The Old Marion Depot and It's History

As the railroad track and train became a reality for Crittenden County in 1887 a depot would soon be needed to handle the daily railroad business.

In a few years a depot would be built near the tracks.

I have no history of this wonderful old picture, but on the back of the photo it says, I. C. Depot, Marion, KY 1890.   That makes the depot being built about three years after the railroad tracks were laid and the train was running.  You can see only a portion of the depot  on the right in this picture.

 I have recognized a couple of well-known men of the day in the picture.  Rev. James F. Price in kneeling on the bottom right with a white shirt, bow tie and mustache.  Ollie M. James is on the left near the back with his signature white hat on.  Wouldn't it be wonderful to know what they had all gathered by the depot.  

In 1912 Marion would be celebrating the 25th Anniversary of the Ohio Valley (later the Illinois Central) rail road coming to the county and the small depot had grown too small for all the business that took place at the tracks.

In honor of this special occasion the I. C. railroad was going to help overhaul the old depot.  Several rooms were to be added at each end, new floors, vestibules and halls and it would be modernized in every way.  The dedication of the new depot would be May 1st, 1912.

                   A picture postcard of the newly remodeled Marion Depot in 1912

This depot served the community for many years.  What an exciting time in Marion's past history, this new modern deport that helped the whole town and county grow in so many ways and connected Marion and Crittenden County to many other town and cities.

As the years went by the way of the train tracks were less used as the passenger travel became more by automobiles and the hauling of items was done by truck.  But the depot was still used, just not as much, so it gradually started to get rundown.

                           This is a picture of the Depot in 1976

In February of 1981 the Illinois Central Gulf abandon the 90 miles of railroad tracks between Princeton and Henderson and this would include the line that ran through Crittenden County.

 In August of 1985 the old depot was torn down.  Here is a picture from the Crittenden Press documenting the date it was torn down, August 1985.

Although some tried to convince the city that it would be worth saving for it's historical purposes, others thought it was in too bad of a condition to save.    The no vote won, as it usually does in a case such as this.  It's always easier and cheaper to tear something down than to save and restore it.  I think they call it progress, not me I just see another piece of our history gone.

So ended another important piece of Crittenden County history and becomes a part of our Forgotten Passages of time.