History
Shiroishi Station opened on 1 June 1908 as a station of the Railway Bureau. Following the establishment of state-railway line nomenclature on 12 October 1909 it became a station of the Hitoyoshi Main Line, then was redesignated to the Kagoshima Main Line on 21 November 1909 and finally to the Hisatsu Line on 17 October 1927. Freight handling was discontinued on 1 October 1962, station operations were outsourced on 16 October 1973, parcel handling ended on 1 February 1984, and the station was destaffed on 1 November 1986 following installation of an electronic block-signal device. With the JNR breakup on 1 April 1987 it became a JR Kyushu station. On 30 November 2007 it was designated as one of the Modern Industrial Heritage of South Kyushu transport-related sites. The station has been closed since the 4 July 2020 flooding caused the suspension of the Hisatsu Line south of Yatsushiro.
History summarized from Japanese & English Wikipedia · last reviewed 2026-05-24.
Notes
Until SL Hitoyoshi's last run on 23 March 2024, Shiroishi was a scheduled stop for that steam-hauled tourist train. The station building remains the original wooden structure from the Meiji-era opening of the Hisatsu Line, though the ticket window has been boarded over since destaffing. Locally the name 白石 reflects the area's limestone (white-stone) geology and historic limestone production.