Steamboat: (Satellite)
When I went to Keokuk, it looked like the depot (on the right side of the picture below) was not very accessible to take pictures, and I was more interested in the dam, power plant, and railroad bridge. The green across the top is the bottom of a steel beam of the US-136 Bridge across the Mississippi. Note the preserved steamboat on the left side of the photo.
In 1890, five railroads serving Keokuk joined forces to form the Keokuk Union Depot Company:
In march 2011, the 1891 depot was transferred to the city. [History] Robert E. Meyer posted three photos of the roof restoration.
No wonder it took a long time before they started restoration. That roof restoration would be expensive. The crane alone would require some big bucks. In fact, $1m was needed for the roof restoration. They now need more money to fix some other problems that they have discovered during restoration. [KeokukUnionDepot]
The tower was 64-feet high and the second floor housed offices. By the 1950s, the tower had been truncated and the tiled roof was shingled. [History]
Dale A. Fox shared
Oct 2023: Keokuk Union Depot posted three photos with the comment: "The sandstone caps on the water table are now mostly in place on the upriver end of the building. Masonry work is temporarily halted this week, possibly due to delays in delivery of materials (though there is a stockpile of sandstone pieces, as in the photo). Meanwhile, the local Depot volunteers stay busy. On Wednesday, October 25, Leon Erlandsen was painting molding strips for a reconditioned express room door, and Mike Bliven was refurbishing the Depot's KEOKUK sign."
When I went to Keokuk, it looked like the depot (on the right side of the picture below) was not very accessible to take pictures, and I was more interested in the dam, power plant, and railroad bridge. The green across the top is the bottom of a steel beam of the US-136 Bridge across the Mississippi. Note the preserved steamboat on the left side of the photo.
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- Keokuk & Western Railroad
- St. Louis, Keokuk & Northwestern Railroad
- Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad
- Toledo, Peoria & Western Railway
- Wabash Railroad
In 1901, CB&Q acquired Keokuk & Western and St. Louis, Keokuk & Northwestern and then owned 2/5ths of the depot.
[History]The Wabash entered town on the TP&W tracks and the Rock Island came up from the south on CB&Q tracks. The TP&W route and the Rock Island industrial spurs are now owned by the Keokuk Junction Railway.
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| John Stell posted Keokuk Union Depot in January 1974. Had N&W agent, Rock Island agent, and BN train order operator. BN agent was down town and TP&W agent was in TP&W depot. John Stell slide. John Stell posted a similar view |
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| Keokuk, Iowa Historians posted Keokuk, Iowa, The Way We Were October, 1961, Monday, June 28, 2021 Photo captures The Keokuk Riverfront between Main at photo right & Bank Street at photo left. Looking Northwesterly from over the Mississippi River Andrew Horras shared Keokuk Iowa riverfront in 1961. TP&W Alco and caboose by the office. David Jordan: It looks like the TP&W unit is switching its team track. John Stell: Team track is where No 123 tied up. Only track in Keokuk TP&W owned. [The track closest to the river has an Alco on the left, a caboose to the right of the steamship and and office building to the left of the steamship, so that must be the TP&W team track.] Duncan Cameron: The cars in the background on the right are likely for the General Mills plant (which is behind them). Some are on the plant's own spur (back row of cars), and the others (including the airslide) are in front of them on the team track which was either CB&Q or Union Depot. |
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| KeokukUnionDepot This postcard from 1923 depicts the Depot from the south (down-river) side, with the baggage carts that were in use when passenger trains served Keokuk. [I wonder what the industry was that is in the background. Even though 1923 is well into the 20th century, the artist is still in the habit of showing black smoke coming out of the smokestack. ] |
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| Weekly Constitution-Democrat, May 7, 1890 |
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| How five Keokuk railroads were reduced to two |
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| Keokuk, Iowa Historians posted Keokuk, Iowa Historians Photo Archive Friday, January 22, 2021 CIRCA 1917 VIEW OF THE KEOKUK RIVERFRONT Originally shared by Keokuk Union Depot Facebook Page on December 22, 2020 Early 1900s view of the Keokuk riverfront by Herman Anschutz, we see the Depot on the left with passenger and baggage cars on one of the Union Depot Co. tracks. To the right is the ramp that brought trolley cars down the bluff from Exchange Street to railroad level. To the right of that are boxcars on the siding at the Purity Oats plant (now site of the Presbyterian church). The small building on the right, near the tracks, may be a shanty for yardmen who operated the track switches. (The photo, shot from the upper deck of the Mississippi River bridge, has been "colorized" for this posting.) |
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| John Stell posted Keokuk Union depot yard. Barriger picture, I think. John Stell collection. Harold J. Krewer: That looks like the inspection train in many of his photos: Two office cars back-to-back. Like the RI 2-8-0 sitting there on spot. |
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| John Stell posted Keokuk Union Depot. Depot served TP&W-RI-CB&Q-Wabash. John Stell collection. |
Jeff Riddle posted four photos with the comment: "Keokuk Iowa."
