Depot History Page

 

The St. Louis and Iron Mountain Railroad first reached Pilot Knob in April 1858.  The Railroad would expand south to the Arkansas border in 1871 and the Arcadia Valley would eventually have three stations:  Pilot Knob, Ironton, and Arcadia.   The Ironton and Aradia stations were consolidated and a new station was built less than a mile north of the old Arcadia station.  

 

The station stayed in service until 1968 when passenger service was discontinued.  After that, the building was used for many purposes including a restaurant and a gift shop.  It was vacant in 2006 when Our Town Tomorrow, the non-profit wing of the Arcadia Valley Chamber of Commerce, purchased and renovated the building in such a way that it brought back much of the building's original character back in the process.  As described at the time of its renovation,  "The Arcadia-Ironton Station is of an English architectural style, with walls of solid granite quarried at Graniteville, Mo., the gabled roof originally of green tile shingles, with doors of oak.  Especially attractive is the original fireplace, hewn wood beamed ceiling and the wrought iron fixtures as near to the originals as could be found."   The Iron County Historical Society moved its museum there in May 2007 and the Whistle Junction Visitor's Center and Museum was born.

 

in 2010, work began to secure an AMTRAK stop in the Arcadia Valley.  After six years and, a lot of hard work, that dream became a reality when our historic building once again became an active train station in November 2016.