Train Depot in Gibson County Princeton Indiana

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PRINCETON'S RAILROAD HISTORY

The front door for every community served by a railroad during this era was the railroad depot. The depot was a busy place as the contact point between the local community and the outside world. It was where people came and went, outside goods arrived and local products were shipped, and where mail and newspapers arrived.

The depot was also a contact point for telegraph communication. Postal Telegraph and Western Union were the major telegraph companies when sending telegrams was a popular means of communication.

The local train station was the image of the community and it was usually representative of the size of the community. Princeton's station was larger than depots in towns like Haubstadt and Hazleton. Evansville, Vincennes, Terre Haute, and Danville, Illinois had larger depots.

The Princeton E&TH passenger depot and freight station as they appeared early in the 20^th Century.

The columns from this depot form the Four Freedoms Monument in downtown Evansville today.

Towns served by more than one railroad usually had more than one station. Princeton had two separate and unique depots. The Southern Railway built its own depot on the corner of Hart Street and Chestnut St. The tracks ran down the middle of Chestnut for several blocks through town. The Pullman Hotel was located next to the Southern depot and was later occupied by the Princeton Telephone Company. Chestnut Street was later renamed Brumfield Avenue.

The Southern Railway passenger station on Chestnut Street.

At some locations railroads would share a larger union depot at the point where their tracks crossed. Vincennes had a Union Depot where the Chicago & Eastern Illinois Railroad (E&TH) crossed the B&O Railroad (O&M).

Vincennes Union Depot in the early 20th Century

THE MODERN ERA.

Today the railroad network in Indiana is a mere shell of what it once was. Some towns that were once served by one of more railroads now have none. Hundreds of miles of track have been taken up and the land returned to nature. Railroad stations that were once a vital part of the community have disappeared too. As the railroad business shifted from local to long haul, the depots were no longer needed and many were torn down. Of the almost 1,500 depots existing in Indiana in 1914, fewer than 250 remain today.

The Southern Railway depot on Chestnut Street was torn down many years ago. Fortunately, Princeton's other passenger depot was spared the wrecking ball. The C&EI passenger depot had remained an active station until the railroad discontinued passenger service through Princeton in 1967. The C&EI once provided convenient trains to cities north and south of Princeton. It was common for local residents to take an early morning train to Chicago for a shopping adventure and return on an evening train. School students took class trips on the train and soldiers went off to war from the depot. After passenger service was discontinued the depot was used by the railroad for storage of maintenance equipment. It had been scheduled for demolition when a local restoration group intervened.

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Princeton IN, Genealogy, History
Gibson County, Princeton, Indiana