It was built in 1858 and was served by various railways until 2005, when Amtrak suspended service due to Hurricane Katrina.

[3] It was originally built in 1858 by the Pensacola and Georgia Railroad, which provided freight and passenger service east to Lake City (where there was connecting service to Jacksonville via the Florida, Atlantic and Gulf Central Railroad), west to Quincy, and north to Georgia via the railroad's Live Oak branch.

[5] This station remained the site of passenger service to Tallahassee until 1971 when, for the first time in 113 years, passenger service to Tallahassee ceased when Amtrak took over nationwide passenger rail service and discontinued the Gulf Wind, the New Orleans to Jacksonville train that had been serving the station at the time.

However, passenger service was suspended in 2005 after Hurricane Katrina caused significant damage to tracks west of Mobile, Alabama.

Although the tracks were repaired in 2006, since then managerial and political obstacles have thus far precluded restoration of passenger service to the depot.