Rock Island Depot at Perry, Arkansas is Nominated for Historic Designation

(Dec. 10, 2020) – Arkansas has nominated the former Rock Island depot at Perry to the National Register of Historic Places. It will now be up to the National Park Service to determine if it meets the criteria to be listed. Meanwhile backers of the project have met with an architect to determine how to proceed with the restoration and are working to raise money that will be needed to get matching grant funding from the state.

Members of the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program’s State Review Board met on Wednesday, Dec. 2, to consider nominating several properties, including the depot. The state’s National Register/ Survey Coordinator Ralph Wilcox gave a presentation detailing the history of the depot, which was built in 1918, and its impact on the region. Because of the mountainous terrain, the area was sparsely populated until the Choctaw, Oklahoma & Gulf Railroad laid tracks through western Arkansas in 1898 and 1899.

“The railroad changed everything,” Wilcox said. “A temporary depot was set up at North Perryville, just three miles north of the county seat, and quickly attracted businessmen and other professionals. When a post office was established in 1899, the name was shortened to Perry.”

In 1902, the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific, as a part of a national expansion, acquired control of the CO&G through a hostile takeover. Wilcox noted the importance of the line, which moved freight through the center of the country and provided passenger service between Memphis, Tenn. and Los Angeles, Calif. via connecting service with the Southern Pacific at Amarillo, Texas.

“The Perry depot is significant to the people of Perry and Perry County because it functioned as an essential community gathering place during the heyday of rail transportation as people journeyed to the depot to get merchandise, got the latest news, and bid farewell to loved ones,” he said.

While showing photos of the depot through the years, Wilcox spoke of how passenger service was eliminated in 1967 shortly after a mail contract was ended by the U.S. government, how the depot continued being used to coordinate freight until the end of the Rock Island in 1980, and how it initially served as the office for the Little Rock & Western Railway. He also explained that when the shortline railroad announced in 2017 it was going to tear down the depot, the Perry County Historical & Genealogical Society, with guidance from Preserve Arkansas, began raising money to eventually move the depot 150 feet to an adjacent piece of land owned by the city on the same side of the tracks.

Wilcox then took questions from board members. One asked why the foundation constructed earlier this year to place the depot on was built so high. Rachel Patton, executive director of Preserve Arkansas, responded in the comments section of the web feed that the height was determined based on how high water had risen during last year’s record flooding of the Arkansas River.

Another board member, while acknowledging he wasn’t familiar with the demographics of Perry at the time of the depot’s construction, asked why it had segregated waiting rooms. Wilcox said the layout likely came from standard depot designs by the railroad. It might also have been because of Jim Crow laws of the era.

Finally, a motion was made to nominate the depot to the National Register, which was seconded, then approved by the board on a voice vote. The whole process took just under 15 minutes. The following day a letter from Arkansas Historic Preservation Program Director Scott Kaufman was sent to Perry Mayor Willie Summers sharing the news.

In anticipation of the nomination, Patton had spoken with architect Gary Clements of Clements & Associates in North Little Rock who has worked on historic preservation projects throughout the state. He agreed to prepare a grant application for the AHPP’s Historic Preservation Restoration Grant program at no charge unless the grant is awarded. His fees would be built into the grant.

“He thought it was a fantastic project. Whenever I called and told him what we wanted him to do he was really excited,” Patton told me in October.

Clements recently finished the latest phase in the restoration of a two-story wooden train station in Warren, Ark., which was built in 1911 by the Warren and Ouachita Valley Railway. The company would be bought by the Rock Island in 1948, with Warren at the end of a branch line. That station, which is today owned by the city, was added to the National Register in 1977. It has been restored in phases over the years, receiving multiple grants from the state and exemplifying how these can be continually ongoing projects.

On Oct. 12, Clements and Patton went through the Perry depot with Buford Suffridge, president of the Perry County Historical & Genealogical Society. Clements wanted to get an idea of the condition of the building and talk about what they hope to accomplish. He took a lot of photos of the interior and exterior of the depot and discussed what needed to be addressed first. With the Warren project fresh on his mind, Patton said Clements felt some of the same approaches could work in Perry.

The Warren station features a long freight room, which has been converted into a community meeting space. While the Perry depot’s freight room is not as big, it could still serve as a nice meeting and event space. A nearly $10,000 grant we received last year from the Arkansas Economic Development Commission’s Division of Rural Services was provided with the intention of creating a community building with exhibit space inside the depot.

Suffridge says Clements found the building to be “structurally pretty sound.” Rotted floor joists had been replaced before the depot was set on the new foundation earlier this year. Work to fix the roof’s eaves was also completed, while roofing shingles were replaced in August to prevent any further deterioration underneath.

Clements recommended a thorough examination of the building to find what urgent repairs need to be made and to allow him to come up with a plan for what it will take to completely restore it. But everything can’t be addressed at once. It will take several phases.

“I can see that it’s probably going to take longer than I had hoped for,” Suffridge said. “Of course, he did say that there’s really no limit to what you can spend on a project like that. He said basically you have to decide what can you spend on it and you go from there.”

Walking through the depot, Clements noticed places in the floor that were weak. There is also a dropped ceiling in the office and no telling what might be found above it.

He recommended applying for a $20,000 grant from the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program, calling that a realistic amount to ask for. It would require $10,000 in matching donations to show there is support for the project, so more fundraising will be needed. We would need to have a plan together and the cash match by March 1, 2021.

We will need to be successful in getting the depot listed on the National Register to qualify, but Patton and state officials feel the odds are good.

Clements suggested the first phase of work should be a basic preservation of the exterior of the building. That would involve fixing the siding, replacing rotted wood near the bottom, and striping off old paint, then priming and putting a new layer on. The windows are in pretty good shape, but some panes are missing. This would ensure the depot is sealed so that vermin and rain can’t get in. Improving the appearance of the exterior would also show people that visible progress is being made.

There will be a lot of additional hard decisions and challenges ahead, but at this point it feels like we are making solid progress in preserving this piece of history. If you can support the project with a donation, any amount would be greatly appreciated. Online donations can be made through our Go Fund Me account.

If you would prefer to send a check, make it out to the Perry County Historical Museum, which is part of the Perry County Historical & Genealogical Society.

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

You can read more about the background of the depot and my previous posts as this project has progressed over the last three by clicking on the link below:

Also, if you haven’t heard my newly-listed podcast Rock Island in Arkansas, you can find it on Apple Podcasts. Episode 2 is an hour-long look at the history of the Perry Depot, featuring interviews with Buford Suffridge, former Rock Island employees who worked in Perry, and Danny Majors, the son of longtime depot agent Joe Majors.

UPDATE Jan. 15, 2021  – Great news! The National Park Service notified us today that the Perry Depot will be listed on the National Register of Historic Places. I’ll have more soon and we continue with this joyous preservation project!