An OVERVIEW of

  The Restored Burlington Northern Depot & WWII Memorial Museum

http://depothill.net

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History

● In 1903 when the CB&Q (Chicago, Burlington & Quincy) Railroad Depot was completed,

it was a model of modern convenience linking Red Oak Iowa to more urban communities in

worlds totally different from life here on the prairie.  Rural communities were virtually inaccessible

by any method of transportation until lifelines of railroads joined them to more metropolitan societies.

● Re-dedicated 20 DEC 2003, on the 100th anniversary of the first dedication, The Restored

Burlington Northern Depot now houses a WWII Memorial Museum, dedicated to all those who

served in the Second World War, whether on the front lines ( 1,100 active duty service participants

were from Montgomery County Iowa ) or the home front.

● During the struggle against the Axis, the citizens of Montgomery County Iowa lost a high percentage

of their sons.  Click here for a report (3 pages, 30 KB .pdf) from the Iowa War Records Commission.

Many of those active service participants from the county were assigned to Company F ( Villisca )

and Company M ( Red Oak ).  During WWII, both units were part of the 168^th Infantry Regiment,

34^th “ Red Bull ” Infantry Division. 

                  Structure

● The architecture of the Depot is the Richardson Romanesque Style which influenced the

first Chicago School of architecture and architects such as Louis Sullivan and Frank Lloyd Wright.

That Style, named after Henry Hobson Richardson, generally follows Romanesque Revival Style,

incorporating 11^th century southern French and Spanish Romanesque characteristics, plus

Richardson designs, which can be observed on the Depot, such as:

* Recessed window arches (more extensive than the earlier Norman).

* Polychromatic use of two colors of stone.

* Hip (slopes to sides and ends) roof.

* Arches that sit on the columns.

* Stone stringer courses.

 ● A few city blocks directly north of the Depot is another structure constructed in the

Richardson Romanesque Style – the 1890 Montgomery County Courthouse.

● The Restored Burlington Northern Depot & WWII Memorial Museum is a

project in the Depot Hill Historic Preservation District and is listed on the

National Register of Historic Places, cultural resources worthy of preservation,

administered by the National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior.

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The Restored Burlington Northern Depot & WWII Memorial Museum

http://www.depothill.net

                               Telephone 712.623.6340 

305 South 2^nd Street, RED OAK IOWA 51566

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