Great American train stations : classic terminals and depots 9780760705414, 0760705410

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and April Halberstadt

GREAT AMERICAN TRAIN STATIONS Classic Terminals and Depots By the Civil War, the single-story building we know as a railroad depot had developed most of its unique characteristics. This profile remains so constant that we still easily recognize a railroad depot in the landscape, even when it has been moved away from the tracks and modified as a residence, restaurant, or museum. Its unique characteristics define it as a rectangular building with the longer side parallel to the railroad tracks. It is usually a single-story building without stairs or raised entryways, so baggage and freight can be easily wheeled through the terminal to the trackside platform. The roof has a generous overhang to shelter passengers from the weather. A trackside bay window became a common feature in the 1870s, giving agents better visibility along the tracks. There was only one additional feature, usually added to the larger urban terminals starting about 1880; a clock tower. The railroads introduced Standard Time in the United States, developing the four time zones in 1883. Railroad depots featured clocks partly to advertise railroad reliability and efficiency, partly to remind Americans that commerce moved to the tick of railroad time. Time has run out for many railroad terminals and depots, but their history— and photos of dozens of these buildings— is presented here. Their story is one of buildings, whether grand or simple, which helped facilitate a nation’s mobility. From point-to-point, depot-to-depot, America spread and developed from via the rails. Great American Train Stations: Classic Terminals and Depots covers the evolution of depots, examines their architectural style and how they were used, and suggest how they can be preserved and restored today. Wood or stone, grand or humble, railroad depots have served travelers well over the years. Their story is presented here along with 200 colorful illustrations that bring the past to life again.

Originally Published at

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Dedication To our parents: John and Libby Hope Hal and Olga Halberstadt

This edition published in 1997 by Barnes & Noble., by arrangement with MBI Publishing Company 1997 Barnes & Noble Books © Hans M. and April Halberstadt, 1995 All rights reserved. With the exception of quoting brief passages for the purpose of review no part of this publication may be reproduced without prior written permission from the Publisher The information in this book is true and complete to the best of our knowledge. All recommendations are made without any guarantee on the part of the author or Publisher, who also disclaim any liability incurred in connection with the use of this data or specific details We recognize that some words, model names and designations, for example, mentioned herein are the property of the trademark holder. We use them for identification purposes only. This is not an official publication Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Available

On the front cover: Galena, Illinois, once home to Civil War General Ulysses S. Grant, is still home today for this Italianate-style Illinois Central depot. The depot, reportedly built in 1867, harkens to building styles of that era and thus is a departure from styles IC traditionally applied to depots constructed later throughout its nearly 5,000-mile system. This view shows a Council Bluffs (Iowa)-to-Chicago train of the Chicago Central & Pacific approaching the station in January 1991, when the building was serving as a visitor’s center; it was last used as a passenger depot in 1981. CC&P acquired this line from the IC in 1986 and sold it back to IC in 1996. Mike Schafer/Andover Junction Publications photo. On thefi-ontispiece: Traditional red and weathered in the Nevada sun, this service barn is one of the Nevada Northern buildings near Ely, Nevada. On the title page: Currie, Nevada, is small and remote, but even it had a depot to serve passengers. The depot was primarily a crew change facility, but passengers could board here as well. On the acknowledgments page: Elbow grease and big wheels such as those on this luggage cart would help move a family’s luggage across the platform from their coach or taxi to the train.

ISBN 0-7607-0541-0 M 10 98765432

On the back cover: No. 28 heads out of the Sierra RR roundhouse at Jamestown, California, for another day of tourist excursion rides. Mike Halberstadt The bay window facing the tracks gave the agent at the Sioux Falls, South Dakota, depot a good view of the tracks and trains. Hans Halberstadt Telegraph wires run to the quaint Woodridge depot, whose walls bear some early forms of outdoor advertising for products such as cleanser and crackers. Library of Congress Printed in Hong Kong

Contents

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Preface

,

9

Introduction

13

Chapter 1

Life at the Depot

29

Chapter 2

A Short Course in Railroad Architecture

49

Chapter 3

Depot Architecture and

75

What Makes Some Styles Good? Chapter 4

An All American Style: The Santa Fe

89

Chapter 3

The Union Terminals—The Railroad

99

Terminal as a Civic Monument Chapter 6

Nevada Northern -Suspended in Time

127

Chapter 7

Roundhouses and Shops

145

Chapter 8

Saving the Depots—A Short Course

165

in Jams and Preserves Appendices

190

Bibliography

191

Index

192

MNff

6

The American Depot and Roundhouse

Acknowledgments

^ multitude of people care lor and about

George Lund; ALA, Kansas City Union Station,

g 1 America’s railroad resource, and we’ve met a

Kansas City, Missouri

1/1/ lot of them while working on this book. It is

Sharon Mahoney; Arntrak, Washington, D.C.

a friendly, generous, visionary crowd—lucky for us.

