Larry
The spur that at one time stub-ended almost at Prairie Avenue once had a freight house on it. It wasn’t a big structure, wood and was gone by the 1960s.
There was an elevated Signal Block Cabin at the foot of Park Avenue and the siding probably passed in back of it to avoid the signal rods. An earlier freight station was east of the Block Tower.
I don’t remember the large building; the one I recall was closer to Prairie Avenue and was smaller and narrower, more like a double handcar shed.
If anyone has photos of it I sure would like a scan of them!
The attached is the only photo I know of of the Block Tower and freight house. East of Maple Avenue Speidel had a concrete stone block Coal, Wood and Ice House served by the same siding and there was another business closer to Maple which was also on the extension of the Congress Park Yard lead.
In the early days of Grossdale and Brookfield there was a brisk business as whole house kits were shipped in from Sears and probably other companies. There were a few medium sized industries in Brookfield of which I have never researched (I recall a printing-related company north of the movie theater on Grand Boulevard). There was a proposal to expand the Depot to the east to provide a larger freight room but apparently the anticipated additional business did not materialize and it was never implemented. If I remember correctly the drawing was dated in the 1940s or 50s.
Charlie Vlk
From: CBQ@groups.io <CBQ@groups.io> On Behalf Of Larry Owen via groups.io
Sent: Friday, October 7, 2022 12:28 PM
To: CBQ@groups io <CBQ@groups.io>
Subject: Re: [CBQ] Gallery cars
A freight house in Brookfield? Near Prairie Ave? I don't remember it. I know the Prairie Ave depot had a freight room on its east side.
I do remember the siding off of Main 1 (north side) led to Great Western sugar and the IHB interchange. That siding had a short spur leading back towards Prairie that may have held a car or two. Is that where the freight house was? That would have been across the street from Emil's "66" gas station.
I just looked at a "satellite view" on Google Maps. The siding has been abbreviated to almost Maple Ave and crossovers have been added between the three mains. I wonder when that happened? I left Brookfield 33 years ago.
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