Mike Friedman: Wow. That's a beautiful building. Daniel Burnham was one of the most famous architects in the US in that period. He designed the White city in Chicago for the 1893 World's Fair, then the Field Museum in Chicago and the Flatiron Building in New York.
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| Robert Hafliger commented on Jeff's post A photo of the last steam engine used by the Wabash getting serviced with a CB&Q Geep in the background. Its a photo of a photo on the wall inside the depot. |
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| History of the Heartland posted Old #573, shown in 1953 at Keokuk, Iowa, was one of the last Wabash steam engines still in service. Although it was an older obsolescent design, it was the last working Wabash steam engine because it was light enough to cross the old bridge over the Illinois River at Meredosia, on the Wabash Keokuk Branch, which would not then support the weight of a modern diesel (or of the newer steam locomotives). As a result, #573 survived to be donated in 1955 to The National Museum of Transportation near St. Louis, where you can still see it today. A 2-6-0 "Mogul" type, it was built for the Wabash in 1899 by the Rhode Island Locomotive Works. Photo: Don Hofsommer, Classic Trains |
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| Dave Durham posted Mississippi River at Keokuk, Iowa, 1907, F.J. Bandholts photo. |
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| Aug 10, 2022: Andrew Elges commented on Dave's post The depot has been nicely restored and is now an event venue. |
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| Andrew Elges commented on Dave's post |
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| Andrew Elges commented on Dave's post |
Oct 2023: Keokuk Union Depot posted three photos with the comment: "The sandstone caps on the water table are now mostly in place on the upriver end of the building. Masonry work is temporarily halted this week, possibly due to delays in delivery of materials (though there is a stockpile of sandstone pieces, as in the photo). Meanwhile, the local Depot volunteers stay busy. On Wednesday, October 25, Leon Erlandsen was painting molding strips for a reconditioned express room door, and Mike Bliven was refurbishing the Depot's KEOKUK sign."
Steamboats
Riverboat museum:
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| Street View, Jun 2023 |
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| John Miller posted Keokuk being the halfway point between St. Louis & St. Paul was a hub center during the great steamboat era with the Des Moines Rapids, but it was also where the Rock Island District Corps of Engineers began back in 1866. Here we have a photo showing the towboat Grace, one of the "Female" boats designed by Montgomery Meigs and built at Keokuk in 1904. The Grace is posed by the Government Dry Dock, which was built just off of the middle canal lock and was located off of Price's Creek and where the Keokuk Yacht Club is today. The Grace was 92.5 x 17 x 3 and remained under the U.S. Engineers until May 29, 1931, when they had her up for sale and was bought by Moline Consumers of Moline, IL, for $1,500. In dry dock is the towboat Sachem, built at Dubuque, Iowa in 1899 on a hull 171.5 x 36 x 5.5 feet with engines 22's-8 ft stroke built for the Mississippi River Commission, she was sister to the Choctaw, Nokomis, Wynoka & Leota all built by the Iowa Iron Works as well. Next is the US Engineer Dredge, Kappa and above the Kappa is the towboat, Gen John Coffee, the Gen John Coffee was built in 1918 as the Patton and built at Paducah, KY., on a hull 132.9 x 29.7 x 4.9 feet, and was renamed to Gen. John Coffee when bought by the US Engineers in January of 1920. In the fall of 1925, she was bought by the Barrett Line and was renamed Dorothy Barrett in June of 1926. |
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