GALION – Punctuated by the whistle blow from a passing train, train historian Mark J. Camp spoke at First Lutheran Church in Galion Sunday in celebration of National Train Day.
Camp, a National Director of the Railroad Station Historical Society, shared stories and historical photos of a variety of train depots from around Ohio, but mostly focused his hour-long presentation on the rail lines that passed through or near Galion.
The celebration was sponsored by the Friends of the Big Four Depot (FBFD), a group dedicated to the preservation of the Galion Big Four Depot. The Big Four Depot was dedicated on Dec. 27, 1900, and served as division headquarters for the Cleveland, Chicago, Cincinnati, and St. Louis railroad, commonly called the Big Four.
The depot, located at the intersection of Church and Washington Streets, was a major stop along the Big Four line, with every train stopping in Galion on the journey from Columbus to Cleveland. At its peak in the early 1900s, more than 30 trains passed through Galion on the line every day. Galion became a “whistle stop” for presidential campaigns with speeches from the train platform from Franklin D. Roosevelt, Dwight Eisenhower and Richard Nixon.
The ticket office remained open until 1964, but all the Big Four railroad offices in Galion finally closed in 1969. In 1974, the Depot was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. However, over the years, the depot fell into disrepair. In 2000, the City of Galion purchased the depot.
After receiving a state grant and support from the community, painting, repair and clean-up started. Financial difficulties forced the restoration efforts to come to a halt in 2004, but with the city’s improved fiscal situation, the FBFD hope to begin preservation discussions again.
The Erie Railroad line also ran through Galion, but its depot was moved to nearby Crestline and serves as the main office for an auto wrecking yard.
Camp described the different types of depots and explained how each railroad line maintained a similar appearance for all their depots. “I can tell what railroad any depot was built by just by looking at its design,” Camp said.
Some depots were as small just a little shelter and others were as large as the union depots that were built in major cities. Most were somewhere in between, like the Big Four Depot in Galion.
An associate professor of geology at the University of Toledo, Camp has spent countless hours over the past five decades researching and exploring the history of Ohio’s railroad depots. Many of the depots no longer exist or have fallen into disrepair. “But there are still some existing depots and they have many different uses,” Camp said. “A number of them are museums … some are businesses, some are houses.”
As the City of Galion and the Friends of the Big Four Depot strive to restore the depot, Camp pointed to the Toledo and Ohio Central Railroad depot in Bucyrus as an example of what can be done.
“It is one of the classic depots in the state, and luckily it’s still standing,” Camp said. “That’s a good example of what can be done to restore a brick and stone structure.”
Following his presentation, Camp talked with those in attendance and signed copies of his five books on Ohio’s railroad depots: Railroad Depots of Northwest Ohio, Railroad Depots of West Central Ohio, Railroad Depots of Northeast Ohio, Railroad Depots of Central Ohio, and Railroad Depots of Southwest Ohio.
For more information on the Friends of the Big Four Depot, visit the group’s Facebook page.
