Springfield Division

Flora, IL

B&O Railroad

Milepost: 74.0

B&O Flora Depot

Flora Depot 2017

Photo by David Cantrell

Harter Township

Clay County

Northeast corner of State St and railroad

Estimated GPS Coordinates: 38.66763602,-88.48839199

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Roundhouse Links

B&O Railroad - Flora, IL - Engine House and Turntable

History

The first depot in Flora was built by the town and then bought by the railroad around 1872. Flora became a primary crossroads for commerce in the area because of the rails that connected from the Mississippi to Wabash Rivers in one direction and the Illinois and Ohio Rivers in the other. Wayne and Clay counties shipped over 137,500 bushels of apples in one season around 1884 as a result of the railroad connections.

Frank Nichols, a local contractor, began construction of the brick Flora Depot in 1916 and finished in the fall of 1917. The L-shaped building faced the Beardstown to Shawneetown tracks on the west side with the East St. Louis to Vincennes rails located on the south side. The depot building is one of two that still stands along the southerly route to the Ohio River. The other is at New Shawneetown. Flora's building is now a museum and designated a Historic Place in the National Register. The museum is definitely worth a visit for those interested in local railroad history.

The crossing was removed when passenger service on the Beardstown to Shawneetown route was discontinued in the late 1950s. The St. Louis route was the more profitable and and passenger service continued until 1973. According to the CSX Illinois Subdivision blog by Michael Monken, the CSX railroad has suspended service between Flora and East St. Louis. The future of this route is not clear.

There was a eight-stall engine house perpendicular to the yard tracks across from the depot for equipment built around 1899. The railroad moved shop operations from Pana after its construction. It burnt in March, 1951. A second building was built over two of the existing pits placed parallel to the yard rails. According to Bob Dagg, former B & O employee and coworker with my grandpa, the railway turntable was rarely used when he worked there and was removed in the early 1970s and the pit filled.

History of Wayne and Clay Counties Illinois, Globe Publishing Co, 183 Lake Street, Chicago, IL, 1884, p. 343, 368 - 369.

CSX Illinois Subdivision History

Flora depot museum

Herald Review depot history

National Register of Historic Places Registration Form, December 1997

Baltimore and Ohio Flora Yard 1938

Illinois Historical Aerial Photographs

Baltimore and Ohio Flora Yard 1966

USGS Earth Explorer

Flora Map

Flora Yard on Quadrangle Map

Flora, Illinois B and O Depot 1912 Sanborn Map

Flora, Illinois B and O Freight Depot 1912 Sanborn Map

Donna Corry

1912 Map shows Shawneetown Branch Junction

Sanborn™ fire insurance map
provided courtesy of the Map Library
at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Flora, Illinois B and O Depot 1929 Sanborn Map

Donna Corry

Flora Track Map

CSXGP15T - Casey Sellers

1912 Flora Yard

Sanborn™ fire insurance map
provided courtesy of the Map Library
at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

1938 Flora Yard Closeup Aerial

Illinois Historical Aerial Photographs

Flora 1940 Census Map

National Archives

Flora, Illinois First Depot

Ebay

Flora B&O Depot

New B&O Depot at Flora

B&O Employees Magazine

Flora B&O Depot

Flora Depot Front Entrance

Courtesy of Duane Carrell and the B & O Historical Society

Flora B&O Depot

Flora, Illinois B and O Depot 1969

Ebay