Henry Marnette; Raytown, Missouri

Some of the folks who contributed are listed below,

Dick Mauer; Southern Pacific, ret., Santa Clara,

and we are indebted to them. In addition, another

California

multitude of folks along the right-of-way,

Connie Menninger; Topeka, Kansas

sometimes anonymously, pointed us in interesting

L. L. Nieman

directions. Thanks to all.

Harriet Parcells; National Association of Railway

Tom Anderson; historian, Grand Island, Nebraska

Passengers, Washington, DC

Bob Auman; Public Relations, Norfolk Southern

Ed Peterman; South Bay Historical Railroad

railway

Society

Linda Bailey; Cincinnati Museum, Cincinnati,

Sean Pitts; Nevada Northern Railway, East Ely,

Ohio

Nevada

Jim Bartz; author and railroad historian

Max Purdy; Atchison, Kansas

Henry Bender, Jr.; California Railroad Historian,

Jo Ann Radetic; Washington, Missouri

San Jose, California

Bill Rapp; Crete, Nebraska

Fred Bennett; San Jose Historical Museum, San

John Rothwell; Michigan

Jose, California

Jim Schaid; ALA

Mary Canchola; Santa Clara, California

Sally Schwenk; Independence, Missouri

Dr. Robert Chandler; Wells Fargo History Room,

Norbert Shaklette; Villa Ridge, Missouri

San Francisco, California

John Snyder; Cal Trans, Sacramento, California

Beverly Fleming; State Historic Preservation Office,

Bill Staedler; Railroad Engineer

Independence, Missouri

Eileen Starr; State Historic Preservation Office,

Mike Green; South San Francisco, California

Cheyenne, Wyoming

Kathleen Halcro; Independence, Missouri

Elaine Ulibarri; Nevada Northern Railway, East Ely,

John F. Hope, Esq.; Kansas City, Missouri

Nevada

Maeve Hope Horton; St. Louis, Missouri

Dave Wescock, Nebraska Central

David Koenig; New Jersey Transit

Kyle Wyatt; Nevada State Historical Railroad

Glory Ann Laffey; San Jose, California

Museum, Carson City, Nevada

Jim Leany; Grand Junction, Colorado

8

The American Depot and Roundhouse

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curious and wonderful thing has / M been happening over the last twenty %sl/ or thirty years: we Americans have quietly, effectively, begun to husband our heritage in thousands of places and in dozens of ways. It wasn’t long ago that an

This fine old depot was built in Jackson, Michigan, in 1876 on the corner of Michigan Avenue and Milwaukee Street. It hadn’t been very long since this part of the world was the frontier, hut the railroad helped change that.

old b uilding was an endangered building, no

Most of the community of 1876

matter what its pedigree or its accomplish¬

Jackson is gone, but the old depot

ments. George Washington’s Mt. Vernon

lingers on thanks to the

home was once a candidate for demolition.

cooperative efforts of Amtrak, the

It was saved, but tens of thousands of other

state, and local citizens. The

structures have been torn down in the name of progress. But that kind of progress stopped long

building was restored in 1978 and continues to serve rail passengers daily. Robert Genat

ago, and we have progressively campaigned to save all sorts of remaining buildings, in¬ cluding many of America’s railroad depots. This is a quiet success story, the gradual campaign to insure the preservation of sig¬ nificant buildings, public and private, all across the American landscape. The preser¬ vation movement is a public-private partner¬ ship that preserves, protects, and defends all kinds of buildings in all sorts of places. In many American communities the railroad depot was the most important building in town. More than the court house, the school, the hospital, or the man¬ sion on the hill, the depot touched the lives of people in the community. It was the por¬ tal to the rest of the world for people out on the Nebraska prairie or along the coast of Maine. It took whatever you had to sell off to market, it brought back whatever you wanted to buy. Everything that was impor¬ tant to a community—people, information, products, coin of the realm—came and went through America’s railroad depots. One authoritative source noted that ap¬ proximately 140,000 railroad depots have been built in America, most of them in a span of about eighty years, from about 1850 to 1930. A substantial portion were depot replacements, structures built to replace de¬ pots lost to fire, flood, and other natural dis-

Preface

9

Right: This old MKT (MissouriKansas-Texas Railroad—the “Katy”) depot, too good to tear down, was rescued from oblivion by a beverage distributor who moved it across Texas and restored it to its pristine original condition, inside and out. The only thing that would make it really authentic w'ould be a set of tracks outside—but the rails never came within miles of this spot. While some preservationists might scoff, the alternative .has been a pile of rubble and a match for thousands of similar little unpretentious depots destroyed over the past few decades.

