GILBERTVILLE, Iowa (AP) — Just outside of town on Washburn Road along the Cedar Valley Nature Trail sits a brick building that holds treasures from a time when Waterloo and its surrounding towns thrived as a “railroad town.”
The Gilbertville Depot, built between 1912 and 1915, housed the Waterloo Cedar Falls & Northern Railway, which was one of four railroads that ran through town.
“Waterloo was kind of a railroad town, but it’s largely forgotten,” said Dick Dewater, president of the Friends of the Gilbertville Depot nonprofit organization.
Dewater and a group of volunteers brought back memories from the time with a full-size railroad track and signal display outside the building at 6801 E. Washburn Road complete with railroad ties from the 1924, semaphores and track switches.
Dewater formed the nonprofit group in 2012. With help from grants and private donations, he led a series of improvements to the century-old building, which had previously been scheduled for demolition. A new roof, retaining wall and landscaping are just a few of the additions.
A brick mason by trade, Dewater first became acquainted with the defunct depot on his bicycle rides along the nearby trail.
“I’ve always admired a brick building,” Dewater told the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier.
He couldn’t bear to see it be torn down.
“It just didn’t make sense to me. It really is a beautiful building with an arts-and-crafts, prairie style. It’s amazing,” he said.
The building is now used as a trail-side restroom complete with fresh water, a brick landscape and plenty of wooden benches for trail users to take a break.
The Friends of the Gilbertville Depot consists of nearly 100 dues-paying members as well as a handful of loyal activists.
“We have a small, fun, enthusiastic group that makes this a lot of fun,” Dewater said.
Each year they host events at the depot with live music and refreshments.
“I specialize in popcorn and cleaning,” said Dottie Wear, who has been on the board for four years.
Although they had to cancel the depot’s annual birthday party in July with musicians Bob Dorr and Jeff Peterson, Dewater is already gearing up for next year when the depot will be 109 years old.
When Dewater first began collecting relics from the railroad’s heydays he thought Waterloo would be a goldmine.
“But we’ve really struggled getting stuff,” he said.
But that doesn’t mean the depot is without artifacts. Along the restored brick walls of the structure’s original “freight room” are enlarged photos of the WCF&N freight cars and trolleys along the historic streets of Black Hawk County.
And between two wooden luggage carts from the late 1800s sits a railway velocipede, a three-wheeled handcar that was operated by pedals. The vehicle was mainly used for inspections.
The lobby, ticket office and waiting room are still intact as well as a large room called the “Power House” that stored electrical equipment and transformers.
“They were ahead of their time. They were ‘green’ even before the term,” Dewater said.
The WCF&N became inactive in 1975, and the abandoned rail line was ideal for the first large rails to trails project in Iowa. Dick Young, Bob Buckmaster, Carl Bluedorn and Rick Young formed the Old Interurban Trail Inc. for the purpose of buying the old WCF&N’s “Cedar Valley Road.” The line had been abandoned by the Illinois Central Gulf Railroad.
Together with the Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation, the Old Interurban Trail Inc. provided most of the funds needed to make the Cedar Valley Nature Trail a reality. The trail now runs more than 130 miles from Hiawatha to Evansdale and connects to trails in Waterloo and Cedar Falls.