(Jan. 5, 2020) – The new year is looking very promising for a project to preserve the former Rock Island Railroad depot at Perry, Arkansas. For the last 15 months it has been sitting on steel beams as work to prepare a new foundation and replace rotted sections underneath the floor has been underway. Now things seem to be coming together to ensure its future.
A new concrete footing is in place for the Perry depot, photographed on Dec. 25, 2019, about two months after the concrete had been poured. In the background you can see the depot, while to the left is a locomotive and the expanded Little Rock & Western shop, which is next to where the depot used to be. Unless otherwise noted, all photos were taken by Michael Hibblen.
The depot, which we believe was built in 1918, was moved off of property now owned by the shortline Little Rock & Western Railway on Sept. 26, 2018 to keep it from being demolished because the company wanted to expand its locomotive servicing shop there. The depot will soon be placed on an adjacent piece of land owned by the city, which is also assuming ownership of the depot. The purchase price paid to the railroad was $10. The plan is to eventually turn the depot into a museum and space for community events.
On Monday, Jan. 6, the house moving company that handled the first part of the move hopes to be back and begin the process of setting the depot on its new location, though I’m told circumstances could push the start to Tuesday. Shane Cantrell with Combs Home Builders & House Movers says he expects it will take two days to complete. The depot, which is currently on a city access road, will have to be turned back around so that the side with the projecting telegrapher’s bay again faces the tracks. A temporary ramp will also need to be built to get the depot onto the foundation.
The Perry depot on Dec. 25, with new wood visible that replaced a rotted section.
The project has come a long way since the long shot idea to move and preserve the dilapidated depot was first proposed about three years ago. How would we pay for it? Where would we put it? And was it even feasible to try and give the old wooden depot a new life?
At that time the Little Rock & Western gave us a deadline of the end of 2017 to move the depot or the railroad would tear it down. Thankfully it wasn’t quite a firm deadline, as it would take until September 2018 to come up with a plan and find a house moving company to take on the project at a rate we could afford. So thank you to employees of the railroad, especially General Manager Ryan Richardson, and the shortline’s parent company the Genesee & Wyoming.
The Perry depot and a Little Rock & Western Railway locomotive on March 19, 1981, almost exactly one year to the date that the bankrupt Rock Island shut down. Photo: Paul De Luca.
The Perry depot sitting on steel beams on Dec. 25, 2019. Part of the roof’s overhang was cut off when the locomotive servicing shop was added directly behind it in the mid-1980s. The full width will be restored when we repair the roof. Perhaps we can also restore the windows on each end which, at some point, were boarded up.
Planning has taken a lot of discussions by Buford Suffridge, president of the Perry County Historical & Genealogical Society. He has been working with Rachel Patton, executive director of the group Preserve Arkansas, who has been advising us about the best ways to proceed while ensuring the project will meet requirements to qualify for the National Register of Historic Places. Suffridge has also been talking with leaders in the city and county, as well as state legislators and U.S. Rep. French Hill, whose district includes Perry.
“Any endangered historic property that I’ve worked with, that’s the real difference maker. If its got local support, then it’s going to make it – it’s going to succeed. If it doesn’t, it doesn’t have a chance,” Patton said after a meeting with Suffridge and me on Nov. 5.
A westbound passenger train approaches the Perry depot in 1960. Photo: Rock Island company photographer Ed Wojtas.
My involvement in the project began when Patton asked if I could fill in for her speaking to Suffridge’s group in August 2017 about the significance of the depot. A book I wrote, Rock Island Railroad in Arkansas, had been released four months earlier looking at the railroad’s history in the state.
We have many people and entities to thank who supported the project by donating time, money and expertise. Perry County has provided in-kind donations totaling more than $17,000, with all of that going toward manpower, heavy equipment and shale to build up the ground where the depot will be placed. Others have provided physical labor at very reasonable rates. As of this writing, we have also received just over $6,000 in donations through a Go Fund Me account, which goes directly to the Perry County Historical & Genealogical Society, which is a non-profit group.
It’s more than just an old building, but a link to our past and a different way of life. It can again become an important part of this community, as envisioned in a nearly $10,000 grant we received last May from the Arkansas Economic Development Commission’s Division of Rural Services to create a community meeting place and museum in the depot. But about two weeks after receiving the grant we would be hit by a major challenge.
The flooded Perry depot on May 30, 2019. Photo: Buford Suffridge.
Record-setting flooding along the Arkansas River in May and June threatened to bring an abrupt end to our efforts. The river isn’t especially close to Perry, but rising water ended up reaching the base of the depot in its temporary location.
