State Grant Will Ensure Relocation is Completed for Former Rock Island Depot in Perry, Arkansas

(April 28, 2019) – There is great news in our effort to preserve the former Rock Island depot in Perry, Arkansas. In a couple of weeks, the City of Perry will receive a grant for nearly $10,000 from the Arkansas Economic Development Commission’s Division of Rural Services with the intention of helping to create a community meeting place and museum in the depot.

At this point, the depot is sitting on steel beams after a house moving company took it off of property last September owned by the shortline Little Rock & Western Railway. Otherwise the 101-year-old building would have been demolished to make way for an expanded locomotive servicing facility. The grant, along with $7,678.33 we’ve received in donations from individuals, as well as the Arkansas Railroad Club, will allow us to make repairs to floor joists and rotted wood around the bottom of the depot. That all needs to be fixed before the depot is set back down in its new location. We will also prepare a concrete foundation and piers to set it on, while Perry County is donating additional layers of shale and manpower to elevate the ground level to ensure flooding won’t impact the depot in the future.

The new location is an adjacent lot from where the depot had been. That will keep the building alongside railroad tracks and help it maintain its historical integrity.  That will be important when we eventually apply for the depot to be named to the National Register of Historic Places. But before we can even qualify to apply for the designation, we need to get the depot back on the ground. The grant from the state will give us enough money to finally allow that to happen.

If we hadn’t received this grant, Buford Suffridge, president of the Perry County Historical and Genealogical Society, says reaching this milestone in the preservation project would have been much more difficult.

“I’m thrilled with this and was hopeful, very hopeful, and frankly don’t know where we would have turned if we had not gotten this grant. I’m not sure where we would have gotten these funds,” Suffridge said. “I truly look at it as the salvation of saving the depot.”

We launched a Go Fund Me campaign almost a year ago as part of the fundraising effort. We have also been receiving checks mailed to the non-profit Perry County Historical Museum, and even cash donations dropped into a jar at Perry City Hall.

The key person guiding our effort to save the depot and make sure things are done in a way that will ensure we meet federal standards for historic designation is Rachel Patton, executive director of Preserve Arkansas. Last year the group named the Perry depot as one of the state’s Ten Most Endangered Places. She also helped edit the application, which was submitted by Perry Mayor Britt Ryles.

Patton says this grant is essentially allowing us to double the donations given to the project.

“This grant relies on a substantial match, and not all of it has to be cash,” Patton said. “The county is throwing in lots of [work that is getting an] in-kind match, but part of the match is the cash that was donated by people on Go Fund Me or checks and other ways that they got the money to you, so that’s very much appreciated and being put to good use during this process.”

A thank you is also due to U.S. Rep. French Hill, whose district includes Perry. Not only did he make a monetary donation, but also wrote a letter of support for the grant and has kept up with the status of the project. Arkansas state Sen. Mark Johnson and state Rep. Rick Beck also helped by writing letters of support.

The grant check will be presented on May 16 at the 2019 Arkansas Rural Development Conference, which is being held in Hot Springs. Once we have the money, things should begin to move quickly. Suffridge says the person who provided an estimate to repair the floor joists said he would be available to begin work within a week or so of being notified. Building a foundation should also be completed within a few days.

Timing is vital because insurance to cover the move of the depot by Combs Home Builders & House Movers expires in September, exactly one year after the company started the project by putting the depot on steel beams and taking it to a nearby location for storage until everything is ready.

“Its been a roller coaster ride, as you know, and at times I’ve been optimistic and other times pessimistic about it, but I’m very optimistic now. I think it’s going to get done for certain,” Suffridge said.

He has been checking on the depot regularly. It has been sitting on beams for seven months now and still looks good. We’re fortunate that this past winter didn’t bring the area any heavy snowfall. The weight of a couple of inches of snow could have potentially brought the roof down. But Suffridge said “it’s shedding water, miraculously when you look at the roof.”

Once the repairs are made to the floor joists and the foundation is complete, we’ll work with the house moving company, which is based in the town of Ratcliff, to see when they can get back over to finish the move.

“Then we move on to try to pursue those historic designation grants that can take care of other issues like the roof, for instance, will be the next thing probably that needs to be fixed,” Patton said. “Those grants require a cash match, so the fundraising need is not necessarily over, but this [grant from the state] will get us over the hump for now and then we move on to the next thing.”

For those who have donated and want to know how their money is being spent, here’s a breakdown of the major expenses:

• $7,000- $8,000 estimate to the house moving company with a $4,000 down payment made before the move and the balance due on completion of the move.
• $6,360 for $5 million in aggregate insurance coverage, which the railroad required the house moving company to have.
• $1,560 for pollution insurance because of the presence of asbestos in floor tiles.
• $5,334 estimate for repairs to floor joists and rotted wood near the bottom of the depot.
• Beyond that will be the cost of building a foundation.

To see this come together has been so rewarding because it once seemed like saving the depot was such a long shot, especially after the costs of insurance were added. This has been a great collaborative effort among everyone involved. The city of Perry has played a vital role by donating the piece of land that the depot will be placed on and working with us to apply for the state grant. The county’s donation of shale to build up the ground level and providing the manpower to pack it down using heavy highway equipment has also been important. Thanks too to the Little Rock & Western Railway and its parent company Genesee & Wyoming who gave us the opportunity to acquire the depot and provided additional time as initial deadlines were missed.

The Little Rock & Western was created to continue service on the tracks between Little Rock and Danville after the Rock Island was shutdown in 1980. The line through Perry was initially built by the Choctaw, Oklahoma & Gulf Railroad in 1899, which was soon taken over by the Rock Island. This was part of a major rail network linking Memphis to Tucumcari, New Mexico. I’ve written in previous posts about the significance of the Perry depot, with links below.

Thanks to everyone who has helped in our effort to preserve this piece of history by making donations. It’s great that so many people have been following our project. I was selling copies of my book Rock Island in Arkansas a few weeks ago at the annual railroad show at the Arkansas Railroad Museum in Pine Bluff and was gratified by the number of people who came up to ask about the status of the Perry depot. We’re going to make it happen! If you haven’t made a donation and would like to, checks can be sent to:

Perry County Historical Museum
P.O. Box 1128
Perryville, AR 72126

Or you can donate through our Go Fund Me account.

We plan for the depot to be a museum that will tell the history of the community and its connection to the railroad. Jerry Oates, president of the Rock Island Club, which is made up of former employees of the railroad in Arkansas, said he has several things he would like to donate once the depot opens as a museum. I have Rock Island-related items in my collection that I will also donate and I’m sure others will as well.

As noted earlier, this will also serve as a community center for events. The old Perry High School Gym is currently the only space for events in the town and, according to the application filed with the state, is booked months in advance for all kinds of activities. A restored Rock Island depot will provide much needed space to keep up with demand.

This post has been revised to correct the exact amount of money we have received in donations.

UPDATES ON THE PERRY DEPOT:

Preparing to Place Rock Island Depot at Perry, Arkansas in New Location (Jan. 5, 2020) – Extensive work was done to build up a city-owned piece of land to place the Perry depot on. Record flooding threatened the depot in its temporary location and showed the ground where it would be placed needed to be higher than originally planed. READ MORE

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

I welcome any additional information, photos, stories, comments or corrections. Write to: michael@hibblenradio.com.