(rshsdepot) Ottumwa, IA

[I95BERNIEW_@_aol.com]

From The Ottumwa Courier.
 
Bernie Wagenblast
 
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 
Commission OKs depot nomination
Naumann presents building’s history at  public meeting
 
BY CINDY TOOPES COURIER STAFF WRITER 

OTTUMWA — Train whistles and the clicketyclack of rail car wheels have  
echoed along the Des Moines River for most of the city’s life.

That’s only the beginning of the reasons to nominate the Burlington  Depot, 
210 W. Main St., for the National Register of Historic Places.
 
Architectural Consultant Molly Myers Naumann of Ottumwa offered more  reasons 
to the Ottumwa Historic Preservation Commission Tuesday during a public  
meeting to nominate the depot.
 
The commission met in the Wapello County Historical Museum, which is on the  
second floor of the depot. The Wapello County Historical Society purchased the 
 depot building in 1987 and is committed to preserving it as a local  
landmark.
 
Naumann said the depot is one of three built by the Chicago, Burlington  & 
Quincy (CB&Q) Railroad, which began as the Burlington and Missouri  River 
Railroad chartered in Burlington in 1852.
 
The first B&M River train reached Ottumwa Sept. 1, 1859, and the city  
remained the western terminus of the railroad until after the Civil War.
 
“By reaching Ottumwa, the railroad could connect with the steamboats plying  
the Des Moines River between the Mississippi and the Raccoon rivers,” Naumann  
noted in the application.
 
During the Civil War years Ottumwa became a major wholesale center because  
goods could be shipped that far by rail before being loaded onto wagons to  
continue the trip west.
 
“This was a period when many young men, known as ‘Pike’s Peakers’ were  
heading to Colorado and Ottumwa was the last chance for many of them to buy  
necessary supplies and equipment,” Naumann wrote. “This image as a wholesale  
center would continue well into the 20th century.”
 
Naumann told the commission the new Burlington Depot opened in 1951 as a  
combination passenger and freight facility. Designed by the Chicago  
architectural firm of Holabird, Root & Burgee, the depot is a good example  of the 
simplified modern style that became popular in the years following World  War II.
 
“However, this wasn’t a completely new building in 1951,” she added. 
 
There was an 1889 depot “made of deep red brick” on the site that was  
partially demolished in 1950 with the removal of the roof and upper part of the  
walls.
 
Naumann said plans for the present building used the limestone foundation  
and exterior brick walls of the older building. Many interior walls were removed 
 as part of the new construction and none of the old building is visible  
today.
 
The depot is still alive with transportation activities. In addition to the  
museum, the building still houses the Amtrak rail service and Burlington  
Trailways bus line.
 
The historic preservation commission reviews all National Register  
nominations and then passes them on to the City Council for approval, according  to 
Naumann.



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