The station is located in a former Chesapeake and Ohio Railway freight house originally built in the 1890s.

Railway services formerly operated out of the Chesapeake and Ohio passenger station nearby (currently a PNC Bank branch).

In the early 1960s the following named trains served the station daily: Fast Flying Virginian (west to Cincinnati, and sections east to Washington, D.C., and Newport News), George Washington (sections west to Cincinnati and Louisville, and sections east to Washington, D.C., and Newport News) and the Sportsman (northwest to Detroit, and sections east to Washington, D.C., and Newport News).

The city purchased the former freight house in 1997 using more than $500,000 in federal funds obtained through the Intermodal Surface Transportation Enhancement Act of 1991 in order to restore it as an intermodal transit station serving rail as well as buses.

Mor'Trans, Sandy Valley Transportation Services and Northeast Kentucky Community Action Agency provide connections to Ashland from surrounding counties.