The Perry depot on Thursday, September 28 after being moved to a city-owned access road behind the railroad’s property.
There is still so much more work to do, but the first big step in preserving the Rock Island Railroad depot in Perry, Arkansas has been accomplished. During the last week of September, a house moving company removed the depot from property today owned by the Little Rock & Western Railway. Now we’re raising money to construct a foundation, which the depot will eventually be placed on. I’ve written about that first part of the move, which you can read here.
As I write this, we’re preparing to hold a celebration of this milestone, which will also be a fundraiser for the next step in the project. The event is tonight, Sunday, Nov. 4 from 6 to 10 p.m. in Little Rock at the White Water Tavern. That’s located just off 7th Street, alongside where Rock Island tracks used to run, paralleling Missouri Pacific tracks before heading west toward Perry. Please join us if you can! If you’d like to make a donation to help us with the project, you can also do that on the link.
Director of Public Affairs at Arkansas PBS, 36-year broadcasting veteran, photographer, interested in radio, TV and railroad history, author and host of the book and podcast series Rock Island Railroad in Arkansas.
