(rshsdepot) Burlington, IA

[I95BERNIEW_@_aol.com]

From The Hawk Eye.
Photos and article available at: 
_http://www.thehawkeye.com/Story/Depot_072207_B_town_ (http://www.thehawkeye.com/Story/Depot_072207_B_town) 
 
Bernie Wagenblast
 
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 
 
Burlington depot gleamed at grand opening
By MIKE AUGSPURGER   
_maugspurger_@_thehawkeye.com_ (mailto:augspurger@thehawkeye.com)   
Train tickets can't be purchased in the depot heralded 63 years ago as the  
one of the country's best passenger rail stations.  
The handsome structure in downtown Burlington was built for $300,000 after a  
fire destroyed the previous Victorian-style depot. Constructed in 1944 while  
most building supplies were being rationed during World War II, it reflected 
the  faith the railroad had in its permanency to the area.  
"We hope that now that we have built the station you will use it," CB&Q  
president Ralph Budd said during a grand-opening ceremony in Burlington. "We  
aimed to build a station in keeping with the modern ideas of utilitarianism. It  
is harmonious with our streamlined trains."  
The 22,000-square-foot, two-story station equipped with modern facilities and 
 displaying a Wisconsin fieldstone exterior made a big impression along Main  
Street.  
Visitors were struck by the yellow-and-green color scheme in the waiting  
room. Butter-color window drapes hung from the top of the Great Hall's 24-foot  
ceiling.  
Walnut furniture upholstered in gray and green also caught their eyes.  
"They saw a club-like arrangement of furnishings, tables with built-in ash  
trays, walnut boxes for tropical plants," the newspaper reported.  
Burlington Mayor Max A. Conrad received keys to the depot as a ceremonial  
gesture from the railroad. No one knew then that five decades later the city  
actually would own the building, but only after it had deteriorated under the  
railroad's watch.  
What was once the pride of the railroad had become a sore spot in the  
downtown district. Some renovation has been done, but much more work needs to be  
scheduled, officials say.  
Except for times when volunteers help Amtrak passengers twice a day, the  
depot is all but empty and lifeless, much like the nearby steam locomotive that  
used to be a viable part of the rails.  
City takes over  
Decades ago, the Burlington Northern, now BNSF Railway, decided to dispose of 
 some its depots. In many cases, railroad officials had spent little money  
maintaining the buildings they once boasted as industry prizes.  
Burlington's depot represents the first stop west of the Mississippi River  
for Amtrak's California Zephyr on its route from Chicago to the West Coast.  
The building had been in steady deterioration since the 1960s and flood  
damage only aggravated conditions. Citizens complained to city officials about  
the depot's dilapidated appearance and negotiations were started with the  
railroad.  
In 1992, Burlington Northern considered donating the building to the city,  
but company officials scrapped the idea. They decided to have the building  
appraised and negotiate with the city or other interested parties.  
Eight years earlier, Trailways bus line owner Ron Moore tried to rent space  
at the depot, but BN refused. Trailways then bought a building on Broadway  
Street in West Burlington.  
The city was in its second year of negotiations when Amtrak's ticket office  
closed in August 1993 due to flood concerns from the rising Mississippi River. 
 Ticket sales moved to the previously unstaffed depot in Mount Pleasant and 
have  not returned.  
Burlington then received a $175,000 grant from the Intermodel Surface  
Transportation Act through the Iowa Department of Transportation to buy the  depot 
and make immediate, but costly, renovations.  
The railroad and Burlington officials reached an agreement for $52,000, but  
the BN relented, said Doug Worden, Burlington's deputy city manager. In early  
1994, the DOT cleared the way for the city to use eminent domain since it and 
BN  couldn't come to an agreement after three years of talks.  
After going through condemnation hearings, a district court judge ruled the  
railroad should be paid $92,077. A $52,000 check was written in December 1994, 
 with the remainder paid in1996.  
By then, everything seemed busted. Windows needed replacing, as did the roof. 
 The whole thing needed painted and spruced up. The heating system had to be  
repaired before winter arrived.  
At the time, officials also hoped a restaurant would once again locate in the 
 building. City and economic development officials also urged -- and still do 
- --  that Amtrak return its ticket station to Burlington.  
In 1997, the city sold $200,000 in general obligation bonds for the depot's  
renovation and combined the money leftover from the state grant. From then to  
2003, the city spent nearly $453,000 for renovation work.  
The money has been used for exterior work, major roof repairs, new awnings,  
replacing windows, installing decorative fencing, replacing doors, decorative  
lighting and installing a new heating system for the Great Hall, Amtrak's  
still-vacant offices and restrooms.  
Most of the city's funding toward the depot in recent years has paid for  
minor maintenance and utility bills -- ranging from $13,000 to $20,000 annually.  
 
