Renovations of a Railroad Relic
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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