Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad-Wilton Depot is an historic building located in

Wilton, Iowa Wilton (formerly Wilton Junction) is a city in Cedar and Muscatine counties in the U.S. state of Iowa. The population was 2,924 at the time of the 2020 census. The Muscatine County portion of Wilton is part of the Muscatine Micropolitan Statist ...

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 territori ...

. The Mississippi and Missouri Railroad built the first rail line in 1855 in what would be called Wilton Junction. The railroad became 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 ...

(CRI&P) a few years later. A wooden frame depot and a separate freight facility served the community. The railroad placed their repair and maintenance center in Wilton, and it remained here until 1881 when they started to move operations to Davenport and Muscatine. Rail service continued to increase along the CRI&P, which necessitated a new depot in Wilton. with This single-story, brick

Romanesque Revival Romanesque Revival (or Neo-Romanesque) is a style of building employed beginning in the mid-19th century inspired by the 11th- and 12th-century Romanesque architecture. Unlike the historic Romanesque style, Romanesque Revival buildings tended to ...

structure was completed in 1898. Six passenger trains stopped in Wilton in 1911, and by 1922 same-day service to and from

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

began. While the number of freight trains passing through town numbered five or six by 1947, the number of passenger trains declined to one local Chicago to Des Moines train, westbound-only in 1953. The station was finally dropped from passenger timetables in 1954. The depot received part-time freight service from 1963 to 1974, when the depot closed. After the building served as a freight depot it went into decline until the Wilton Historical Society obtained and restored it. The former depot was individually listed on 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 ...

in 1988. In 2016 it was included as a contributing property in the Wilton Commercial Historic District.

References

{{NRHP in Muscatine County, Iowa Railway stations in the United States opened in 1898 Wilton Former railway stations in Iowa Wilton, Iowa Romanesque Revival architecture in Iowa Transportation buildings and structures in Muscatine County, Iowa National Register of Historic Places in Muscatine County, Iowa Railway stations on the National Register of Historic Places in Iowa Individually listed contributing properties to historic districts on the National Register in Iowa 1898 establishments in Iowa Railway stations in the United States closed in 1974