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ATTENTION On April 9, 2004 we lost our battle to save the depot. By 12:00 noon the top floor was gone. The rest will be gone by the end of the weekend as “progress by bulldozer” does not slow down for the Easter Holiday. Here are the sad pictures |
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S.O.B. – Save Our Building Big Four Depot - Mattoon, Illinois
Big Four Depot – March 6, 2004 In 1835, Illinois Governor,
Joseph Duncan, and the State Legislature began financing the building of
railroads across the state. One line
was to run from north to south, another from east to west. These lines were to cross in Coles
County. Corruption and economic
hardship forced the project some $14,000,000 in debt and it was abandoned
soon after construction began at the extremities of the lines[1].
Under the new ownership of a Springfield, Massachusetts firm, “Phelps, Mattoon, and Barnes”, work on the Terre Haute and Alton Railroad began again in 1851. The Illinois Central had also started its way south from Chicago. An agreement was made that whichever of the two railroads reach the point of crossing last would endure the cost of the crossing. The TH & A was hastily and hurriedly graded to reach Mattoon first. In some areas grading was so poor horses and oxen were used to pull trains up steep grades. The crossing was made in 1855 making the location an attractive spot for a settlement1. Mattoon is born, named after the partner of the corporation which built the Terre Haute and Alton, William B. Mattoon (pictured right). The City of Mattoon donated thirty acres to the Indianapolis and St. Louis Railroad for their headquarters and maintenance shops from Litchfield. This is now the location of the sports complex. The Terre Haute and Alton Railroad was taken over by Indy and St. L. after a line connecting Alton and St. Louis was completed ending a feud between Illinois and Missouri as to where the railroad would cross the Mississippi River. The Big Four Railroad (Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago, and St. Louis) purchased the Indianapolis and St. Louis after its foreclosure in the 1880’s. The Grayville & Mattoon Railroad was to connect the two cities to allow a direct route from the Mattoon railroads to the Wabash River. This line changed hands many times and was finally completed in 1882 and known as the Peoria, Decatur and Evansville Railroad. The PD & E built their shops at 27th Street and Charleston Avenue. In 1900, Illinois Central purchased the bankrupt PD & E, moved its depot to the Essex House and maintained the shops. At their peaks, around 1913, the Big Four maintenance yards employed 435 shop men in Mattoon, the Illinois Central employed 650[2]. The Essex House, which stood at the southwest corner of the intersection of the two railroads was built in 1859. The land was donated to the TH & A by Ebenezer Noyes, who was the proprietor of the establishment. The Essex house, also known as Union Depot, served as hotel, restaurant, and ticket office for both railroads. Abraham Lincoln, Stephen Douglas, and Ulysses S. Grant all stopped at the Essex. It was torn down in 1914 to make way for Illinois Central to lower its tracks below street level creating a subway through the middle of town. The destruction of the Essex house made way for both railroads to build their own depots. Both were completed around 1917. The Illinois Central built a bi-level depot on the east side of their tracks serving its newly built subway. It is still used as an unmanned Amtrak Station and is finally being restored after years of neglect. The Big Four built an impressive Beaux-Arts Classicism architectural style passenger depot on the south side of their tracks and east of the IC tracks. The station was constructed by S.D. Mitchell and Son of Charleston for $50,000. The first floor of the building served as a ticket office and waiting room and also had offices for the supervisor, train master, track supervisor, and bridge and building supervisor. The second floor served as offices for the Division Engineer Superintendent, train timekeeper, train dispatcher, railroad telephone office and clerks office3. This depot continued to serve the New York Central after it absorbed the Big Four in 1929, until passenger service on this line ended in 1964. It is this depot that has been marked for destruction.
The Big Four Depot The depot served as a hub for soldiers on their way to war in both World Wars. During World War II, a Kansas bound train carrying German prisoners of war caused quite a commotion when it passed by the depot. In its peak, in the late 1940’s, the depot saw at least twelve to fifteen passenger trains per day. In 1948, Harry S. Truman gave his last campaign speech at Mattoon from the platform at the Big Four Depot. Six to eight thousand people gathered for the speech[3]. Throughout the 1950’s, the New York Central maintained its historic “Great Steel Fleet” of passenger trains. The Southwest Limited, The Knickerbocker and The Missourian were trains of the fleet that made stops in Mattoon[4].
The Southwest Limited In the 1930’s diesel powered engines began replacing steam. In 1953, New York Central moved twenty-five percent of its steam power maintenance work out of town due to diesel. This was the beginning of the decline of the railroad presence in Mattoon. The Big Four Roundhouse (left) was torn down in the 1960’s. In 1985, the only remaining evidence of the Big Four yards, a skeleton of an old coaling tower, was torn down. 1985 was also the year the Big Four tracks were removed. Much of this line has been converted to a nature/bicycle trail. The Illinois Central Depot and the Big Four Depot are the last two remaining structures from the heyday of railroading in Mattoon. The last reminders of the industry that played the defining role in the creation of this city. They should be restored together as one project. Not sacrificing one to be able to restore the other. The Big Four Depot is not only the last remaining structure on the line Mattoon, but the only structure on the original line from Terre Haute to Alton. This line is the reason for Mattoon’s existence, even naming the town after one of the railroad’s founders. The loss of this building will not be the removal of an “eyesore” in town, but the removal of an important part of the town’s history.
Illinois Central & Big Four Depots – March 12, 2004 All over the country, cities & towns are rediscovering what assets such architectural treasures like these can be. They are irreplaceable symbols of a time when grand buildings designed to both serve and inspire the public were common. Decatur and Monticello are just two nearby examples where old stations have been redeveloped into viable attractions. Farther afield, cities such as Lafayette, IN, St. Louis, Indianapolis and Cincinnati have all chosen to embrace their past, restoring dilapidated stations to their original splendor. Mattoon has a unique opportunity to capitalize on the growing trend of historic preservation in a way few, if any other cities can. It possesses not one but two historic stations, built at the same time but of differing styles, located adjacent to each other. We know of no other city where this is the case. The renovation project currently under way at the Illinois Central depot is a welcome and overdue victory for preservation in a city that has lost so much of its history in the past 20-30 years to neglect, demolition and questionable conceptions of “progress”. This victory will be tarnished if the Big Four falls. We may well look upon the few parking spaces to be gained with the regret that comes from a mistake realized too late. Mattoon deserves better. The Big Four deserves better. Let’s make a choice that our descendants can be proud of. Please reconsider the destruction of this building. Thank you, Chris Rankin Terry Barnes |
