Residents take a look inside the old Charles City Railroad Depot

By James Grob, jgrob@charlescitypress.com

“This brings back some memories,” Renee Usher said.

Usher, who is 75, and her spouse, Mayetta, were two of a stream of interested people who walked through the old Charles City Railroad Depot Saturday morning.

A group looking to save the depot from demolition arranged to have the historic structure open for public viewing. More than 300 people showed up to see the inside of the community landmark, said American Passenger Train History Museum President Robert Moen.

Usher said with a smile, “When I was quite young my grandfather had worked for the railroad and he would go and give passes to my mother so we could go where we wanted to without having to pay for it.”

The Charles City depot was built in 1912 as the front entrance to the city at a time when most people traveled by train. The depot was served by a passenger train operated by the Milwaukee Road railroad, from Chicago to Sioux City and Rapid City, S.D. The train, named “The Sioux,” provided a daily overnight connection to and from Chicago.

The non-profit organization American Passenger Train History Museum is working to gather financial support to save the depot and move it a block and a half south to its property at 11th and Grand Ave. The group is dedicated to the preservation and display of historic American passenger trains from railroading’s golden age.

Onlookers used flashlights and cellphone lights to see as they walked through the building on Saturday. The inside of the building appears much as it did when the last passenger train departed Charles City in 1960.

“I do remember this ticket area here. The station manager would sit at this desk here,” Usher said. “It was pretty fast-paced. With the trains and the passengers, it was quite busy.

“I like these old places. It should be saved because we don’t have enough history in town any more,” Usher said. “You don’t want to get away from the railroads and how things were in the early years.”

Usher lived in Charles City, then moved to Nashua at the age of 10 or 11.

“I used to go to the railroad station there, in Nashua, and hang out, and the station manager more or less gave me the run of the building,” Usher said. “It was a lot if fun. I was quite a railroad fan back as a kid. I used to get on some of the engines and talk to the engineers.”

Museum President Moen said, “We had well over 300 people on Saturday! It was fun to see the old train station come alive again buzzing with voices and activity like it was in its heyday.

“This certainly was our most successful event and demonstrates the strong interest by the citizens of Charles City in saving the depot,” he said, adding that another event would likely be planned for the spring.

“But time is short,” Moen said. “We really need to pull together the funds to move and save the station.”

The museum has researched the cost of moving the building, excavation and installing a new foundation, and determined that the cost will be around $300,000.

Anyone who would like more information, or who would like to make a donation, can contact Moen at (612) 240-4407 or robertmoen@comcast.net.

“We have an opportunity to save an important piece of Charles City history,” Moen said.