Living in the Depot: The Two-Story Railroad Station (American Land and Life Series)

266 Pages·1997·8.46 MB·English

by  H. Roger Grant

Living in the Depot : The Two-story
title: Railroad Station American Land and Life
Series
author: Grant, H. Roger.
publisher: University of Iowa Press
isbn10 | asin: 0877455880
print isbn13: 9780877455882
ebook isbn13: 9781587290923
language: English
Railroads--Station work, Railroad stations--
subject
United States, Railroad stations--Canada.
publication date: 1993
lcc: TF302.U54G73 1993eb
ddc: 385/.26/097
Railroads--Station work, Railroad stations--
subject:
United States, Railroad stations--Canada.
Page i
Living in the Depot
Page ii
THE AMERICAN LAND AND LIFE SERIES EDITED BY WAYNE
FRANKLIN
Page iii
Living in the Depot
The Two-Story Railroad Station
H. ROGER GRANT
FOREWORD BY WAYNE FRANKLIN
UNIVERSITY OF IOWA PRESS IOWA CITY
Page iv
University of Iowa Press
Iowa City 52242
Copyright © 1993 by the
University of Iowa Press
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
Design by Richard Hendel
No part of this book may be reproduced or used in any form or by any
means, electronic or mechanical, including photo-copying and
recording, without permission in writing from the publisher.
Printed on acid-free paper.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Grant, H. Roger, 1943-
Living in the depot: the two-story railroad station/by H. Roger Grant.
p. cm. (American land and life series)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-87745-403-5 cloth
ISBN 0-87745-588-0 paper
1. Railroads United States Stations. 2. Railroads Canada Stations. 3.
Railroads Station work.
I. Title. II. Series.
TF302.U54G73 1993
385'.26'097 dc20 92-37446
97 98 99 00 01 P 5 4 3 2 1
Page v
FOR LOUIS W. GOODWIN & JOHN P. VANDER MAAS
Page vii
Contents
Foreword By Wayne Franklin: ix
Acknowledgments: xiii
Introduction: 1
About The Illustrations: 3
The Railroad And The Depot: 5
The Agent And The Depot: 37
The Album: 53
Notes: 119
Selected Bibliography: 125
Index: 127
Page ix
Foreword
Men in great long coats, of fur or thick wool, hurry past the end of a
small depot toward the rear of a waiting train, where a small crowd
has begun to gather. It is a scene that must have repeated itself over
and over again in the great age of the railroads, repeated itself so often
that it seems too typical to be as recalcitrantly real, as undeniably
particular, as it no doubt is. The locomotive seems to have just pulled
in, and something is happening right around the corner now, but the
crowd has been growing so fast that it is closing like a fist over
whatever it is, and the eye searches over the image but can't find the
answer. It must be something important, or arousing, or urgent. Some
of the people are moving so fast that they seem about to blur with
their motion. They are in a hurry, but it is not clear what they are
doing or what precisely has called them here, and it probably never
will be. We know less about it than the young girl who stands on the
end of the platform, in her fine little coat, looking vaguely in our
direction, away from the crowd and whatever compels it.
With all the activity here, a modern viewer may miss one of the other
hidden messages in this photo of the Illinois Central depot at Archer,
Iowa, early in the twentieth century. If we let our eye wander away
from the crowd, and the train, and even the little girl, and instead send
it up the end wall of the unassuming depot, we will find first a ladder
cutting lengthwise along the depot's wall and then, still higher up, a
pair of second-story windows modestly draped with white curtains.
We can bring our eye back down to the ladder later. For now, let us
look at those curtains that hang so quietly behind the shut windows,
pulled tight at the center as if to put a stop to the curious eye.
Curtains, of course, belong in windows, so at first everything seems as
it should be, and it is only on reflection that we begin to sense how out