Ottumwa station is an

Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...

intercity train station in Ottumwa,

Iowa Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to the ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. The station was originally built by the

Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad The Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad was a railroad that operated in the Midwestern United States. Commonly referred to as the Burlington Route, the Burlington, or as the Q, it operated extensive trackage in the states of Colorado, Illin ...

, and has been listed as Burlington Depot by the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

since November 26, 2008. It became a

contributing property In the law regulating historic districts in the United States, a contributing property or contributing resource is any building, object, or structure which adds to the historical integrity or architectural qualities that make the historic distri ...

in the Historic Railroad District in 2011.

History

The Burlington and Missouri River Railroad (B&M) reached Ottumwa from

Burlington, Iowa Burlington is a city in, and the county seat of, Des Moines County, Iowa, United States. The population was 23,982 in the 2020 census, a decline from the 26,839 population in 2000. Burlington is the center of a micropolitan area, which includes ...

in 1859, and the city remained the western terminus for the line until after the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

. In the summer of 1865 work began to extend the line west of Ottumwa and it reached the Missouri River four years later. The

(CB&Q) invested heavily in the project and took over the B&M in 1875. The CB&Q built a combination passenger and freight depot in Ottumwa in 1889. Its design was attributed to the

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

architectural firm of

Burnham and Root Burnham and Root was one of Chicago's most famous architectural companies of the nineteenth century. It was established by Daniel Hudson Burnham and John Wellborn Root. During their eighteen years of partnership, Burnham and Root designed and ...

, who designed all of the railroad's larger depots. Ottumwa was the division point for the line. The CB&Q was one of five railroads that served the city, and it shared their depot with the

Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad The Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad (CRI&P RW, sometimes called ''Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railway'') was an American Class I railroad. It was also known as the Rock Island Line, or, in its final years, The Rock. At the end ...

. This depot was known as Ottumwa Union Depot. The

Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad The Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad (CMStP&P), often referred to as the "Milwaukee Road" , was a Class I railroad that operated in the Midwest and Northwest of the United States from 1847 until 1986. The company experience ...

(Milwaukee Road) and

Wabash Railroad The Wabash Railroad was a Class I railroad that operated in the mid-central United States. It served a large area, including track in the states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, and Missouri and the province of Ontario. Its primary con ...

served Ottumwa at a depot at Jefferson Street, listed as about away from the current station. The since-abandoned Milwaukee Road tracks were on a branch from its main line to Kansas City, which ran through Ottumwa on the northwest side of town. The Wabash Railroad tracks ended at Ottumwa, and crossed the

Des Moines River The Des Moines River () is a tributary of the Mississippi River in the upper Midwestern United States that is approximately long from its farther headwaters.U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe Na ...

on a bridge that has been repurposed into a trail. After

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

Ottumwa experienced a building boom, and the CB&Q decided to replace its depot with a modern one. The Chicago architectural firm of

Holabird, Root & Burgee The architectural firm now known as Holabird & Root was founded in Chicago in 1880. Over the years, the firm has changed its name several times and adapted to the architectural style then current — from Chicago School to Art Deco to Modern ...

designed the new depot as well new

depot Depot ( or ) may refer to: Places * Depot, Poland, a village * Depot Island, Kemp Land, Antarctica * Depot Island, Victoria Land, Antarctica * Depot Island Formation, Greenland Brands and enterprises * Maxwell Street Depot, a restaurant in ...

in Burlington, Iowa in 1943. That depot was the standard used to design other CB&Q depots after the war with Ottumwa being one. The new Ottumwa depot was completed in 1951 by Benson Construction Company using the

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

foundation of the old depot and its exterior walls. None of the old depot is visible today. During construction, the railroad used two passenger cars as ticket office and waiting room. Ballingall Park in front of the depot was completed at the same time. The present depot is a two-story structure designed in a simple

Modernist Modernism is both a philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new forms of art, philosophy, an ...

style. The rectangular building features a flat roof, broad

eaves The eaves are the edges of the roof which overhang the face of a wall and, normally, project beyond the side of a building. The eaves form an overhang to throw water clear of the walls and may be highly decorated as part of an architectural styl ...

, banded windows and an exterior clad with

ashlar Ashlar () is finely dressed (cut, worked) stone, either an individual stone that has been worked until squared, or a structure built from such stones. Ashlar is the finest stone masonry unit, generally rectangular cuboid, mentioned by Vitruv ...

Lannon stone.

Transit connections

The Ottumwa Transit Authority East-West Route stops near the station. However, under the current ''California Zephyr'' schedule, Emeryville-bound trains arrive almost an hour after the system ends its daily operations. In addition,

intercity buses InterCity (commonly abbreviated ''IC'' on timetables and tickets) is the classification applied to certain long-distance passenger train services in Europe. Such trains (in contrast to regional, local, or commuter trains) generally call at ma ...

operated by

Burlington Trailways Burlington Trailways is an inter-city bus company based in West Burlington, Iowa. History Burlington Trailways was founded in 1929 as the Burlington Transportation Company, a subsidiary of the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad. It started a ...

stop Stop may refer to: Places * Stop, Kentucky, an unincorporated community in the United States * Stop (Rogatica), a village in Rogatica, Republika Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina Facilities * Bus stop * Truck stop, a type of rest stop for truck d ...

two blocks away at the corner of Market Street and Main Street.

References

External links

Ottumwa Amtrak Station (USA RailGuide -- TrainWeb)
{{NRHP in Wapello County, Iowa Amtrak stations in Iowa Buildings and structures in Ottumwa, Iowa Former Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad stations Railway stations on the National Register of Historic Places in Iowa Transportation buildings and structures in Wapello County, Iowa National Register of Historic Places in Wapello County, Iowa Modernist architecture in Iowa Railway stations in the United States opened in 1859 Union stations in the United States Former Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad stations