Chicago,Rock Island and Pacific Railroad: Stuart Passenger Station
Front St., Stuart, IAThis passenger station is the only structure remaining in Stuart to mark the community's 19th-century history as a division point on the Rock Island Railroad. In this role, with large shops, a roundhouse, and appurtenant structures, Stuart was a focal point of activity for one of Iowa's leading railroads, from the time the town was platted (1868-69) until the railroad moved its operations to Valley Junction (now West Des Moines) in 1897.
The Rock Island line reached this area in 1868, which was planned to serve as a division point from the start. The town was laid out by and named for, Charles A. Stuart, "working closely with railroad officials" (excerpt from Stuart history, 1870-1970, reprinted in Stuart Herald, 16 December 1976, p.10). The passenger station was among the earliest railroad structures to be erected, with a roundhouse following in 1871 and large brick shops (replacing earlier wooden structures) in 1874. The town was immediately prosperous, with most residents earning their living, directly or indirectly from the railroad. By 1893, Stuart's population was 2500, and the growing agricultural depression in the 1890s, however, produced a slump in the railroad's business (most of which in western Iowa was devoted to shipping corn, grain, and livestock). As the nation recovered, so did the railroad. The town of Stuart might have again prospered, too, but for the Rock Island's decision to move its facilities to Des Moines, more centrally located in the state and certainly more populous than Stuart.
The loss of the railroad shops resulted immediately in a loss of some 400 residents from the community, and the population of Stuart began a decline that continued well into the 20th century. Stuart managed to reorient its economy toward agriculture, but was never to have the vitality present in the "railroad years". Of all the railroad structures once so proudly boasted by the community, only the passenger station remains a "monument to the folly of trusting the prosperity of a town to a corporation." (Stuart Herald, 24 September 1897).
Listed in National Register of Historic Places in 1980.
The National Register of Historic Places is the official list of the Nation’s historic places worthy of preservation. Authorized by the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, the National Park Service’s National Register of Historic Places is part of a national program to coordinate and support public and private efforts to identify, evaluate, and protect America’s historic and archeological resources.