(rshsdepot) El Reno, OK

["Bernie Wagenblast" <brwagenblast_@_home.com>]

Depot preserved as museum
2001-08-26
By Ben Scott
Staff Writer - The Oklahoman


EL RENO -- When the Rock Island Depot opened in 1907, El Reno was
already a town surviving on the railroad. In the late 19th
century, the Rock Island Railroad decided to run its line through
El Reno after the town sprung up overnight following the Oklahoma
land run in 1889.

The move caused homesteaders to drift from Fort Reno, established
during the Civil War, and Reno Town over to El Reno to find jobs
on the railroad. The new town was called "El" Reno to distinguish
it from the post offices in the other settlements. All three
towns were named after Gen. Jesse Reno who died in the battle at
Antietam during the Civil War.

The Rock Island Depot, recently listed on the National Register
of Historic Places, connected El Reno with the all points of the
United States territory in the early 20th century, running from
Los Angeles to Galveston, Texas to Chicago.

World War I soldiers traveling through the United States, either
leaving for Europe or just coming home, would stop at the Rock
Island Depot to buy paper to write letters, coffee and medicine
-From the Red Cross. It was one of the largest depot's on Rock
Island's rail line. The depot closed in the 1970s when the
railroad lost prominence in the transportation industry.

The depot is now the Canadian County Historical Society's Museum,
but the building still holds the memories of its heyday. The rail
line is still used by the Union Pacific railroad company, but
trains rarely stop in El Reno. The depot is also the ticket
center for the new Heritage Express trolley line that just began
operating in El Reno.

Since becoming the museum, the building has received a new roof
and the bathrooms have been made handicap-accessible.

"El Reno's always been a railroad town," said Vicki Proctor,
president of the Canadian County Historical Society. "Most people
here have some connection in their family to the railroad."

Several yards from the depot is the 98th meridian, the location
where settlers lined up in the territorial land run of 1889. A
plaque commemorates the spot on the property.

"The state Transportation Department wanted us to move the plaque
south to Interstate 40," Proctor said. "But we fought that.
That's how things get lost."

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