Train Depot Project Progresses

(Image from February 5

The relocation, renovation and restoration of a historic train depot in Carroll County is moving forward. The reassembly process near its original location is underway for the Vandalia Railroad Depot in Flora two years after the building was saved from demolition by the town’s Main Street program.

The depot opened April 20, 1908 and was built by the Vandalia Railroad. Flora Mainstreet says, at its peak, trains came through the depot daily. In the late 1960s, the town purchased the former lot and a local man bought the depot. The building was relocated and later became a laundromat. It sat empty for nearly a decade following a 2003 fire.

In 2013, the newly-formed Flora Main Street organization took on some previously-proposed plans to save the structure. Indiana Landmarks says later that year, crews sawed the more than century-old structure into sections. It was then moved to a trailer while a restoration plan was developed and implemented. In December, a groundbreaking took place and the project has since taken shape.

It received more than $150,000 for the initial phase of the project and organizers are seeking additional funding for the next steps.