A new touch, “LAPORTE” in the original mosaic tile floor, welcomes those who enter the former passenger station/ticket office of the renovated LaPorte depot. See more photos of the depot in Great Shots at left.
It’s been a long time coming. About 20 years, renovation-wise. And decades before that, it just sat there, deteriorating.
Finally, after a slew of negotiations, objections and the small task of turning an empty shell of a nearly 100-year-old building into inviting office space, the city of LaPorte has a new jewel in its crown.
Folks who were paying attention showed up Saturday, June 20, for a sort of sneak preview of the renovated LaPorte Depot. The rather impromptu open house can be credited to members of the Lincoln Highway Association, who were passing through town and wanted to see the structure. Mayor Kathy Chroback and LaPorte County Historian Fern Eddy Schultz happily obliged.
A more widely publicized open house will take place later this summer. But those who took advantage of Saturday’s invitation were not disappointed.
The chance to see what $900,000 (that was 80 percent federal grant money, 20 percent city money) of work can do for a run-down, abandoned structure is tantalizing.
The original mosaic tile in the former passenger station gleams white and green and announces “LAPORTE” in a new inlay that greets guests inside the main entrance. Period-reproduction globe lights grace the 16-foot-high ceilings. Outside, bold signs under the depot’s eaves announce to passengers past and present this stop along their journeys.
Ed Kowalczyk, architecture designer for Troyer Group, counted off the biggest challenges of the renovation. “The canopy,” he said, that joins the depot’s two buildings “was completely leaning.” All the plumbing, mechanical and electrical infrastructure had to be torn out and replaced. The thick oak woodwork was refinished, and if missing, replicated. In the main changes to the original structure, walls were built to create office spaces.
Fittingly, the same LaPorte institution that built the original structure back in 1910 – Larson-Danielson Construction Co. – was among the contractors instrumental in renovating it.
So a key question: Is it noisy in there when a train goes by? Yep, it’s pretty noisy. It could have been made less so, Kowalczyk said, had state historic preservation rules allowed more complete restructuring of the windows. As it is, “it’ll be a challenge,” he admitted.
He noted that “the horn is the hardest thing” to endure. Modern train horns, much more so than those of old, pierce the eardrums. But he pointed out that the city of Mishawaka passed a law disallowing the sounding of train horns near downtown gated crossings – such as the gated crossing at LaPorte’s Madison Street just a half block from the depot.
Chroback thinks the trains that pass through every seven minutes or so provide the sort of background noise — like the Chicago El or the planes near O’Hare – that future office inhabitants can get used to. Those inhabitants will include the LaPorte Chamber of Commerce, Leadership LaPorte County and the Greater LaPorte Economic Development Commission (GLEDC).
As for this open house on this day, Chroback and Historian Schultz greeted visitors and answered questions, and reveled in the delight guests seemed to take in seeing the now-inviting spaces.
“You should be very proud of this. It’s beautiful,” a man touring the facility told Chroback. He had worked at the Roxy Theatre as a young man and remembered how the depot had big boxes at each end where mail was deposited.
Chroback said she is indeed proud. She’s one of four mayors who withstood the criticism of some who wrongly assumed the city was paying for the bulk of the renovation. And also one of those mayors who took on the task of convincing Norfolk-Southern to let the city take control of the old structure.
When Mayor Elmo Gonzalez secured the first federal funding for the project in 1994, “he had the money and no building,” she said. The struggle continued until 2001, when Chroback secured the title.
Were the years of struggle worth it? “Absolutely,” Chroback said as she stood in the former baggage/freight space. “I think LaPorte should be proud of what the outcome has been.”
About then a man named Ed Zeese entered with his wife, Doris. “I haven’t been in this building since ‘46,” he said, when he was coming home on furlough from the service.
Fern Eddy Schultz has her own memories. “When I was little it was really fun to come in and sit in the waiting room,” awaiting relatives, the historian recalled. She also remembered the World War II era – when, just as in World War I, hundreds of soldiers departed and returned at the depot. “My brother left from here in ‘42,” she recalled. He was one who did not return.
Schultz also recalled that President Dwight Eisenhower stood at the back of a train to greet well-wishers outside the depot. But she debunked a story offered by a Lincoln Highway Association visitor who’d heard an old tale that President Lincoln visited there. Lincoln died in 1865 … the depot was built in 1910.
Chroback recalled the crumbling structure she originally toured – dirty, vandalized, holes in the roof, asbestos in the walls – as she stood in the now-handsome space. “I can tell you that on the other side, I could see what it could be,” she said.
It’s the flip side now, and she hopes LaPorteans will embrace the building as another piece of LaPorte history reclaimed.
Sharon Goodman — June 21, 2009 @ 11:39 am
What a beautiful treat to read this story and see Beth Boardman’s photographs of LaPorte’s train station. I, too, have memories of sitting in that station with my mother when I was a little girl, awaiting the arrival of our grandma from out of town. Yes, the city has many needs for its’ funds but sometimes it’s necessary just to do something nice for ourself. I think this train depot renovation is one of those things. Thanks to all who withstood the storms to push ahead with this project.
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