Commission OKs depot nomination

BY CINDY TOOPES COURIER STAFF WRITER

May 15, 2008 12:31 am

— 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.
If the council approves, Naumann said the State Review Committee will review the application Friday, June 13.
“Possibly we could hear the results before Thanksgiving,” she added.
Cindy Toopes can be reached at (641) 683-5376 or via e-mail at cindy@ottumwacourier.com.