Fans of Ohio rail history can take heart about a decision by a local city council this week to begin the process of stabilizing, maintaining, and renovating one of Ohio’s largest surviving railroad depots.
On Tuesday evening, the City Council in Galion voted unanimously on its 2014 Appropriations, which included some $50,000 earmarked for the landmark Big Four Depot on North Washington Street. The city has additional funding available through a local foundation grant to start the long process of addressing the structure’s condition.
Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the Big Four Depot has been owned by the City of Galion since the 1990s, and has been vacant for the last 15 years. The Depot is a unique part of Ohio’s transportation history, according to this information on the Ohio Historical Marker which in on the property:
”This Depot, dedicated on December 27, 1900, served as division headquarters for the Cleveland, Chicago, Cincinnati, and St. Louis railroad, commonly called the Big Four. Peak passenger usage occurred during and after World War I when 32 trains stopped here daily. Railway Express serviced as many as 20 trains a day into the 1950s, and Galion became a “whistle stop” for presidential campaigns with speeches from the train platform from such candidates as Al Smith in 1928, Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1932, and Dwight D. Eisenhower and Richard Nixon in 1952. In 1929 the New York Central acquired the Big Four, which moved the division headquarters west to Bellefontaine in Logan County. The ticket office remained opened until 1964, but all railroad offices closed in 1969. “
The building is a mix of Queen Anne architecture and Richardson Romanesque influences, with a cut stone first floor exterior. The building still has its original ticket windows, freight office, stained glass window, and detailing. While reduced in length from the original, part of the original platform canopy remains as well.
A tour and public meeting to begin planning for the effort will take place next Wednesday in Galion, which is located in north-central Ohio, 55 miles north of Columbus.