Below: Yonder comes the train, just as it has for 150-plus years in the United States and Canada.

10

asters. Another group of replacements covered structures that were rebuilt to replace a worn-out or inadequate smaller building. Some major Amer¬ ican cities built three or four depots on the same site as the city grew and became more prosperous. Most of these structures are gone, and the rail¬ way rights-of-way have been abandoned. The American frontier created hundreds of buildings and towns in the last century to suit a particular function, and when the function changed, the structure had to change, too. America has moved very quickly from an agricultural nation to a tech¬ nological one, from rural farm life to urban city life, from depending on mass transit such as rail¬ roads to using personal transportation—the auto¬ mobile. So it is only reasonable to expect that de¬ pots and railroads would mirror this trend away from small towns. Depots and Railroad’s Today We looked at depot inventories in several states to see how many depots survived. The state of Kansas presents a typical profile. Kansas proba¬ bly had, in its railroad lifetime, over 1,000 depots. This includes both passenger and freight depots,

The American Depot and Roundhouse

serving communities along its main line and trunk railways. (Remember some larger communities had more than one depot.) Today Kansas has about 140 depot structures remaining, more than 100 of these have been moved from their original site. Approximately 30 structures are still in some sort of railway use, most as railroad offices or stor¬ age buildings. Railroad passengers are actually served at 5 depots; all of them are Amtrak stations. Clearly, depot heritage is less than it once was. The railroad industry itself, once the largest employer in the United States, has been shrinking since 1930. The private automobile, the airplane and telecommunications networks now provide Americans with the services once provided solely via the railroad. Mail service, freight and parcel de¬ livery, long distance pipelines, and telegraphic ser¬ vices have each grown into separate and distinct major industries. This leaves the railroad with its own unique niche; very heavy and very bulky commodities, usually raw materials, delivered over very long distances. The rail¬ roads can provide transport economically because of the size of the deliveries; it’s still cheaper to provide crates of oranges to New York by boxcar than to deliv¬ er them to market by truck or plane. And it seems to leave the railroads to handle another commodity they service better than any other network: the daily com¬ muter. Railroads seem to operate faster, easier, and with greater reliability in bad weather than any other form of transportation. The growth of the railroads is the story of the westward expansion, the story’s of America’s eco-

nomic development and a singular factor in the rapid rise of American industry. Railroads made it possible to haul bulk commodities around Ameri¬ ca, precious metals from Nevada, cattle from

Texas, coal and iron ore from Wisconsin, timber from Oregon. So this book looks at some of the remaining depots, all of them interesting artifacts of a unique American experience.

The Ogden, Utah, Union Station is an inspiration and a model for other large cities with a deteriorating depot and a dying downtown. Restored in the early 1970s, it was designed by the Parkinsons, a father and son architectural team from Los Angeles.

Preface

11

12

The American Depot and Roundhouse

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The Day the Railroad Came to Town

railroad finally came to our hometown on a Saturday afternoon in January of the %/ long ago year of 1864. It was one ol those bright, well-scrubbed days that we get out here in San Jose, California, in the winter after a rain—when everything has the clean, clear smell of freshness, promise, and new beginnings. That day, over 130 years past, was obviously a day of new beginnings, and everybody in town knew it. They knew that their world was about to be profoundly changed. When the rain stopped a little after sunrise, the clouds parted and that bright winter sun came out to make everything twinlde... well, everybody was sure it was a good omen. And so it was. The railroad from San Francisco, fifty miles away up the peninsula, had been planned and promoted ever since 1850, and despite the tremendous costs and complica¬ tions, the project was well funded and enthu¬ siastically supported by both communities. Over a million dollars had been invested— more than enough to do the job. Even though the Civil War was in full swing, diverting men, materiel, and money, the line was sur¬ veyed, graded, and built in just a couple of years. Three locomotives were ordered from the East. They came around the Horn aboard sailing ships in pieces, a six-month journey, then were reassembled, tested, and prepared for service. Even before the line was complete, freight service began on the northern end of the tracks, at an immediate profit. Even then San Francisco was a city with¬ out visible means of support—a raucous, bawdy place whose business was business in M

Perhaps the elegantly dressed lady is meeting a special passenger, or maybe she will just travel a short distance. If she were taking a long trip today, she would probably be wearing a long coat, or duster, to keep the particles of oily soot from her dress. Railroads were a dirty experience for travelers and depots alike. But this lacy, Victorian Gothic depot, typical ol many small town stations in the eastern United States, looks fresh and clean. This Library of Congress photograph was colorized by Bridget Sullivan. Library of Congress