We were offered assurances from the house mover that since the depot was made of solid wood, it would dry out and damage would likely be minimal. Because it was elevated on steel beams, he also said the floor joists would get air when the water receded. It also helped that there was no insulation under the building, since it had originally been sitting on the ground. Key too was that the depot was in backwater and not experiencing a current.
When the water receded, Suffridge opened the doors as wide as possible to air it out. Thankfully, once dry, there was no visible sign of damage, but it provided a key lesson, showing that we needed to build the new foundation higher than originally planned to protect it from future floods.
After building up the new site earlier in the year, many additional layers of shale were provided by the Perry County Road Department, which used heavy equipment to repeatedly pack the ground. As recommended, we then waited six weeks. After several rounds of rain, rolling equipment being brought back to repeatedly pack the ground.
The peak water height was noted on a nearby stop sign. The dirt for the foundation was then built higher than that spot. We’ll also add five rows of cinder blocks for the foundation, which will bring the depot even higher. There will be at least 42 inches of crawl space to allow for later repairs and plumbing. The additional work raising the ground pushed back the timeline for the project.
“I think we’d be a lot further along if we hadn’t had that flood, of course,” Suffridge said. “I think everything’s going to take longer than we thought it would.”
A section where the floor was broken under a wall that supported the weight of a chimney on Aug. 21, 2019. Photo: Buford Suffridge.
In August, contractor Larry Cates replaced rotted floor joists underneath the building. This was work we were advised to do before setting the depot back on the ground while that area would be easier to access. The most damaged spot, where the floor was broken, was under a wall that supported the weight of one of the chimneys.
There were some areas Cates couldn’t work on because of the placement of the depot on temporary steel beams. But he replaced all of the floor joists he could, Suffridge said. Much more work will obviously be needed once the depot is in its new location.
Overall the century-old depot is in surprisingly good condition. I’ve been told part of that is thanks to the depot being built using old-growth wood. That’s when trees grow over a long period of time because they are close together and get relatively little sunlight. The older trees produce wood with more rings than younger trees which make them more dense, rot-resistant, stronger and more termite resistant, while less susceptible to warping.
The underside of the Perry depot on Dec. 25, 2019, with newly replaced wood visible.
Key too in the condition of the depot is that it was never abandoned. After passenger service stopped along this stretch of the Rock Island in November 1967, the depot continued to be a busy place for freight operations. Many of the railroad’s other depots in the state were boarded up and quickly fell into disrepair. Some ended up being preserved, but many were not.
Suffridge recalled meeting a former Rock Island employee who, on behalf of the company, would tear down depots, especially in small communities, before residents knew what was happening.
“His first job was to sneak in in the middle of the night and demolish the depots before anybody woke up and discovered it,” Suffridge said. “I remember he mentioned he got some royal chewings over that. It’s a wonder somebody didn’t shoot him.”
After the Rock Island was re-branded as “The Rock,” the depot was repainted blue and white, or what some referred to as “bankruptcy blue.” This was the interior of the waiting room for white people. Jim Crow laws of the era required separate waiting areas. On the other side of the depot agent’s office was the “colored” waiting room.
After the bankrupt Rock Island was shut down in March 1980, the Little Rock & Western Railway was created to continue operating a 79 mile stretch of track, primarily serving a paper mill near Perry that had to have rail service. The shortline initially operated out of the depot but soon built a small office on the other side of the tracks. A locomotive servicing shed was eventually added directly behind the depot, which involved cutting off part of the depot roof’s overhang for the entire width of that side of the building.
The Rock Island’s Perry depot, along with a machinery shop added by the Little Rock & Western Railway, as photographed on April 19, 2018. That evening the Perry City Council met to approve donating land for the project.
The back side of the Perry depot on Dec. 25, 2019, with the section of the roof overhang that was cut clearly visible.
The next work planned as soon as the depot is on the ground in its new location is to determine what needs to be done for the roof. Whether that will necessitate replacing the decking or just new shingles, Suffridge said, is unclear. Written on the walls and ceiling of the freight room are dozens of names and dates that were likely from former employees who, for one reason or another, decided to leave something behind in an area not normally seen by the public.
“It’s possible that the deck is okay, I don’t know. We won’t know until we take the shingles off, but so far there are no leaks or anything, so it may be okay,” Suffridge said during the Nov. 5 meeting.
One definite is that we want to restore the full width of the roof. Cates, the contractor who has done much of the labor, said the part that was trimmed in the 1980s looks like it was simply cut off with a chainsaw.
A closeup of the trimmed roof on Dec. 25. Also visible are previous red roof shingles which were simply covered by newer shingles.
One of the more prominent names visible on the ceiling of the freight room is that of Thomas E. Holmes, photographed on August 19, 2017. The date underneath the name might have been his seniority date, which would be when he started working for the railroad.
