The Lick Skillet Railroad Work Station Historic District is a

historic district A historic district or heritage district is a section of a city which contains older buildings considered valuable for historical or architectural reasons. In some countries or jurisdictions, historic districts receive legal protection from c ...

in Brinkley, Arkansas that was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1992. It includes the former Brinkley Union Station located at the site of the former crossing of the Rock Island and Cotton Belt railroads in

Brinkley Brinkley may refer to: People * Brinkley (surname) Places * Brinkley, Arkansas, USA * Brinkley, Nottinghamshire, England * Brinkley, Cambridgeshire, England Fictional places * Brinkley Court The following is a list of recurring or notable fict ...

Monroe County Monroe County may refer to seventeen counties in the United States, all named for James Monroe: * Monroe County, Alabama *Monroe County, Arkansas * Monroe County, Florida * Monroe County, Georgia *Monroe County, Illinois *Monroe County, Indian ...

in eastern Arkansas. In addition to the Rock Island and Cotton Belt, the station also served branchline trains of the Missouri Pacific. It also includes

Rusher Hotel The Rusher Hotel, also known as the Great Southern Hotel, is a historic hotel building at 127 West Cedar Street in Brinkley, Arkansas. It was built in 1915 to serve the Brinkley Union Station. It is a three-story brick building, whose main en ...

, also known as Great Southern Hotel.

History

Brinkley's Union Station was constructed in 1912 as a joint station to be utilized by all railroads passing through Brinkley. Cotton Belt passenger train service through Brinkley ended in 1959 and the last Rock Island passenger train stopped at Brinkley on November 10, 1967. Rock Island trackage west from Brinkley to near Little Rock was abandoned and dismantled in the mid-1980s. Named passenger trains which stopped at Brinkley Union Station include: * '' Choctaw Rocket'' * '' Lone Star'' * ''

Morning Star Morning Star, morning star, or Morningstar may refer to: Astronomy * Morning star, most commonly used as a name for the planet Venus when it appears in the east before sunrise ** See also Venus in culture * Morning star, a name for the star Siri ...

'' The station and nearby railroad hotel are listed on the National Register of Historic Places as ''Lick Skillet Railroad Work Station Historic District'' and

Central Delta Depot Museum

After sitting abandoned for a number of years, Brinkley Union Station has now been restored and is operated as the Central Delta Depot Museum, a local history museum run by the Central Delta Historical Society. Exhibits focus on the natural, social, agricultural, and cultural history of the Arkansas Delta region. Displays include railroad artifacts,

mussel Mussel () is the common name used for members of several families of bivalve molluscs, from saltwater and Freshwater bivalve, freshwater habitats. These groups have in common a shell whose outline is elongated and asymmetrical compared with other ...

diving, jazz musician

Louis Jordan Louis Thomas Jordan (July 8, 1908 – February 4, 1975) was an American saxophonist, multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and bandleader who was popular from the late 1930s to the early 1950s. Known as " the King of the Jukebox", he earned his high ...

, military artifacts, wildlife displays, household artifacts and local history. The grounds include a train depot originally located in

Monroe, Arkansas Monroe is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Monroe County, Arkansas, United States. The unincorporated community extends beyond the CDP slightly into Lee County. It was first listed as a CDP in the 2020 census with ...

, a

sharecropper Sharecropping is a legal arrangement with regard to agricultural land in which a landowner allows a tenant to use the land in return for a share of the crops produced on that land. Sharecropping has a long history and there are a wide range ...

’s house, and a

Southern Pacific Railroad The Southern Pacific (or Espee from the railroad initials- SP) was an American Class I railroad network that existed from 1865 to 1996 and operated largely in the Western United States. The system was operated by various companies under the ...

caboose.

References

External links

Monroe County Listings on the National Register of Historic Places
{{authority control Railway stations on the National Register of Historic Places in Arkansas

B Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Arkansas Union stations in the United States Railroad museums in Arkansas Museums in Monroe County, Arkansas History museums in Arkansas National Register of Historic Places in Monroe County, Arkansas Former railway stations in Arkansas