Tuesday, March 26, 2019

Railroad Relics


Renovations of a Railroad Relic



                 An early post card of the C & O Train station in downtown Mt. Sterling, Ky.
The C.& O. Train Depot as it looks today, still has the potential to deliver additional charm and character to Mt. Sterling’s downtown area.

This 1879 map shows the Elizabethtown, Lexington & Big Sandy RR to Mt. Sterling, as well as the Mt. Sterling Coal Road to Rothwell. It was drawn before the Elizabethtown; Lexington & Big Sandy RR was extended from Mt. Sterling to Ashland.


A relic of Mt. Sterling’s by-gone days still stands as a monument to the town’s historic past; an iconic symbol that foretells the importance of what railroads meant to small town life.

Built in 1910, the Chesapeake and Ohio train depot was the hub of the community  and was built on the C & O line that ran between Lexington and Ashland, Ky.
According to the information on file for the National Registry for Historic Places, the Chiles-Thompson Grocery Company sold a lot on the east side of South Maysville St. to the C & O Railroad for the construction of a Passenger Station. The railroad acquired another lot from H. Clay McKee with the stipulation that the Passenger Depot be midway between Bank and S. Maysville St.

A “passenger shed” or covered-way extended from the Passenger Depot to Bank Street and a baggage depot was built west of the Passenger Station.
An article written by Kenn Johnson in 2008 told of how Katie Bowles, a Montgomery County high school student, had taken notice of the dilapidated depot and thought it needed to be renovated.

Johnson’s article stated that Katie, along with two of her friends, Brittany Hackworth and Suzie Bellot, stepped up to the challenge and spearheaded a project that soon became a schoolwide mission and became a hands-on learning experience for both students and teachers.
Johnsons article went on to say, “math students at MCHS were given geometry assignments dealing with the enterprise, social studies students researched the history of the station, and the English Department began work on a coffee-table book about the depot while accounting students kept track of expenditures.
But the main help came from the carpentry and Skills USA students who did the actual day-to-day work under the guidance of instructor Jeff McCarty.

The Walker Construction Co. provided heavy equipment to haul away concrete and other debris. Rumpke of Kentucky provided a dumpster and the Mount Sterling city and street departments have also provided equipment and support.
He said that the students discovered” a boatload of information when they got inside the building and were fascinated with the old receipts, train schedules and newspapers they found.

The Montgomery County Historical Society replaced the roof several years ago. Memorabilia from the station can be seen at the MCHS Museum.
The Chesapeake and Ohio line was a mainstay for Mount Sterling passengers, but the Lexington and Big Sandy was its earliest antecedent, established in 1852.
At first, trains went only to Lexington, Louisville and Cincinnati, but after the 1880s, the local line was linked to the east coast.

Mount Sterling's depot was built around 1910, and it became a major market center for goods from the East and Southeast.
Some older residents can remember nostalgic school trips, visits to doctors in larger cities, returning home for the holidays from college and watching the George Washington puff to a stop at the depot in the afternoon.

The last passenger train left the station on May 1, 1971, although a steam engine pulled an excursion passenger train for one last trip on July 4, 1979.
Freight service ceased on June 30, 1985, ending 115 years of rail service to Mount Sterling.

The most historic moment at the train station, Johnson’s story related, occurred in 1948, when 5,000 people gathered by the rails to hear President Harry Truman as he campaigned on his famous whistle-stop tour”.
The C & O Passenger Train Depot still stands as a reminder of Mt. Sterling’s rich history and has the potential to deliver additional character and charm to the community’s downtown district.






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