$60K grant will help restore historic depot

A U.S. Department of Agriculture grant for $60,000 will get the Poplar Bluff Historic Depot Restoration project on track.

Stephanie Knoppe, president of the nonprofit’s board, began working on the grant application in November 202O.

With the paperwork being finalized this week, Knoppe said, “the project will start ASAP.”

Knoppe and the board plan in phase one to add a security system and internet. They also want to continue the repairs on the north end of the building, which started roughly in 2016.

Work in the north end will consist of finishing the floor joist, decking, tuck pointing, windows, some electrical, rebuilding the interior staircase, rebuilding the staircase to the basement, rebuilding the wall by the staircase, spraying foam on the ceiling and painting and lighting.

Knoppe said the group is still working on fine tuning what phase two will include, which depends on “if we are able to accomplish everything in phase one. Phase two will have more electrical and plumbing, maybe some more HVAC units being installed.”

All the work will be accomplished “by a combination of funds we raise from various activities, like the dinner auction and quilt show, and grants we will continue to apply for every year,” Knoppe said.

Knoppe started answering grant questions, filling out forms and gathering bids in November 2020. She turned in paperwork in the first quarter of the year and learned in September “we had been granted the amount we requested.”

“USDA Rural Development has worked tirelessly to support rural Missouri businesses throughout the pandemic,” said USDA Rural Development Missouri Acting State Director D. Clark Thomas. “The Rural Business Development Grants will create or save more than 700 jobs in rural Missouri. We look forward to continuing to assist more rural businesses (to) recover and grow this fiscal year.”

This historic train station was built in 1910 by the St. Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern Railroad, which became the first to reach Poplar Bluff in 1872 and connected the city to Little Rock and Cairo, Illinois. Today, the station continues to operate as an Amtrak stop with two trains arriving at the station daily.

The depot is “a big part of our history and has the chance to be restored,” said Knoppe, whose interest also is personnel.

“I also have memories of railroad days when I was younger,” said Knoppe, adding “coming up to the depot to see my dad when he worked for the Union Pacific, as well as my grandfather when it was Mo-Pac. They both started in the old shed in the train yards. I have grown up around trains my whole life.”

Anyone who wants to join the corporation may.

“We love to have new members,” Knoppe said. “Yearly membership fee is $10 and anyone interested is welcome to join us for our monthly meetings.”

Meetings are 1 p.m. the third Wednesday of the month at the train deport. Prospective members may email her at stephanie@ironmountaindepot.org.