Submitted by STEVE MARTIN
On behalf of the Sheridan Historical Society
On Aug. 5, representatives of the Sheridan Historical Society and the Town of Sheridan met at the new museum on Main Street and commenced a joint project to move the old Sheridan Monon train depot from its present location on the western outskirts of the community and bring it back into the downtown area.
The depot has been a valued part of the community since it was built in 1882 and served the passenger and freight needs of this thriving community in the northwest part of Hamilton County. By 1974, however, the Monon railroad and its associated depots in Indiana had been largely displaced by truck traffic; the Sheridan depot no longer served a purpose and was in danger of being demolished.
In the mid-1980s it was purchased by local resident Jim Kinkead, disassembled and moved to its present location where it was reconstructed. Mr. Kinkead passed away not too long ago, and his family would like to donate the structure back into the community.
This is a picture of the old Monon depot as it exists today alongside State Road 47 west of Sheridan. And no, the green color is not all mold and mildew. After being moved here it was painted a dark green, but it does need a bit of fixing up. (Photo provided)
This is a cooperative project between the Town of Sheridan and the Sheridan Historical Society. Both entities have interest in this project; the Town would like to preserve a piece of its history and the Society has experience with this type of work.
The two organizations already have a written statement of understanding between themselves as to how this project will proceed. The Town has indicated they have locations near the Monon Trail where it enters town, and the depot could be placed at either location. The town would be willing to bring any needed utilities to the eventual site chosen, and in the end the Town of Sheridan would retain ownership of the facility. For its part, the Historical Society will provide most of the hands-on work in terms of fundraising, administration, and restoration of the project. Both the Town and the Society will depend heavily on the community for donations and volunteers and to participate in this venture as the real hands-on work takes place.
At present, the Historical Society is entering the planning stages for this project. One of the major issues to be decided is what do we want this building to become once it is relocated? Another issue is where exactly would we locate it? Then we move on to estimating costs and establishing a budget for this project.
Restoration is another issue. How much restoration we must do to the structure depends somewhat on what we want the depot to function as when we are done with the project.
A lot of work needs to take place before we even begin moving the building. Community input is of paramount importance at this stage and the Historical Society hopes many community members will come forward to help with this project. The Historical Society currently is in the process of forming a working group of individuals who reflect a variety of talents and can help with all the questions noted above. Honestly, we may spend the first year just getting our ducks all lined up before we begin any actual work, but once plans are all set and fundraising is underway, the actual relocating and restoration may be the easy part of the process.
The next immediate step will be to bring together a smaller group of individuals who will oversee this project. From that group we will add others to subcommittees with more precise assigned tasks such as fundraising, functional design or hands-on manual labor tasks.
If you are interested in being a part of this project – and we hope you will be – please let us know. If you are new to town, this can be a gateway to becoming more involved in your new community. And if you are old to this community, please join us in making Sheridan a better place to live, work and play. You can do that by coming to the museum, located at 315 S. Main St., any Tuesday or Friday afternoon from 1 to 4 p.m. and fill out a volunteer form. Or you can email me, Steve Martin, at shmartin1@comcast.net and ask him to include you in the depot activities.
I hope you will join us. We are looking forward to your participation and support as we move forward on this great and exciting adventure to “GROW SHERIDAN!” by preserving an important piece of our history.
The next meeting of the Depot Project committee is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. on Monday evening, Aug. 30, at the museum in uptown Sheridan. The meeting is open to the public and we would welcome your input about where we should locate the depot in town and what you think it should be used for once we relocate it. We hope you will plan to come.