1898 Rock Island Depot: (Satellite)
Union Depot: (Satellite, it is now gone)
1909 East Des Moines Union
Roger Kujawa posted seven photos with the comment: "The East Des Moines, Iowa Union Depot served the Wabash Railroad, Chicago Great Western Railway, Chicago Burlington Quincy Railroad and the Des Moines, Iowa Falls & Northern Railway. It was build in 1909. The website is not sure when passenger service ended here. It is now a banquet center."
Ellis Simon: Did these railroads also have stations in Des Moines? [Scroll to the bottom for Dean Blakely's answer of "yes."]
David Houborg: After looking at Google street view they did a fantastic job rehabbing.
Dean Blakeley
Odd that it didn't make it on this map...
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| Dennis DeBruler commented on David's comment Indeed, they even cleaned off the track. |
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| Facebook comments |
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| Dennis DeBruler commented on Roger's post If the Union Depot didn't exist today, I would have concluded it was the rectangle on this map that is below the Wabash tracks between 5th and 6th Streets. I had a hard time reconciling this topo map with today's reality until I realized that the Wabash and CB&Q terminated in this city and that the tracks along the depot are the the ones labeled Wabash on this map. 1956 Des Moines SE Quadrangle @ 1:24,000 |
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| The Des Moines Heritage Trust via DesMoinesRegister [paycount 3], May 13, 2021 "The East Des Moines Union Depot was built in 1909 by William H. Brereton for the Des Moines Union Railway, though passengers on 16 rail lines passed through....It operated from 1910 to 1950, when the last passengers on the Wabash Railroad came through." The restoration cost $4m. |
The Des Moines Heritage Trust bought the property in 2017.
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| The Des Moines Heritage Trust via DesMoinesRegister [paycount 3], Sep 5, 2017 The Wabash Railroad had used it as a cold storage for tomatoes after it was no longer needed for passenger service. |
A satellite view still shows the warehouse building that was added for tomato storage.
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| Satellite |
The renovation plans started with removing the ugly warehouse building.
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| Street View, Sep 2019 |
1898 Rock Island Depot
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| Dennis DeBruler commented on Roger's post It looks like IAIS sometimes parks cars on their mainline. I presume a local is working the town. [Street View] |
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| Street View |
"The train depot in Clarion was built in 1898 and restored in 1984, after it had fallen into disrepair. Originally built for the Burlington Cedar Rapids & Northern Railway, the tracks and depot were later taken over by the Rock Island Railroad. The building now houses the Clarion Chamber & Development offices and is available to rent for meetings and/or small gatherings." [TravelIowa]
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| John David posted This 1983 view looks east from the Rock Island Depot in downtown Des Moines. During a brief moment in time, a company called The Iowa Railroad operated over the old Rock Island tracks and if you look carefully, you can see an Iowa Railroad sign displayed under the canopy above the parked cars, as the company had offices here. This line lasted just a few years and was succeeded by The Iowa Interstate Railroad. The old rails closest to the depot formerly used by passenger trains were in place for many years, entombed in dirt or partially paved over as seen here, but as recently as just over ten years prior to this photo, passenger trains still stopped here. Tim Martin: This structure is extant. |
According to sah-archipedia, the arch and the building to the east is considered part of the depot.
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| Street View |
This photo "explains" why the arch was considered part of the building. 4th Street didn't used to exist here.
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| Eric Larson, Mar 13, 1965 |
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| John David posted Long shadows on this early summer evening in 1986, and the sun has moved so far west it is lighting up the usually dark side (the north side) of the huge old Rock Island Depot in downtown Des Moines. The "for sale" sign is still up, but the presence of a construction chute suggests renovation has begun on this building that sat unused for years. The big "ROCK ISLAND" sign still adorns the canopy at far left, but it would not survive the renovation. In decades past those letters had neon lights inside of them as well as a "Route of The Rockets" tag line underneath. Kevin Keller: Location? |
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| Dennis DeBruler commented on Kevin's comment |
Union Depot
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| Dean Blakeley commented on Ellis' comment Yes. Demolished in the 1960’s. Would have been opposite the Rock Island depot which still stands. https://digital.grinnell.edu/islandora/object/grinnell:16080 [Historic Iowa Postcard Collection, Special Collections and Archives, Grinnell College Libraries. This Union Depot was built first. Then when the East Des Moines citizens made a racket, the East Demoines Union Station was built.] |
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