The railroad museum
organization formally submitted its application and draft nomination package
last week to the State Historical Society of Iowa for review by the staff State
Historic Preservation Office. The
submission last week kicks off a technical review process that will take
several months by state staff and the State Nominations Review Committee. The
first round of reviews will take place next week on Wednesday, December 2 at
the State Historical Museum in Des Moines.
Once approved by the
State of Iowa, the nomination package will be forwarded to the National Park
Service for its consideration of listing the Milwaukee Railroad Shops on the
National Register of Historic Places. The Siouxland Historical Railroad Association
is seeking designation of the Milwaukee Railroad Shops at the level of a
“nationally significant” historic district.
Situated on
approximately 31.5 acres in Sioux City’s Riverside neighborhood, the Milwaukee
Railroad Shops Historic District is a meat clever shaped property bordered by
the Big Sioux River to the west, the BNSF Railway main line on the south to
southwest, State Highway 12 –Sioux River Road on the east, and farmland on the
north.
The historic landscape contains approximately 50 historic
buildings, structures, foundations and industrial archaeological remnants that
once formed the bustling Sioux City Roundhouse, Repair Shops and Engine
Terminal of the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul & Pacific Railway. The complex was built over a three year time
span of 1916 to 1918, with its opening in mid-July 1918.
Information supplied
in the nomination package states the layout and configuration of the Milwaukee
Railroad Shops Historic District was designed by renowned railroad civil
engineer Charles F. Loweth. He is also known for his work in designing the
Sioux City Elevated Railroad and railroad properties throughout the territories
of the Dakotas, Wyoming and Pacific Northwest.
In general, the
Milwaukee Railroad Shops Historic District reflects a trend at the time in
railroad land use and development relating to the servicing, repair and
maintenance of steam locomotives and rolling stock. The buildings, structures,
and other remnants are characteristic features of the era of the “Golden Age of
Steam Railroading.” According to
historical research there were approximately 1,842 roundhouses and railroad
repair shops built across the country during the steam locomotive era,
employing over 400,000 railroad workers known as shopmen. By 1935, there were
only 416 roundhouses and railroad repair shops in operation across the country,
employing approximately 135,000, as the railroad industry started its
transitioning to diesel locomotives. The Milwaukee Railroad Shops Historic
District in Sioux City is one of seven roundhouse terminal landscapes in the
nation with a comprehensive collection of buildings, structures, and industrial
archaeological remnants to have survived into the 21st Century.
At its peak during
the 1930s, the Sioux City Roundhouse, Repair Shops and Engine Terminal repaired
and rebuilt over 35 steam locomotives from coupler to coupler each month,
repaired tens of thousands of rail cars, and fueled, serviced and maintained
850 steam locomotives a month. Complex employment topped over 585 shopmen
during its height of operations during the 1920s and 1930s. The complex and
employment were downsized in 1954, and saw the razing of several buildings and
structures, when the Milwaukee Road railroad completely dieselized its motive
power fleet.
Notable events at the
Milwaukee Railroad Shops Historic District include the 1922 Shopmen’s Strike,
also known as the Great Railway Strike; the hiring of women to work as shopmen
and railroad laborers during the strike, World War I and World War II; and the
final bankruptcy of the railroad in 1980 that lead to the abandonment of the
roundhouse terminal in 1981. Larry Obermeyer of the Siouxland Historical Railroad Association authored and prepared the nomination package; and he oversaw the extensive five-year historical research process. A team of volunteers helped with gathering research and historical information from across the country. Several family members of former railroad employees and railroad enthusiasts provided photographs of the complex to help illustrate in the application the history of the Milwaukee Railroad Shops over time. Archivists and librarians with the Milwaukee Public Library also assisted with the researching the Milwaukee Road Company Archives held by the library. The research team was able to find original blueprints for the Milwaukee Railroad Shops in the company archives. Other construction documents and site plans were obtained from the planning and zoning records maintained by the City of Sioux City.
In 1991, the State
Historical Society of Iowa determined the Milwaukee Railroad Shops Historic
District was eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places.
This status was followed by the White House and National Trust for Historic
Preservation designating the Milwaukee Railroad Shops Historic District an
official millennium project of the Save America’s Treasures Program. The
Milwaukee Railroad Shops Historic District was listed in 2000 by the Iowa
Historic Preservation Alliance as one of Iowa Thirteen Most Endangered Historic
Properties in the State.
The Milwaukee
Railroad Shops Historic District is currently undergoing extensive historic
preservation work to transform the complex into a railroad museum and
recreational area similar in scale to a national park. Over the past ten years,
approximately $4 million in historic preservation work has been completed.
Another round of $3 million of construction work is currently under way at the
historic site.