Pondering options  
Inquiries from prospective users for the depot have ranged from a taxi cab  
service and Trailways bus line to people who wanted to hold weddings, parties 
or  reunions inside the historic structure.  
The city in 1996 moved the Burlington Urban System's hub to the depot, using  
the same waiting room created for Amtrak customers.  
A few years ago, some talk of a restaurant, offices or a sandwich shop in the 
 depot's north end filtered through the city but results never materialized.  
Renewed interest in the restaurant idea also was sparked in 1999 by  
discussions to build a replica of Iowa's first territorial capitol across the  street, 
where the Union Hotel once stood. The city demolished the hotel in 1998  and 
planted grass.  
The capitol replica was estimated to cost $575,000 under a plan suggested by  
the Burlington/West Burlington Area Chamber of Commerce and others wishing to 
 see improvements in the downtown district.  
City development officials then had visions that included opening up the  
depot's large waiting room -- with its tall windows and tiled floors -- all the  
way back to the old ticket booth to make it visually appealing to suitors.  
Maintaining significance  
A memo in 1996 by then-city development director Mark Brockway said the  
"overall objective or goal of this project is to renovate the depot and grounds  
and establish a viable use reflective of the prominence and vitality once  
exhibited by this historic and significant transportation facility."  
Besides local, state and other resources, many volunteers have helped the  
city with operating, maintaining or promoting the depot's use.  
Members of Friends of the Depot have spent countless hours and donated  
dollars to keep the area maintained, as well as decorating it for the holidays,  
repairing the women's bathroom and reupholstering waiting room benches.  
Another local group cares for the steam engine in the side yard.  
Officials agree, however, that large sums of money are needed to properly  
refurbish the structure inside and out.  
Besides becoming an important center for various forms of transportation, the 
 building would give the area another place for historical displays of the  
railroad, riverboat and other modes of transportation in Burlington, Brockway's 
 report said.  
One historical fact, the report noted, is that Burlington native Arthur  
Hartman was a boilermaker for the Burlington Railroad in 1910. In his spare  time, 
Hartman constructed a monoplane and the Wright Brothers advised him of the  
proper wing changer design.  
On May 10, 1910, Hartman left the ground at the Burlington Golf Course and is 
 credited as being the first Iowan to fly an airplane.  
"This and other such historical events and facts associated with the  
Burlington depot cannot, and should not, be discounted," Brockway said.  
Conditions fading  
The Great Hall in the Burlington Depot isn't so grandiose anymore and the  
public can't enter it. The locked double doors also have wooden 2-by-4s and iron 
 brackets beefing up security.  
Butter-color drapes no longer hang in the room. Although some debris is  
scattered, the room is fairly clean -- as are others.  
Sheets of insulation board or folded-over black plastic serve as blinds in  
several office windows. From what one can tell by peering through the dirty  
windows, varmints have not yet taken up residence inside.  
Railroad memorabilia is displayed behind a small glassed room in the lobby. A 
 nearby, half-full snack machine sometimes doesn't work, depot patrons said. 
A  pop machine, which sounds like it's polishing rocks rather than cooling  
beverages, also is known to keep customers' coins.  
Tattered telephone books show they've been well-used. Few brochures for  
visitors are available in the display case. Message boards haven't changed much  
since the Amtrak ticket station left in 1993.  
Two signs erected in 1995 touting restoration efforts by Friends of the Depot 
 and city have faded, especially the one facing the setting sun along Main  
Street.  
Surprisingly, little vandalism is evident even though the building is  
unattended for hours at a time. Video security cameras, however, keep the depot  
under constant watch.  
Depot patrons may use the small lobby that has restrooms, or wait outside for 
 trains or buses. Some of the benches or picnic tables in the open air have  
cracked, peeled paint.  
Richard McColloch of Fort Madison recently waited for his wife, Sarah, to  
arrive on an eastbound train.  
He recalled his Burlington childhood days when the depot was busy, "just like 
 downtown that used to be shoulder-to-shoulder people. And going to the depot 
 restaurant was a treat. It had a reputation -- a darn good one."  
A believer in public transportation, McColloch said the depot is convenient  
and more national emphasis should be placed on passenger-rail systems. Gas and 
 air service have become expensive, he said.  
But McColloch was saddened by the condition of the depot, and believes local  
officials could do better.  
"No one has bothered cutting down weeds. Look at them growing in the  
sidewalks," he said. "It doesn't take much to keep that  up."



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End of RSHSDepot Digest V1 #1578
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The Railroad Station Historical Society maintains a database of existing
railroad structures at: http://www.rrshs.org