(rshsdepot) Ashland, WI

[Jim Dent <jdent1_@_optonline.net>]

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Posted on Thu, Apr. 01, 2004

Derek Neas/News Tribune
Dale Kupczyk (left) and Frank Kempf, of the Ashland Area Development
Corporation, look at some of the wood window trim and curtains Wednesday
that did not get burned in the Soo Line Depot's fire in March of 2000.

City to fete Depot's rise from ashes

BY SHELLEY NELSON

Duluth NEWS TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER


It's time to celebrate in Ashland.

It has been four years since the largest fire in more than two decades
almost made history of the city's Soo Line Depot.

With plans for the final phase of construction complete, it's time to
celebrate the community effort that saved the 1887 train station.

Today, four years to the day since that fateful Saturday morning blaze, a
celebration -- to unveil plans for the interior construction and show off
progress made to date -- is being held at the Depot.

It's time for the community to pat itself on the back, said Leslie Hamp,
chairwoman of the Depot Restoration Committee.

After the fire, the building's owners, Mark and Val Gutteter, donated it to
the Depot Restoration Foundation to ensure that the building could be saved.

To save the historic railroad station, the foundation had 90 days to raise
$500,000 to match a $499,000 grant from the National Park Service. The
community came through, raising more than $521,000 initially. Overall, the
community and businesses donated more than $600,000 and offered about
$100,000 in services to save the building, matching an additional $1 million
Wisconsin Transportation Improvement grant.

In the first phase of construction, the building was closed and the interior
floors were rebuilt. Plans include creating public spaces in the building's
lower level and capturing the history of transportation. Lobbies of the
building will be used as galleries to recapture the past.

"We're working with a couple possible tenants right now," said Frank Kempf,
director of the Ashland Area Development Corp., which has been overseeing
the building's redevelopment since 2001. "We made a commitment to the
community to create a dining experience there."

Kempf said both possible tenants the corporation is working with would fit
that bill.

Before the fire, the Ashland Depot housed two restaurants, the Railyard Pub
and the Depot; a microbrewery, South Shore Brewery; and offices.

The development corporation is also working with a group about creating a
rail display in the former train station. It was home to one of the nation's
largest privately held collections of railroad art, which was saved from the
fire.

Once the plans gain final approval from the Wisconsin Historical Society,
expected in three to four weeks, the corporation will seek bids for the
interior construction. The goal is to finish construction by April of next
year, Kempf said.

People will get a chance to see the plans from 5-6 p.m. today at the Depot.

"We want you to step into that historic space to feel the energy, excitement
and potential of things to come," Kempf said.


=================================
The Railroad Station Historical Society maintains a database of existing
railroad structures at: http://www.rrshs.org

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End of RSHSDepot Digest V1 #884
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=================================
The Railroad Station Historical Society maintains a database of existing
railroad structures at: http://www.rrshs.org