On Oct. 29, with the ground dug in an outline of the building and steel rebar in place, concrete was poured to create a new footing for the depot. As a heavy cement truck was positioned, the fact that its wheels didn’t sink deep into the muddy ground on that day seemed to be a good indicator that the many layers of shale had indeed been well packed.
Cement being poured for the footing of the depot on Oct. 29, 2019. Photo: Buford Suffridge.
Cinder blocks for the foundation will not be placed on the concrete until the house moving company has the depot jacked up directly above the footing. That’s because the width of the building has shifted over time, which Patton says is very common. Some parts of the depot are three to four inches wider than other areas. To be sure we don’t have parts of the foundation sticking out beyond the building, the blocks will be positioned by a block mason before the depot is finally lowered in place.
Eventually we will place the depot’s semaphore train order signal back in position outside the the projecting telegrapher’s bay. Whether that will be done by the house moving company or later after much more repair work is completed has not yet been determined. The signal was put away during the first part of the move to make sure it wouldn’t get stolen.
Concern came after the Perry depot signs on each side of the building with the final logo for the Rock Island were stolen in July 2018. There was uncertainty at that time about whether an agreement would be reached with the Little Rock & Western’s parent company to allow us to access the property and move the depot. My hope is that whoever was responsible for taking those will have a conscience and return them. It would be a shame for those relics to be hidden away in someone’s private collection.
We’re very pleased with the support we’ve received in the effort to preserve the Perry depot. It’s important that this be balanced in telling the story of the community, as well as the important role the Rock Island had in creating the town. Below is an incredible photo that I hope someday will be on display when the depot has been restored. It shows longtime Depot Agent Joe Majors, who worked there from about 1950 until the end of the Rock Island in March 1980.
Longtime Perry Depot Agent Joe Majors with his pipe and pocket watch poses for a photo outside the wooden station. He worked here from about 1950 until the Rock Island shut down in 1980. Photo courtesy of Danny Majors.
On Saturday, Jan. 4, I met with Danny Majors, the son of Joe Majors, who shared a wealth of memories about growing up in Perry when his dad held such an important role in the town. At that time the depot really was the link to the outside world, not only with passenger trains rolling through, but being where mail arrived and departed through the Railway Post Office and having the Western Union telegraph. I’ll offer more of what he told me soon, and will make copies of a box load of items he shared with me. Some of the relics, he said, can also go to the museum.
I’ll be there this coming week to document the next step of moving the depot and feature that here. If you want to join us, please do. As of this writing Sunday evening, Jan. 5, the house moving company hopes to arrive Monday to begin what is expected to be a two-day process. I don’t have a time yet for when the excitement will begin.
UPDATE ON THE PERRY DEPOT:
Relocation Completed of Rock Island Depot in Arkansas, Now Fundraising Begins to Repair Roof (March 1, 2020) – In January, the house moving company returned to Perry and placed the depot in its new location. Then a block mason built a foundation underneath, with the depot now ready for renovations to begin. The next priority is repairing the roof. READ MORE
PREVIOUS ENTRIES ON THE PERRY DEPOT:
Effort to Save Former Rock Island Depot in Perry, Arkansas from Demolition (Sept. 2, 2017) – Features extensive photos I took inside the depot and details the early proposal to move it. This was before the city offered a property and at that time the idea was being floated to move the depot across the tracks to an area also owned by the Little Rock & Western Railway. READ MORE
Challenges Persist in Moving the Former Rock Island Depot at Perry, Arkansas (March 27, 2018) – Includes the first estimate from a company on the cost of moving the depot, which was unrealistic. I also update details of a rejected request for the Little Rock & Western to donate a piece of land. READ MORE
Agreement Reached to Move and Preserve Former Rock Island Depot at Perry, Arkansas (Summer 2018) – A series of updates between June and August about ongoing developments. After extensive negotiations, we finally received paperwork from the Little Rock & Western’s parent company for the Town of Perry to acquire the depot for $10 and move it off the railroad’s property. READ MORE
The Rock Island’s Perry, Arkansas Depot is Moved in Advance of Restoration (Oct. 28, 2018) – During the last week of September 2018, a house moving company placed steel beams underneath the Perry depot and moved it to a temporary location until we had a new foundation ready to place the depot on. This includes photos of the moving process and inside the depot. READ MORE
Grant Money Will Ensure Former Rock Island Depot in Perry Gets Back on the Ground (April 28, 2019) – At a time when fundraising was stagnant, we got great news as the Arkansas Economic Development Commission awarded the project nearly $10,000 to create a community meeting place and museum inside the depot. READ MORE
I welcome any additional information, photos, stories, comments or corrections. Write to: michael@hibblenradio.com.
