Chicago,_Rock_Island_&_Pacific_Railroad_Depot_(Des_Moines,_Iowa)

Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad Depot (Des Moines, Iowa)

Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad Depot (Des Moines, Iowa)

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41°35′1.360″N 93°37′18.471″W

Quick Facts Des Moines, General information ...
The Des Moines Rock Island Depot, view from the south, ca. 1910.

The Des Moines Rock Island Depot is a combination passenger and freight pair of buildings in the Beaux-Arts style in downtown Des Moines, Iowa. Construction of the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad (Rock Island) passenger building was completed in 1901. The building is in the Civic Center Historic District, west of the Des Moines River. A covered freight platform and brick building added in 1910 on the east side of the pair of buildings.[1][2]

An unusual aspect is that it spanned from one building at 107 Fourth Street to another building at 108 Fourth Street, spanning over Fourth Street with a metal arch. The principal building, the passenger station, on the west side of Fourth Street, is a two story brick structure.[3]

Passenger trains

The station served Rock Island trains from the north to the south, and from the west to the east. In 1957 passenger trains included: [4]

Decline and modern use

By 1970, passenger service was a mere single train west (#7) to Council Bluffs and east (#10) to Chicago.[5] Service ended on May 31, 1970; with the end of the Council Bluffs train.[6]

In 1986 the Douglas Wells architectural firm designed the restoration of the building. The western part was used for the Business Record offices, and the freight part, the eastern section, was restored for restaurant use.[7]

The building remains intact today. However, the station-associated tracks, which in the past had been numerous, have been reduced to a single track farther from the station.

The nearest passenger train service is in Osceola, 40 miles to the south, where Amtrak's California Zephyr makes a daily westbound and eastbound stop.

References

  1. [1]
    Julia Gauthier, Iowa Architecture Foundation. ‘Rock Island Depot.’ http://www.iowaarchfoundation.org/building/rock-island-depot/
  2. [2]
    David Gebhard and Gerald Mansheim, Society of Architectural Historians, SAH Archipedia, ‘Rock Island Railroad Depot.’ https://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/IA-01-CE127
  3. [3]
    David Gebhard and Gerald Mansheim, Society of Architectural Historians, SAH Archipedia, ‘Rock Island Railroad Depot.’ https://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/IA-01-CE127
  4. [4]
    Rock Island Time Tables, May 1957, Tables 1, 4 http://streamlinermemories.info/RI/RI57TT.pdf
  5. [5]
    "Rock Island Lines, Table 1". Official Guide of the Railways. 102 (12). National Railway Publication Company. May 1970.
  6. [6]
    Paul C. Nelson, University of Iowa, ‘Annals of Iowa,’ ca. 1971, “Rise and Decline of the Rock Island Passenger Train in the 20th Century,” Part II, p. 751 https://pubs.lib.uiowa.edu/annals-of-iowa/article/6748/galley/115521/view/
  7. [7]
    Julia Gauthier, Iowa Architecture Foundation. ‘Rock Island Depot.’ http://www.iowaarchfoundation.org/building/rock-island-depot/
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