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New Foundation for
the Old Depot
Click Photos to Enlarge
Photos
courtesy of Janet Wallace.
Photos of the First
Move
Click Photos to Enlarge
Taken from the
Great Plains Building at 16th & Front Streets
Thursday. April 26, 2007. Photos courtesy of Kathy & Pat Tripp.
  
  
Click Photos to Enlarge
Thursday. April 26, 2007. Photos courtesy of
Janet Wallace.
A
private fundraising effort is now under way by the Blair Historic Preservation
Alliance (BHPA) to raise the money necessary to move the 1880 Blair Depot to the
Lions Club City Park at 16th and Park Streets and to restore it for community
use. The new location is close to the former railroad line and the projected
continuation of the city’s trail system, which follows the old rail line in
northwest Blair.
Every
donation to the BHPA Depot Fund is welcomed and appreciated. Whether you can
give $25 or $10,000, please be assured that all funds raised will go to the
Depot Project. (There are no outside fundraising costs; because the BHPA is a
501(3)c organization, donations are tax-deductible.)
Pledge
Online Here!
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A Brief History
This early Blair depot – one that many residents were probably
not even aware of before it faced the threat of demolition – was
built in 1880 at the crossroads of the east-west tracks of the old
Chicago St. Paul Minneapolis & Omaha line (CStPM&O) and
the north-south tracks of the Sioux City & Pacific line,
approximately at the same location as the 1910 brick
depot that many members of the community remember.
The 1880 depot was the second depot in Blair, taking over the
function of the three-story Blair
House Hotel & Depot built in 1869 that was
located west of 16th Street and north of the railroad tracks.
North Side of 1880
Depot
In 1910 when the brick depot was built, this wooden 1880 depot was
moved several hundred feet west and used as a freight storage
building. (Coincidentally, this is the same spot where the earlier
1869 Blair House Hotel and Depot once stood.) In the 1950s it was
moved again, this time across the tracks to where it stood until
just recently, west of 16th Street and north of the railroad
tracks.
The surviving 1880 building is a 24’
x 64’ wood frame structure with over 1,500 useable square feet.
Many of the windows are boarded up. The interior still has a large
amount of original beadboard paneling in place. The west section
that was used for passengers still has its early pine flooring;
otherwise, the building floor is made of two-inch sturdy planks.
[Current
photos of both interior and exterior]
Rail History of Blair
The Sioux City & Pacific Railroad Company
was organized on August 1, 1864, in Iowa, a month after the U.S. Congress
granted land for a railroad line. The Northern Nebraska Air Line was
organized on June 7, 1867, and the Sioux City & Pacific acquired this
line on September 15, 1868, through consolidation. The new rail line,
completed in February 1869, extended in Iowa from California Junction west
of Misssouri Valley to the Missouri River opposite Blair, and then from
Blair to Fremont, Nebraska. Until a railroad bridge was completed across
the Missouri River on August 9, 1882, in the summer trains crossed the
river on a ferry and in the winter, on temporary rails laid on the ice. |
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The 1880 Blair Depot
The 127-year-old Blair railroad depot is headed for new home and a renewed
purpose. A plan prepared by the Blair Historic Preservation Alliance to move
the former freight and passenger depot two blocks from its current location to
Lions Park and to refurbish it was approved by the Blair City Council on April
10, 2007, with a pledge of up to $25,000 from keno and city lodging tax funds to
help in the restoration project. There is a two-year deadline, to June 1, 2009,
to complete the first two phases of the restoration.
Read
the Relocation Plan. Click here for PDF
The building was moved to Lions Park the week of April 23, 2007, and work has
started to make the structure useable and presentable in the first two phases of
the project. The third phase includes the full restoration and revitalization of
the building for public use. Visions for the use of the building include a
bandstand, picnic shelter and display area.
The depot has stood for many years west of 16th Street (the former Walker
Avenue) on the north side of the railroad tracks, just behind the old Blair Feed
Mill. This property is owned by Mathiesen Grain, which is erecting a new grain
bin on the site.
The Blair City Council voted to approve spending up to $25,000 on the
project, The BHPA estimates the cost of the relocation at $12,000 and the
two-year fix-up at $20,000. The Alliance is conducting a fundraising drive to
raise at least $6,000 of that total for the first two phases of the project,
plus additional funds from grants and donations to complete the restoration and
revitalization in phase three.
Current photos of both
interior and exterior
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