Wells County Engineer Larry Owen has a problem.
The county garage is getting old, but a new one costs a truckload of money. And there isn’t much of that around just at the moment.
The building was originally constructed in 1906 as the headquarters maintenance facility of two interurban railroads that were based in Bluffton - the Marion, Bluffton and Eastern Traction Company, and its subsidiary, the Bluffton, Geneva and Celina Traction Company.
“Trains ran between Marion and here,” explained Owen. “‘Eastern’ as far as I know never did develop. There was a track that did run east and went to Geneva, but it never did get to Celina. That’s very interesting, and maybe part of the reason is that the times were changing. The President of the company was killed in the Kingsland wreck, so I’m sure it really was a set back to that company, and it just never went further than Geneva.
“So that may have been the ‘Eastern,’ although I have never seen a direct connection. It’s really the only thing you would consider going east from here. Everything else was either to Fort Wayne, or to Muncie or to Marion.”
The building though is showing its age now, and Owen has his sights set on newer facilities for the County Highway Department. He estimates the project to cost $457,000, and is pursuing various potential funding opportunities in the hope of finding the money.
Owen however, does not want the new building to come at the expense of the old, given its rich history, and he hopes that rehabilitation of the existing garage can also be a part of the project.
His proposal will see the new building located in the open area beside the garage, while the current building will be retained as an historic site, and also used for some storage of vehicles.
“We will restore it to its original state as best we can,” proposed Owen. “It’s an historic building, but it’s not particularly fancy. It’s very totalitarian for the time, and some changes have been made to it for our use. Without proposing that we turn it back and put rails through it as they had, as we would still want to use it for storage of vehicles and stuff, but we think we can do that, and still bring back the character of the building in terms of how the interior was set up. It was kind of a big wide open barn actually.”
Owen is hoping that the history of the site can actually count in his favor in applying for Federal funding, as it provides a solid link between the garage and the community.
“These Federal Aid projects, you need to show ‘public support,’ he noted. “I think that would be a way to show public interest in our project, as a place to remember the era, if we converted the building. I’ve talked to the historical society, and it could even be a tourist business for the county. There is a letter from (Director of Economic Development) Mike Row in there (the documentation being used to support his funding applications) about that too.”
As part of the historical aspect of the building, Owen would like to set aside a part of the building for a “mini-museum,” celebrating the interurban era.
He notes that there is no memorial to the Kingsland Wreck, which took place on Sept. 21, 1910, in which 41 people, many of them local business identities, were killed.
“If we’d had a plane crash, like they did in Pennsylvania, there would be some sort of mass memorial,” pondered Owen. “There really isn’t anything like that that I’m aware of.”
Owen was unsuccessful in his first bid to secure federal support for his project, but he intends to persist.
“When I look at those (projects) that did get funded, 75 percent of them have trails, so I have said to the mayor ‘I’m going to submit this again next year, is there any way we can include a trail from our building, up town, wherever the trail is officially, up here?’”
Owen is hopefully that this approach can produce results. He notes that the line to Marion went right down the middle of Washington Street, which doesn’t place it too far from other proposed trails.
“I’m not (exactly) sure how we could do it, but the mayor seemed open to it at the time,” enthused Owen.
He also notes that the old depot was located in the parking lot just east of the library. Although the building has long since disappeared, it would be possible to acknowledge its existence on such a trail, which would also pass the Carnegie Annex, the library and the museum.
Should Owen succeed with his proposal, the public would be encouraged to visit the site during normal working hours, and also after hours by appointment. Where possible, pre-scheduled tours would be hosted with assistance from either Wells County Historical Society members or County Highway Department staff.
The site would enable future generations to see up close the interurban era which played a pivotal role in the development of the City of Bluffton during the early 1900s.
