edmund Pendleton Gaines, a hero and general from Northern Virginia in the War of 1812. Gainesville is today the seat of Hall County.

Gainesville first prospered and grew due to a gold rush in nearby Lumpkin County in 1830. When the Atlanta and Charlotte Airline Railroad, later taken over by the Southern, came through Gainesville in May of 1871, the area also began to develop as a summer resort due to the quality of the local springs. The cotton milling industry, which first boomed in the Gainesville area in 1900, was nearly wiped out in 1936 due to a deadly tornado which struck Gainesville and neighboring towns.  Poultry then became and continues to be a staple of the Gainesville economy.

Beside Lake Lanier and it many resorts and parks, as well as the outdoor attractions of the Chattahoochee River and environs, Gainesville is also near the Kangaroo Conservation Center, the largest kangaroo collection and preserve outside of Australia. This privately owned facility engages in both captive breeding and public education, and currently has 300 kangaroos of nine species, as well as other Australasian fowl, reptiles, and marsupials.

General James Longstreet, one of the foremost Confederate generals in the American Civil War—Lee’s “Old War Horse”—served in the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia from Manassas to Appomattox and retired in 1875 to a farm near Gainesville, Georgia, where he served as postmaster for a time. He also ran the successful Piedmont Hotel in Gainesville, and farmed, raising turkeys and planting orchards and vineyards on terraced ground. Longstreet enjoyed a successful post-war career working for the U.S. Government as a diplomat, civil servant, and administrator.

Gainesville has four historical districts; however the Gainesville station, which lies just south of downtown, is not currently a historically designated structure. The station, however, is included in a 300-acre redevelopment area referred to as “mid-town Gainesville,” and it is expected that the industrial character of the surrounding area will be undergoing some change in the future.

Amtrak does not provide ticketing and baggage services at this facility.

Gainesville is served by two daily trains.  Amtrak serves two communities named Gainesville; the second one is in Texas.

ADA Compliance

Federal law requires compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) by 2010. The following is a list of items typically required for transportation and public facilities under the Americans with Disabilities Act. Please check the regulations for guidance or contact us for more information.