Saturday, November 25, 2023

Ringwood, IL: Lost/C&NW Depot and Old Grain Elevator

Depot: (Satellite)
Elevator: (Satellite, it is still standing.)

Note the rolls of fencing waiting to be picked up by a farmer.
McHenry County Historical Society & Museum posted
This classic railroad station photo shows Ringwood about circa 1915. 
Note the "train order board" at the right of the photo. The arms of the board would tell train engineers whether there were "orders" for them to pick up. These orders told engineers and conductors what was going on ahead of them especially concerning the rail junction at Genoa City, Wisconsin.
Just to the left of the station in photo stands a two stall outhouse for use by both station employees and passengers. One stall was for women while the men used the other.
In 1910 five passenger trains in each direction stopped at Ringwood. Three passenger trains served the community on weekends along with a daily freight train. All of this traffic was because Lake Geneva, and beyond that, Williams Bay, Wisconsin, generated a lot of commuter business including the Wrigley (chewing gum) family during the week and tourist business on weekends.
The station agent in Ringwood was kept busy selling passenger tickets and in dealing with freight billing generated by a milk platform and a grain elevator (seen on the far left of the photo).
Passenger traffic on the line was discontinued in the early 1980s. The station came down long before that. The rails were pulled up in the fall of 1983. The right of way would eventually become a part of the McHenry County Conservation District's prairie path.
Thomas G. Morin shared
Doug Murphy shared
Andrew Roth shared
Aaron Grace: The line (now UP's McHenry Branch) does continue to serve Ringwood, albeit not at this exact location.
John Andrew Lang posted
GONE, BUT NOT FORGOTTEN
-------------------------------------
RINGWOOD TRAIN DEPOT
-------------------------------------------------
* It was built in the early 1900s
* It was part of the Chicago and Northwestern Line
* It was located in McHenry County, Illinois
* Prior to this stop was the city of McHenry, Illinois, and after it was the city of Richmond, Illinois
* The station was demolished in the late 70s
* The track was torn up in 1983
* A bicycle path is now located where the track used to be
John Andrew Lang shared

Andy Zukowski posted
Railroad Depot looking South in Ringwood Illinois 1914
The line that once ran through Ringwood was originally built by the Chicago & North Western Railway.
Service north of McHenry, including to Ringwood, was cut back in 1980.
Thomas G. Morin: The depot was At Barnard Mill Road and the tracks in Ringwood, Illinois. The photo is taken from the Ringwood Road grade crossing looking south.

The wood grain elevator is larger than the typical design.
Street View, Sep 2023

1939 Aerial Photo via ILHAP

No comments:

Post a Comment