A historic building, a noble fight, a failed effort
Posted on Monday, May 12, 2008
ROGERS - The story of Rogers cannot be told without the Frisco Depot, the small station built in 1881 on First Street along the railroad connecting St. Louis to Paris, Texas.
The story of the depot cannot be told without Ruth Muse, a Rogers woman who saw brief prominence in 1977 in her failed attempt to preserve the historic building and the past it represented.
It was the St. Louis and San Francisco Railroad Co., also known as the Frisco, that effectively started the city, and it was Muse who struggled to the last to preserve the depot she saw as the heart of Rogers.
"Almost 100 years ago the Frisco pulled into Rogers for the first time. On May 10, 1881, people looked with awe at that black smoke-puffing contraption. Many of our citizens hid behind trees. Horses bolted. A whole new era had started in Northwest Arkansas. Rogers was incorporated 18 days later with a population of 600."
Muse, who has since passed away, wrote those words to R. A. Rorie, a representative the Frisco Railroad, to convince the company not to tear down the depot, then located at First and Cherry. It was actually the third depot. The first was built in 1881 at First and Chestnut. The second was at First and Elm from 1883 to 1914.
Muse reminded Rorie, in her letter, the city was named for Frisco general manager and vice president C. W. Rogers, and Rogers' wife organized the city's first church, the Congregational, at Second and Poplar.
"I'm sure our history which is so closely connected with yours has been long forgotten," Muse wrote. "I'm reminding you. Rogers owes the Frisco much. I think you owe us. All we ask is'Please, don't tear down our depot. '"
The connection between the railroad and the city's formation was further verified by Martin Pomphrey, vice president of public relations for the Frisco, when he wrote a letter to none other than Muse "When the site of Rogers was chosen, in 1881, it contained nothing but a dilapidated pole cabin. When the St. Louis & San Francisco Railway was making its way through the country, a number of farmers, with a view to their future interests, secured the amount demanded by the company's right of way agent, some $ 600, and secured the location of the depot where it now stands. The parties who contributed to this amount may truly be called the founders of Rogers. Their names are H. B. Horsley, George E. Wilson, Clark Brixey, Ben T. Oakley, N. S. Horsley, J. R. Swafford, Maj. S. S. Horsley, W. B. Horsley and, possibly, others. B. F. Sikes donated to the railroad company onehalf of 60 acres in the original town, and the depot grounds and the right of way."
News that the Frisco Railroad was about to tear down the Frisco Depot came unexpectedly in early 1977, when stories first appeared in local newspapers. The company said necessary repairs were too costly to keep the building. An estimate by builder Cleman Neff, dated April 15, 1977, judged the repairs would cost $ 92, 080, the equivalent of $ 324, 450 when adjusted for inflation, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Web site.
With her eyes on the past, on Rogers' history, Muse found herself battling by letter-writing to keep the depot intact.
She wrote letters to the mayor, the city council, various historic preservation groups and even President Jimmy Carter. The local efforts were successful in listing the depot with the National Register of Historic Places on Aug. 15, 1977, but that was apparently not enough to prevent the building's demolition.
On Sept. 26, 1997, Muse wrote two letters, the first was addressed to Dr. William Murtagh, keeper of the National Register. Demolition had begun five days earlier, and Muse plead for one last intervention, asking Murtagh to put in a call requesting the depot remain intact.
The second letter Muse wrote that day, however, was one of surrender.
"Well, it looks like I've fought my first battle and lost," she wrote to Pomphrey. "So I guess I've done everything I can do. The one thing that discouraged me was a lack of interest until they started to tear the depot down. Now, when it's too late, I was asked to draft a wire to you, which I did. The whole town is finally aroused."
As Muse wrote, it was too late. The Frisco tore down its brick depot and replaced it with a metal building that is now used as the city sign shop.
Today, there is still resentment over the destruction of the Frisco Depot. Councilman Gary Townzen, who was 27 in 1977, still misses the old building.
"I loved the depot, and I was just sickened when they tore it down," he said.
But Townzen hopes the Frisco Depot will be the last historic building to be demolished.
"Today that wouldn't happen," he said. "Today, the mayor wouldn't let that be torn down. They try to preserve everything now they can."
While the depot may no longer be intact, Muse's letters remain. They are protected in a file at the Rogers Historical Museum.
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