BEVERLY SHORES, Ind. — One of the last surviving vestiges of the interurban era will continue to serve South Shore Line passengers in its current state, thanks to a recently-announced partnership.
The Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District, Indiana Landmarks organization, and the Beverly Shores Depot Museum and Art Gallery recently announced renewal of a 100-year lease that will ensure preservation and its continued use as a station along the Chicago to South Bend, Ind., electric line.
The 1926 Spanish Colonial Revival-style depot was typical of many stations constructed for traction magnate Sam Insull’s interurban empire that included the Chicago, North Shore and Milwaukee. Preservationists secured Beverly Shores’ place on the National Register of Historic Places in 1989. Following local fund raising efforts, a seasonal history museum was established in 1998; an art gallery and gift shop followed, according to the museum’s board chairman, Monique Rub.
“The building was originally the station master’s house, complete with a living room, kitchen, and two bedrooms,” she tells Trains.com. The waiting room facing the tracks is always open and maintained by NICTD; the museum, gallery, and gift shop hours are 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays from May through October, with special art opening exhibits 5 to 7 p.m. on the second Friday of those months.
To ensure the building survives another century, the lease renewal includes a partnership between NICTD, the museum, and the Indiana Landmarks organization, which will provide access to grants and other assistance. Significantly, the rail operator will provide an initial $50,000 and an annual contribution to assist with ongoing maintenance. “Repairs and renovation will include moving a wall and relocating ticket machines to a different waiting room area,” Rub explains.
“Preserving this historic piece of our history and the Samuel Insull era of the railroad takes a group effort,” NICTD president and CEO Mike Noland says in a statement. “This strategic partnership brings Indiana Landmarks into the fold to help secure much-needed resources for this community and regional asset, and we are most grateful.”
The Beverly Shores building isn’t the only feature that harks back to a time when electric railways crisscrossed much of rural America. Along with NICTD’s Hudson Lake and Gary-Chicago Airport stations, trains not scheduled to bypass the station in the timetable (currently 3 eastbound and 6 westbound don’t stop at Beverly Shores weekdays) will only stop for boarding passengers if flagged down. The South Shore’s previous rudimentary flag stop protocol has been replaced by a system in which passengers waiting to board activate a strobe light that signals the engineer.
Nice to see this history being preserved.