(rshsdepot) Port Huron, MI

[jdent1_@_optonline.net]

Inventor Lives At Depot

By RYAN WERBECK
Times Herald 
http://www.thetimesherald.com/news/stories/20041018/localnews/1432263.html

For years, the old train depot near the Blue Water Bridge wasn't a glistening example of Port Huron's historic legacies. 

"I'd peak out the window and see it covered with dust," said David Dazer of Port Huron, who used to live in the neighborhood near the depot. 

That dust came from the Peerless Cement Co. 

Today, Peerless is gone, and condominiums line Thomas Edison Parkway. And the place where young Thomas Edison caught the train to Detroit during the years he lived in Port Huron has become a mainstay of the city's celebration of the inventor's time here. 

Since its opening in 2001, the depot museum, one of the Port Huron Museum's properties, has continued to exhibit pieces of Edison's life, relying on community support and volunteers. 

"Every place you turn, we have an exhibit," said Joe Ann Burgett, site manager for the depot museum. "I think it's one of the jewels in the crown of Port Huron." 

The museum has been close to the hearts of some of its volunteers as well. 

Walt Olney, now retired, has volunteered almost from the museum's start. 

"I'd always been interested in the history of Port Huron," he said. "Edison is part of that history." 

He's scaled back how much he volunteers, and his wife also spends time at the depot with him. His appreciation of the museum hasn't wavered. 

"Not only is the building old, but the idea Edison walked up there and caught a train makes it historic," he said. 

Since its construction in 1858 by the Chicago, Detroit & Canada Grand Trunk Junction Railroad Co., the depot has served as a processing center for immigrants and general office space before being converted into a museum. 

After Port Huron acquired the Peerless site in 1973, developers for the Thomas Edison Inn later bought some of that land and helped renovate the outside of the depot. The Blue Water Area Convention and Visitors Bureau made its home at the site from 1990 until the city took possession in 1999 so the building could be converted into a museum. 

In its three years of operation, the depot museum has continued gaining exhibits. 

A banner that hung in 1929 in Port Huron has been added, but the biggest gain came in 2002. 

After raising about $650,000, the museum took possession of a combination baggage and smoking unit railroad car, similar to one used by Edison. The car sits on a piece of railroad track with exhibits inside. 

With added exhibits, the museum continues its core service of offering education to patrons. Tours can watch experiments and other special events. 

Dazer, a middle school German teacher for Port Huron schools, sometimes provides one of those added events. 

A longtime collector of phonographs, he has a collection he'll bring to the museum. Edison invented the phonograph in 1877 and tinkered with phonographs throughout his inventing career. 

"I enjoy it," Dazer said. "Most people seem to get a kick out of it." 

Contact Ryan Werbeck at (810) 989-6275 or rwerbeck_@_gannett.com. 

Originally published Monday, October 18, 2004



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

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