The Kernersville Historic Train Depot was built in 1873 and came with the arrival of the North Carolina railroad. A railroad line was constructed to connect Greensboro and Winston-Salem and eager to bring the train through Kernersville, citizens raised $10,000 to build a four mile section of track that brought the railroad straight through town. The train depot, which is still standing today, is the second oldest railroad building in Western North Carolina. Richard P. Kerner, of Kernersville, was the first freight and passenger agent, telegrapher and express agent.

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Later, in the early 1900’s, a passenger depot was construction on the opposite side of the tracks from the originally train depot. Once the passenger depot was built the old train depot was used mostly for storage. The last known passenger train that departed from Kernersville was in April of 1959. In 1986 the passenger depot was demolished.  In order to save the original train depot, the structure had to be moved a safe distance back from the railroad tracks. In 1998 the Kernersville Downtown Preservation and Development Committee moved the depot to where it sits now on the corner of Bodenhamer Street. The Historic Train Depot is now under the Kernersville Museum Foundation, though it is still owned and maintained by the Town of Kernersville.