Black Hills roundhouse to be restored
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October 29, 2007
LEAD, S.D. - The former narrow-gauge Black Hills & Fort Pierre Railroad
roundhouse in Lead will be restored at a cost of more than $1.5 million, the
Black Hills Pioneer reported. The brick and limestone building was purchased
by Dr. Duane Sander of Brookings, S.D., and his wife. Crews started
replacing the roof this week, and the roof project should be finished next
week.
The roundhouse was built in 1901, and provided six bays in which engines and
other rolling stock could be repaired and maintained. The roundhouse,
turntable, and related servicing facilities adjacent to the depot and yard
tracks solidified train operations of the narrow-gauge railroad in Lead and
the surrounding areas. Use of the roundhouse as a railroad operation ended
around 1930. Since that time the building has stood vacant, housed the City
Shop, housed Cober Tire and, most recently, housed two of the City of Lead's
fire trucks and its Firewise program.
In 1999 the Roundhouse appeared not to have a future, and the city of Lead
was considering tearing it down, but the building was purchased by Stan
Adelstein. After saving the building, Adelstein waited for a good community
cause to come around with a use for the roundhouse. Golden Visions, an
economic development group in Lead, presented a plan that would restore the
building and create a tourist retail center. After more than a year of
negotiations, Adelstein consented to sell the building to the Sanderses,
with the provision that it would be restored.
Restoration work is proceeding. The exterior renovation will be completed
this fall and work on the interior this winter. Completely new floor, walls,
plumbing, and heating will be installed before a targeted opening date of
June 1, 2008. The building contains 7,500 square feet on the main floor and
4,500 square feet in the second floor loft. Restoration will take place over
a two-year period: the main floor the first year, and the upstairs,
including an elevator, in 2009. The renovation will reflect the building's
railroad history and will house seven new businesses. A railroad-themed
restaurant will open on the first floor, the "Roundhouse Restaurant," the
Pioneer reported.
Another attraction on the main floor, created by Wayne Paananen of
Historical Footprints, and his wife, will be "The Living Map" theater, a
multimedia presentation built around a 32-foot-by-28-foot relief-colored
map, featuring over 1,000 lights that will illustrate the story of the Black
Hills gold rush. The map will transport the audience from place to place,
and a large video screen will show them what those places and people really
looked like.
According to the Black Hills & Fort Pierre Roundhouse listing on the Library
of Congress Historic American Engineering Record Web site, the significance
of the building's past is as follows: "Begun in 1881 as the first railroad
in the Black Hills, the Black Hills & Fort Pierre played an important role
in the growth of the Homestake Mining Co., the region's largest mining
concern. Built, operated, and later leased by Homestake, the BH&FP
functioned principally to transport mining timbers and fuel from the
outlying forests to the burgeoning mining complex in and around Lead. The
BH&FP was first routed along Elk Creek to Bucks Station. As the timber was
later logged out, the railroad was extended - from Bucks to Piedmont in
1891, from Bucks to Este in 1898, and finally from Este to Stage Barn. The
railroad's meandering route through the hills and canyons southeast of Lead
distinguished it as one of the most dramatic and scenic early rail lines in
the Dakotas."
The Black Hills & Fort Pierre was merged into the Chicago, Burlington &
Quincy in 1904. The last narrow-gauge lines in the Black Hills were
abandoned in 1930. The last train to serve Lead left in 1983 when Burlington
Northern abandoned its ex-CB&Q line from Custer to Deadwood and Lead.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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