History
Shimao Station opened on 5 April 1912 as the terminus of a Chūetsu Railway extension from Fushiki, before the line was pushed further north to Himi later that year. It was nationalised in 1920 along with the rest of the Chūetsu Railway and became part of the Himi Light Railway, renamed the Himi Line under the 1922 reorganisation. Freight and parcel handling were progressively withdrawn between 1959 and 1982, and the station was destaffed in 1984. JR West took over on 1 April 1987 with the breakup of JNR. The current wooden station building dates from a 1990 rebuild and has a yacht-sail-shaped roof reflecting the adjacent Shimao swimming beach.
History summarized from Japanese & English Wikipedia · last reviewed 2026-06-09.
Where the English and Japanese sources differ, this account follows the Japanese source.