‘A new beginning’ for Mystic Depot train station
Mystic — The iconic Mystic Depot train station, closed for a year and a half, officially reopened Friday as Mystic Depot Roasters, a cafe featuring coffee, gifts and sandwiches.
The current depot, originally built between 1905 and 1907, was the prototype for a station building used by the model train company American Flyer for more than half a century. But in recent years, it had fallen into disrepair.
“The Mystic Depot was just not the most impressive place when the train came in,” remembered state Rep. Diana Urban, D-North Stonington.
Now Sherrie and David Crompton, a Rhode Island couple building a new home in Stonington that they plan to settle in to soon, have transformed the classic station and its high ceilings into a cool new place to grab a coffee or catch a quick breakfast or lunch. The restaurant is managed by their son, Ian Ponting, a 21-year-old student at Eastern Connecticut State University.
“This is our go-to spot,” Sherrie Crompton said. “It seems like we’re drawn to this area.”
The train depot closed in March 2015 after the Greater Mystic Chamber of Commerce, which previously had used the building as its headquarters, decided not to staff it as a welcome center. The former chamber President Tricia Walsh said at the time that it had simply become too difficult to find volunteers to man the station, which Amtrak had declared to be unmanned because of its small passenger totals.
Bill Smith, interim chamber president, said Friday during the official ribbon-cutting ceremony that it was time to celebrate a new chapter in the history of the depot.
“All that history; now, a new beginning,” he said.
Stonington First Selectman Rob Simmons said he was glad to see the old building refurbished rather than torn down and replaced.
“We hope you’re here for many, many years,” he said.
“I will certainly be in here drinking coffee with my hubby,” said Rep. Urban, who is getting married in mid-October.
Linda Frankel, senior real estate
manager for Amtrak, said she has been leasing space in railroad-owned buildings for 17 years now, but the rebirth of the Mystic station is one of her proudest moments. She added later that Amtrak had received three proposals for the station and chose the Cromptons because of their planned improvements as well as their intention of turning the depot into a community gateway.
“You’ve transformed this from a diamond in the rough to a true gem,” she said.
The Cromptons said it took them nine months to renovate the depot, lightening up what had been a dark and gloomy place with copious amounts of blue and white paint inside and out. They also scoured New England for train mementoes that are sprinkled throughout the station, and they redid all the floors and lighting fixtures.
The station, which reopened Aug. 23, includes a ticket kiosk and welcome center where guests can get maps and find out information about visiting Mystic and the region.
The depot, now outfitted with accessible bathrooms, a TV screen, train schedules and benches for waiting passengers, will be open 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on weekends and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays.
“Our biggest challenge was the building was so old,” said David Crompton, president and chief executive of Quick Fitting Inc., a Warwick, R.I.based manufacturing company, who acted as general contractor for the project. “Old buildings need a lot of money.”