The Day the Railroad Came to Town

\

3

'juiulbmue

all its permutations: a cirv ot financiers, brokers, real estate agents, speculators, procurers, and pimps of all inclinations. It was a decadent place, lull ol a gleeful humanitv. each expecting three squares tor more' evert dav. a place where evert victual, virtue, and vice had to be imported. And when it came to virtles. San Jose was the closest, cheapest source for barlev. brandv. wheat, wine, fruit of manv kinds, and vegetables just about all year round. San Jose was and still is happv to oblige their neighbors whim—as long as it was for good gold coin. Even then San Jose was a farm town, as it had been since the 1 ’Os and would remain lor 200 rears. It was dedicated to wheat, cattle, fruit. vegetables, all in wholesale quantities. The two cities were made for each other—one set ot consumers, another set ot pro¬ ducers, fifty miles apart, remote and isolated from the rest of the civilized world. The only practical form ot communication between the two before that dav in 1S6-1 was an all-dav steamboat ride on the bav or an all-dav stage coach ride up the din road left over from the Spanish days, the muddy track called El Camino Real. 5ou could ride a horse, and some did. or vou could walk, but that took two davs. Anv ot these alternatives was bumpy and exhausting, and the stage and the steam boat were expensive. The railroad had been around back East tor thirty vears bv then, even longer in England. Even man. woman, and child present in even' nook and crannv of America knew about the power ot steam. They knew that it had transformed much ot the East, where most ot them had been bom and reared. Thee had read the wonderful accounts ot rapid travel benveen distant dries, and low tares tor shipping commodities and oth¬ er goods. .And thev knew, through the newspapers re¬ ceived bv ship—onlv six months late-—that all across the East new tracks were being laid and new senices were being developed. The train, in other words, was all the rage. One ot the things that motivated these people was their sense ot isolation from the rest of America. San Frandsco and San Jose were both up-to-date towns, rich in even way. but isolated from each other and from the East. People in both places had money, energv. a sense ot purpose, and a vision of linking their dries with the other dries ot the United States. Thev had enough monev to bus the best ot anything avail¬ able—including, the communities dedded. a railroad. There were two false srarxs on the project, but in 1862—with over a million dollars in a construction fund—it began. Bv 186-1 the right ot way was pre¬

pared. the rails laid, the engines bought, the cars built, the schedules published, the contracts signed, and the deed was done, all in efficient, well-funded order. Everybody knew the railroad would transform their world, although not everybody agreed just how. As usual, some forecast gloom and doom: others saw only success. Both, as it turned out. were right. On that glittering Saturdav morning, the 16th of January 1S64. every thing was still speculation. But the citizens ot San Jose and San Francisco were speculating that it was going to be wonderful! A tew weeks before the grand inauguration, the Board ot Directors ot the fledgling railroad was assem¬ bled and were loaded aboard a wood flat car behind one of the new locomotives—none of the passenger cars were readv tor service as vet. These notables in their finery were seated upon wooden benches nailed to the flatcar. Then, with a toot, oft they all went.

It was, as thev say. a learning experience. This little “consist ot one locomotive and tender and one flatcar-load of rich, influential citizens worked its wav out ot the margins ot San Francisco's Mis¬ sion district, up a long hill and down the other side, then south through the open grassland ot the

Previous page. The depot was often the site of community gatherings of ail sorts, some happv and others sorrowful. These people have come to grieve for Santa Fe engineer Joe Williams and his fireman, a man named V.’hittaker. who were murdered by a bandit in Saginaw Hill, Texas, on July 22. 1898. The Santa Fe provided the funeral train and services for the men. free of charge, as the final part of their benefits package. Atchison. Topeka, and Santa FeKansas State Historical Society

Wichita. Kansas, 1880. Rail service made this and thousands of other towns possible and were major direct and indirect contributors to the local economy. Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe

The Day the Railroad Came to Tou

15

This «mpic. unpretentious depot

it Nanca Qm. Ciiilotnu. Jutes go I v>+ -nak:ng it ooe

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ruiesr n tike rut son sail to sets roe ane protubb. the oUest e V! ..osissippt. scirs r»o trains stop here estrrs »edk Jus rust as trams base stnee the Jus it soenesl tor bustness o*er 130 ears ij:

Mtr.ocjrfi die viepot

hasa : elurbjjni much

ts

around it.

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rani Peninsula. It must have been quite a sight— and in incredible experience. None ot’’ these men hid ever traveled taster than a v .

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and that roc orT beef periods. Exit about ten miles out or town the engineer stoned to open the throttle. The tram, picked up speed: twenn miles an hour was an as¬ tern, sr.m.g