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Current view of the Illinois Central Combination
Depot Courtesy of the Ackley Historic Preservation Commission |
Built in 1926 to replace two former wooden buildings, the Illinois
Central Combination Depot located in Ackley, is a substantial brick building exhibiting
characteristics of the Prairie style with a Tudor Revival influence. The Ackley
depot is an example of a second-generation depot that the Illinois Central Railroad
began constructing in Iowa in the early 20th century. The company replaced several
of its depots between the 1890s and the 1920s, a period which roughly coincides
with the golden age of steam railroading in Iowa. Replacing its original, wooden
one-and two-story combination stations, the company erected brick depots with
hipped roofs in the larger towns and cities along its main Iowa line. The Ackley
depot was one of the last replacement stations the company designed before the
Depression. In 1925 the two-story wood combination depot in Ackley was 60 years
old and probably in need of repair.
Closer view of the Illinois Central Combination Depot
Courtesy of the Ackley Historic Preservation Commission |
| As Ackley possessed a flourmill, two grain elevators, a cement
factory, a pickling factory and several lumberyards and warehouses by this time,
the business generated in Ackley justified the construction of a new station,
rather than repairing the old one. Plans were drawn in 1926 by J. H. Schott, an
Iowa Central architect, and after minor revisions the building contract was let
to the Coomer and Small Construction Company of Sioux City. The Illinois Central
Combination Depot contained a freight room, a heater room, a coal room, a ticket
office and other rooms necessary for a depot. It is a one-story, 12 by 3 bay building
with an off-center, rectangular trackside bay window. The building measures 115
and a half feet wide by 28 feet deep. The foundation is concrete, and the depot
walls are solid brick. Passenger service was discontinued in 1970 and the depot
was permanently closed in May of 1980. This working style depot is currently scheduled
for restoration work through a grant from the Iowa Department of Transportation.
The Illinois Central Combination Depot--Ackley is located North of Park
Ave., between State and Mitchell Sts. in Ackley. The site is undergoing restoration
and will not be open until mid-2002.
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