Roodhouse

In 1854, John Roodhouse, and his wife Sarah moved into northern Greene County were they had come into possession of nearly 400 acres of land. Soon there after several families had moved in to the area and it had obtained the unofficial name of The Little Crossroads. In 1860 with the Chicago and Alton Railroad relentlessly stretching it rails towards St. Louis, it came and made a survey at the small settlement. The road decided not to put in a depot, a flag station, or a switch. When word of this reached John Rawlins, a native of the area, he contacted the company and reached an agreement that if the people of the community would pay for a depot and a warehouse, the rail road would put in a switch.

Soon after, even before the tracks were in sight, the “Red Depot and Warehouse” were built at John Rawlins’ expense. Mr. Rawlins become known as the crazy young man who built a depot out in the prairie grass by a country crossroads. By the time the tracks had arrived in 1862 several families had moved into the area. Charles Alder had a boot and shoe shop. In a log building, James Thompson opened a grocery store with a barrel or two of sugar and some coffee. In 1863 the first passenger train stopped at the crossroads. In 1864 the first coal was mined east of the village.

On April 20, 1866, John Roodhouse paced off his pig pen, south west of his home, and proclaimed it the city square and park.

In 1870 word leaked to the village that the Chicago and Alton Railroad had decided to build a Kansas City Branch, leading off at some point between Jacksonville and Carrollton. They learned of a survey being made from White Hall to the Illinois River. Mr. Rawlins wrote a letter to Mr. Blackstone, President of the Chicago and Alton asking what it would take of Roodhouse to secure the terminal. Soon after White Hall appoints a committee to go to Chicago and meet with Mr. Blackstone, to secure the road for White Hall. Mr. Rawlins called a meeting of the Roodhouse people in the Red Warehouse where they appointed John Rawlins, E M Husted and John Roodhouse to get to the railroad office before White Hall. After research they learn that if they were to get to Jacksonville to board the early train they would reach Chicago several hours before White Hall. They soon contacted Dave Kirkland to take them to Jacksonville on his pump car. Once in Jacksonville a division superintendent assured them that White Hall had already secured the road. Roodhouse and Husted both lost in the project, but Mr. Rawlins go-get-em attitude prevailed, and they made the train to Chicago.

While in Chicago, they convinced Mr. Blackstone that Roodhouse was the place. However, the committee had only a week to raise ten thousand dollars for the right of way, and obtain then acres of land. Before leaving Mr. Husted sent home telegrams which became the call of the town, “all is lovely and the goose hangs high!”

When they retuned home, they were still excited, but came the tiring task of fundraising. Mr. Husted, the first to donate, gave $500. John Roodhouse, John Rawlins, and William Cobb each gave $1000. Mr. Roodhouse, Gave the ten acres of land. More than six of the ten thousand came in on the first day.

In 1870 the roundhouse was built that had ten stalls, then in 1872 it was renovated and ten more stalls added. It was the only roundhouse/repair shop between Bloomington and Kansas City. In the village limits of Roodhouse there were 25 switches needed to accommodate the 25 passenger trains every 24 hours. All passenger trains going from Chicago to Kansas City stopped in Roodhouse for the passengers to eat and for the train to take on water. It was an exciting day for a Roodhouse resident to be on an incoming train and here to conductor call…”ROODHOUSE NEXT STOP, CHANGE CARS FOR KANSAS CITY, DENVER, SALT LAKE, SAN FARNCISCO AND ALL POINTS WEST.”

In 1880 Roodhouse was incorporated as a city under the State of Illinois. Ellis Briggs elected the first mayor. In 1890 what was called the most handsome depot on the line was opened for service, costing a grand total of $25,000 to build. It was with slate heated by steam, and had water facilities. It was thought to be an artist conception of a steam engine making its way west.

On August 6, 1932, the lunch room in the depot closed, there were fewer passenger trains going through Roodhouse. The lunchroom was owned by the John J Grier Company. The company owned lunchrooms in most of the depots in the surrounding area. It was stated that this is not a “Roodhouse” problem but in fact all the lunchrooms were doing poorly.

July 24-31 1966, after much preparation, Roodhouse celebrated the one hundredth anniversary of John Roodhouse plotting the city. During the week of festivities there were contests of all sorts; a time capsule was buried; an original play “HELLO ROODHOUSE” was performed nightly with Ben Roodhouse playing the role of John and Betty Benner narrating; Karen Crum was crowned Miss Roodhouse.

On August 8, 1979, operations at the north yards, roundhouse, and car department were discontinued by the railroad. At this time both switch engines were put out of service. All trains were to go straight through; only three “locals” will come to Roodhouse to turn around.

June 12, 1980, the infamous Roodhouse depot, and freight house were sold to a member of the community to be demolished. People in town secured to have the depot placed on the National Register of Historic Places to preserve it for the future. On the night of July 20, 1980, a little girl in a home just north of the depot was alarmed by the sight of smoke rising up out the second floor of the building. She called the fire department but to no avail the department had been sent minutes before out east of the Reservoir on a false alarm. In her words by the time the fire department got there most of the building had been destroyed. It was a total loss. At the time of the fire members of town were seen openly crying, for one of the last pieces of our railroad heritage was destroyed.

On August 30, 1985, the Roundhouse burns, 12 firemen fought the blaze for five hours, but the building was a total loss. The roundhouse had been abandoned for three years, arson was ruled out. A week later the 45 ton turntable was removed from the pit where it have been for over 100 years. On Tuesday, June 24, 1986 the doors to the small building that had been used for a depot the past few years were closed for the final time.

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