The Depot
On
South Royal

Jackson, Madison Co TN

Compiled by J.H. Driver

Handed out at the Peavine Festival - Decatur County TN 2007



The Tennessee Midland Railroad opened its doors at the Jackson depot in June 1888 and was there until 1906 when it was moved 200 yards east of its location to be used as a general freight office. The present depot was then built by the NC & St. L. Railroad in 1907. Mayor Hugh Anderson welcomed dignitaries to he new structure with a grand opening. After several years of unsuccessful train service, the L & N railroad bought the Tennessee Midland in 1895 and became the N C & St. L. at this point, the L & N turned around and leased the NC for 99 years.

The depot had many surrounding attractions including Lancaster Park which its water was famour for its "healing powers". Other areas of interest were a zoo, ballpark, swimming holes, lakes and johnny popcorn. Two circuses, Ringling Brothers, Haggenback and Wallace, and a carnival, the Royal American shows that played the Cotton Carnival in Memphis, unloaded here and presented their shows.

Streetcars played a big part running from Highland Park to all parts of the city. On Sunday afternoons people would board the streetcars and go to Lancaster park for picnics. On June 30, 1939, streetcars were taken out of service. In 1919 the Summers Brothers opened Hub City Bottling Works across the street from the depot at III O'Connor Street. Here they introduced their new drinks, Cherry Coke, Pop Kola, Nu Grape and others. Seems like the depot was in the right place at the right time with all of its surroundings.

Across the street from the depot in the year 1901, Mr. Neeley built a hotel and sold it to Mr. Murphy in 1946. Travelers stayed in this hotel while waiting for their train to depart. Also across the street was South Royal Cafe which was built in the 1890's. Inside was a saloon and rooms.

President Teddy Roosevelt spoke at the depot in 1912, while running on the Bullmoose ticket for president. Franklin D. Roosevelt passed through here on a special train at 3 a.m. on the morning of March 20, 1942 on the way to Nashville and to Washington. The National Guard left Jackson in the 1940's with units out of Memphis and medical groups of about 500 men gathered at the station with the American Legion band playing.

In 1928 when a young boy darted out in front of the train, a machinist from the M & O shops named Eldrige Partridge dashed in front of a train in an attempt to save the boy and was killed. Two local boys boarded the trains here on the way to camp during World War I and were killed near Nashville in a head-on collison. That was the worst train disaster in the US history. The bodies were brought back and buried in Hollywood Cemetery on July 9, 1918.

The NC and St. L. Railroad played a big part in the nations railroads. This was the only railroad that made money during the depression. They had a passenger train named after the City of Jackson called the Jackson Belle. It ran from Jackson to Memphis in 3 hours and 15 minutes. In the late 40's they put on a train called tieh City of Memphis that made the round trip from Memphis to Nashville in a days time. The NC and St. L called the Dixie Line had a fabulous career. The citizens in the city of Jackson should appreciate the depot and its surroundings past and present. Yesteryears are gone but memories still linger.

Today there is a new name for the five merged railroads. They asked Guido Gruenwald, a Viennese artist, to come up with a name and logo. He called it the CSX, the Chessie System and named it after one of his favorite cats, Chessie. So it looks like the railroad hasn't gone to the dogs yet!


How the Railroads Came to Jackson

By Bill Smith

Handed out at the Peavine Festival in Decatur County TN 2007

MOBILE & OHIO RAILROAD

The first was the Mobile & Ohio Railroad, started in October 1849 in Mobile AL. WIth plans to build to the Ohio River at Cairo IL. The endeavor ran out of funds and was taken over by investors in Jackson TN. under the direction of Judge Milton Brown, who later became a U.S. Congressman from the Jackson District. The line first entered Jackson in 1851 and was later opened between Jackson and Columbus KY in 1858. The first passenger train ran between Jackson and Columbus that same year and made its first passenger run to Cairo in 1874. These tracks were completely destroyed during the Civil War.

ILLINOIS CENTRAL RAILROAD

The second railroad to enter Jackson was the Mississippi Central & Tennessee. A special charter was obtained byJackson investors from the State of Tennessee on November 30, 1853 to extend the line from Grand Junction TN to Jackson. The line was built to Bolivar, then to Medon and on to Jackson in 1857 to link with the M & O RR in order to move freight north from Jackson. In 1873 the line was contracted and later absorbed by the Illinois Central RR which then built its own line to Cairo IL.

