125+ years on Brighton Street.
From electric trolleys to celebrated events, the Car Barn's story is Newport's story.
Built in 1899. Restored for a new century.
Long before wedding aisles ran across our brick floor, the Newport Car Barn was Newport's transit heart. It was the depot where streetcars were housed, cleaned, and sent back out to move a growing city.
Built in 1899 as a hub for Newport's thriving trolley system, the building has always been a place where people come together. Today the same brick walls, timber trusses, and open floor host a new kind of gathering: weddings, corporate gatherings, community celebrations, and nonprofit fundraisers.
From trolleys to toasts.
The very cars that carried Newport residents through the 20th century once slept beneath these rafters. Today the same walls hold a different kind of gathering, one guest and one toast at a time.
- 1899
Built as a Trolley Barn
Erected as a hub for Newport's thriving electric streetcar system, housing and servicing the fleet that carried the city into the 20th century.
- Early 1900s
Newport's Transit Heart
For decades, the Car Barn stood at the center of Kentucky's growing interurban network, a working landmark of daily life in Newport.
- Mid-Century
From Rails to Wheels
As streetcars gave way to buses and automobiles, the building took on new industrial uses, its cavernous hall too grand to abandon.
- Today
A Historic Event Venue
Beautifully restored, the Newport Car Barn now hosts weddings, galas, corporate gatherings, and community celebrations under its original timber and brick.
Every event held here adds a new chapter to a building that has been at the heart of Newport for over 125 years.