Railroad Day returns to Stonefort Saturday
STONEFORT - The Stonefort Depot Museums will host its 11th Annual Railroad Day event Saturday at the depot building, along U.S. 45 in Stonefort.
Linda Blackman, owner and curator of the three museums housed in the depot, wants to invite the public to drop in and get a little history. The event runs from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. and features several local history experts.
Hovie D. Stunson will be on hand to share his expertise of Saline County railroads and their history. Mark Motsinger is a local southern Illinois historian and also will be at the event, along with hardware store expert Ralph Maxfield.
Blackman said other individuals with information to share about railroad history and the Stonefort area are welcome to participate as well.
The three museums housed in the depot building tell the early stories of Saline County, the railroad industry, the coal industry and Stonefort specifically, Blackman said. Blackman, originally from Stonefort, inherited the depot building from her father. Parts of the building date back to the 1890s, according to graffiti preserved on an inside wall that once was an outside wall.
Blackman's father bought the depot building from the New York Central Railroad in 1965 and moved his hardware store there.
The depot houses the railroad museum, which depicts many trains from the 1890s to the 1920s with photos and freight in crates appearing ready to be shipped on a train that has disappeared into history.
The second portion of the museum is dedicated to Stonefort, with many old photos, along with historical ledgers from early years in Stonefort.
The third museum, the hardware store museum, is a holdover from the days Virgil Blackman, Linda Blackman's father, operated Blackman Hardware Store. The store was in business after World War II and operated for 50 years.
Blackman said much of the hardware store museum appears the way Virgil left it.
The Railroad Day event coincides with the Old Soldiers and Sailors Reunion, a late-summer festival in Stonefort.
For more information about Railroad Day, contact Blackman at (618) 252-5112.