NASHVILLE, CHATTANOOGA & ST. LOUIS RAILROAD

The Tennessee Midland Railway Company line from Memphis to Jackson was the forerunner of the N.C. & St. L. RR. This line was often referred to as the "NC" by locals. Like all other railroads to enter Jackson, it was built with funds subscribed by citizens and investors of Jackson. The first passenger train to enter Jackson from Memphis was on June 1, 1888. The train used the Illinois Central freight house as the Jackson Depot. Construction was then started on the line eastward to Paducah and Nashville. In April of 1895, a new train called "The Jackson Bell" began operation between Jackson and Memphis. It made the trip in an unheard of speed at that time in Three hours and fifteen minutes. In the same year, the line now named the Tennessee Midland and Paducah was sold to the Louisville & Nashville RR. The L & N RR immediately leased the line to the N.C. & St.L. RR for 99 years. The highly profitable railroad was merged into the L & N RR wollowing WW II. After only a few years, the L. & N was merged into and is now part of C.S.X. Transportation Corporation. CSX now reaches Jackson from Milan over the West Tennessee RR which leases the former Illinois Central main line from present owner, N orfolk Southern Railway.

GULF, MOBILE & OHIO RAILROAD

In 1917 the citizens of Jackson voted to issue bonds worth $100,000 to extend the Gulf, Mobile & Northern RR from Middleton to Jackson. This line was completed in September of 1919 and the Birmingham and Northwestern was merged into the G.M. & N. in 1927. The M & O and the GM & N railroads each had branch lines with colorful nicknames. The Okalona, Houston and Calhoun City, westward out of Okalona, MS was, in jest, often called the "Okalona Horse and Cow Company". The Birminham and North Western, northeast out of Jackson was sometimes called "The Beer and No Whiskey". This branch became the cornerstone of a large national railway system from the Gulf of Mexico to the Great Lakes. In 1912, a young Jackson banker, Isaac B. Tigrett, was hired as president to run the forty-nine mile branch until a "more competent" person could be found. While waiting, her merged the parts of approximately fifty railroads under the entity (1940), Gulf Mobile and Ohio Railroad, that stretched from Mobile and New Orleans to St. Louis, Chicago and Kansas City, with Jackson TN as its corporate headquarters and soul of the GM & O RR. This company became the model of the modern railroad merger movement. In this year of 2006, there are only seven major railroads in the United States.

CASEY JONES: The Worlds' most Famous Locomotive Engineer

John Luther "Casey" Jones, was born in 1863 in Cayee KY, where he obtained his nickname. He moved to Jackson TN at an early age and became a locomotive fireman for the Mobile & Ohio Railroad. He later transferred to the Illinois Central Railroad in Jackson where he had a quicker chance of promotion due to a shortage of engineers at that time. Casey was promoted and became one of Illinois Central's youngest and best engineers. He was an extraordinary engineer who ran the line's fastest passenger trains while in his thirties, which was most unusual for that period of time. Contrary to popular lore and song, Casey Jones was not a "rounder". He was a devout Catholic and Family man. He did not smoke, drink liquor or carouse with other women. Case was thirty-seven years old when he was killed in the famour wreck in Vaughn MS on April 29, 1900. No passenger was killed in that wreck or on any other train operated by Casey Jones. Casey is buried in Jackson TN.

CONCLUSION

During the 1930s through the 1960s one could board fifteen regularly scheduled passenger trains at the two depots in Jackson. The names of some of those trains were "The Rebel", "The Gulf Coast Rebel", "The Sunchaser", "The Floridian", "The Seminole", "The City ofMemphis", and "The City of Miami". Without change of train, one could travel to Memphis, Nashville, Meridian, Montgomery, Mobile, Birmingham, Jacksonville, Daytona, Orlando, Miami, CentraliA, Champaign-Urbana, Springfield, Chicago, St. Louis, Jackson, MS, and New Orleans as well as other cities.

The GM & O and the Illinosi Central used Union Station on North Royal and Deadrick Streets. The station has been demolished. The NC & St.L used the depot built on South Royal Street in 1907. This is the building an site of the NC & StL Railroad Station and Museum.