Iksan Chunpo Station Building

About this place

The Iksan Chunpo Station building is a railway station building located in Deoksilri, Chunpo-myeon, Iksan-si, North Jeolla Province. It was designated a registered cultural heritage on November 11, 2005, and is owned by Korail (Korea Railroad Corporation). Built in 1914, the Chunpo Station building is the oldest railway station in Korea, a wooden structure with a gable roof covered in slate. The station originally began as an ordinary station on the Jeolla Line connecting Iksan (then Iri) and Jeonju, under the name Daejang Station (大場驛). At that time, a Japanese settlement called 'Daejangchon' (大場村) had formed in the area following the establishment of a Japanese farm nearby, making it one of the stations frequently used by Japanese settlers. The name 'Daejang' originated during the Japanese colonial period when Japanese people, noting the broad fields, wrote 大場 (large field). In 1996 the name was changed to Chunpo Station, and in 1997 it was downgraded to an unmanned station managed by Samrye Station. The station building, with a canopy over the plaza entrance and a perpendicular gable roof projecting on the trackside, is evaluated — along with Impi Station in Gunsan — as a fine representation of the typical small-scale railway station during the Japanese colonial era, possessing high architectural and railroad-historical value. It is a quiet country station that has faded from railway service but is now recognized as a cultural heritage.