Petersburg National Battlefield moves closer to carrying out South Side Train Station VC

[Emmanuel Dabney]

Park Service considering visitors station in Petersburg
BY F.M. WIGGINS
STAFF WRITER
03/13/2008

PETERSBURG — The National Park Service will hold two public meetings Friday seeking public input about a possible contact station in Old Towne Petersburg, the location of which would be a former railroad station that was at the center of a fierce battle of ownership that led to a jury trial.

That trial was eventually settled out of court and the station was returned to the grandsons of its previous owner, William A. Patton. The Pattons in turn sold the station to the city.

“I doubt very seriously that there’s anyone who’s not interested in the future of the station,” Petersburg National Battlefield Chief of Interpretation Chris Calkins said. “The real question is, do you want the National Park Service in downtown Petersburg?”

Current plans call for a visitor contact station to be located at the South Side Railroad Depot.

The idea of converting the former railroad station for that purpose is not a new one and was actually mentioned in the city’s Partnership for the 21st Century document. At that time, the building was not owned by the city.

In May 2005, the General Management Planning process for Petersburg National Battlefield was completed and the same idea for a National Park Service contact point in the city’s downtown was included.

But a decision on where it would be located wasn’t complete.

That changed in October 2007, when the city purchased the station from William A. Patton’s grandsons for $640,000. Patton’s grandsons were the legal owners of the property. Patton had purchased the building from the city more than 20 years earlier. In March 2002, he gave the building to a group called The War Between The States Inc., which had plans to restore the station and use it as a museum.

When those plans fell through, Patton began legal proceedings to get the station back. In January 2007, a settlement was reached between Patton and The War Between The States Inc.

New opportunities abound as a result of the President’s Centennial Challenge Initiative, and it now appears federal ownership of the historic railroad depot may be more advantageous to the city and the National Park Service than continued city ownership.

The public is invited to attend one of two public meetings to determine if there is sufficient support in the community for the Park Service to acquire the historic property. The ultimate use of the facility would remain the same: to provide a venue from which to offer interpretative programs, tours and exhibits and direct visitors to related attractions and accommodations in the area.

Petersburg National Battlefield Park Superintendent Bob Kirby said in November, after the sale of the building to the city, that the role of the station as a visitor contact point could also include a museum focusing on the role of transportation during the Civil War and how Gen. Ulysses S. Grant used it to obtain victory for the Union.

The two public meetings will be held at Union Station from 10 a.m. to noon and again from 7 to 9 p.m. Friday. These meetings will use the “open house” format, in which public comments, opinions and concerns will be sought and recorded.

For those who cannot make it to either meeting, Petersburg National Battlefield Park will accept written comments via e-mail, addressed to PETE_Superintendent@nps.gov or by surface mail, addressed to Superintendent, Petersburg National Battlefield, 1539 Hickory Hill Road, Petersburg, VA 23803, Attn: South Side Railroad Depot.

Members of the public are asked to provide their return addresses if they wish to be added to the park’s South Side Railroad Depot mailing list. All addresses provided are subject to the Freedom of Information Act and cannot be withheld. Responses will not be provided via e-mail.

• F.M. Wiggins may be reached at 732-3456, ext. 254 or fwiggins@progress-index.com.


©The Progress-Index 2008

Online at: http://www.progress-index.com/site/n...d=462946&rfi=6

[Emmanuel Dabney]

Re: Petersburg National Battlefield moves closer to carrying out South Side Train Station VC

Park Service weighs options for historic rail station
BY F.M. WIGGINS
STAFF WRITER
03/15/2008

PETERSBURG — Dozens of people came to meetings yesterday looking at the future of South Side Station, the historic Civil War era rail depot.

Many of the comments were just dropped off with visitors coming in, casually talking with Petersburg National Battlefield staff and then leaving after a few minutes.

But the meetings Friday, one from 10 a.m. to noon, the other from 7 to 9 p.m. were an important next step for the battlefield and a possible future presence in Petersburg. But when that presence will come is still undetermined.

“Work isn’t going to start tomorrow,” said Petersburg National Battlefield Park Superintendent Bob Kirby.

Kirby said that if the majority of comments received Friday night are positive, the National Park Service will decide whether or not to acquire the former rail depot on River Street. The next step in that process will be an environmental assessment.

“Hopefully we’ll have that done by the fall,” Kirby said. He said the process would likely include several alternatives for action, including a no action alternative where the battlefield would not acquire the rail depot, and several others. “We don’t know what those are at this point.”

If all goes well to that point, the battlefield would then work to have legislation drafted and sponsored by Rep. J. Randy Forbes, R-4th.

“If that bill passes and it says the battlefield needs to acquire South Side Station, we can move forward with acquiring the station. If it includes funding then we will be able to move faster,” Kirby said.

If not, Kirby said that the challenge might be finding the money to acquire the historic building. If the building is eventually acquired, Kirby said, the battlefield would likely go forward with restoring the station to what it looked like during the Civil War.

“We call it a rehabilitation though because we’ll be adding things that weren’t there at the time,” Kirby said. Some of those features include handicap accessibility and restrooms.

The mission of the building would also be determined by the public. Most of the public comments submitted Friday centered on using the station as a first contact point for tourists in the downtown area. Other comments centered on using the station to talk about Civil War-era transportation.

“There are just tremendous stories to tell from the city,” Kirby said, mentioning briefly the starvation balls the city held during the siege and the stories of both free and enslaved blacks in the city at the time. “Of course we’ll also look at the war and its many facets, the weapons, logistics and tactics.”

But getting to that point is still a long way off.

“This is fraught with dangers,” Kirby said. He added that the current administration has been very “unhappy” with congressional earmarks, which might have in the past been used as a funding mechanism.

“We’d like to be up and running by 2014,” Kirby said.

Though six years away, Kirby said the time will go by fast, especially for a project of this magnitude. The Petersburg National Battlefield will break ground March 26 for a new Five Forks unit visitor’s center. Kirby said that project was already under consideration when he arrived at the Petersburg National Battlefield in December 2000.

“My predecessor had already started some work on getting a visitor center out there,” Kirby said. “There’s also a big difference between that project and this project. That was a budget line item for construction. That has always been on land owned by the federal government. This has big challenges ahead, but I’m up for it.”

• F.M. Wiggins may be reached at 732-3456, ext. 254 or fwiggins@progress-index.com.

©The Progress-Index 2008

Online at: http://www.progress-index.com/site/n...d=462946&rfi=6

[Emmanuel Dabney]

Re: Petersburg National Battlefield moves closer to carrying out South Side Train Station VC

The future of a historic rail depot in Petersburg
04/24/2008

Area residents recently had a chance to weigh in on the future of South Side Station, a historic Civil War era rail depot.

The National Park Service solicited the comments as part of a process to decide whether to acquire the former rail depot on River Street.

Of the many questions and issues facing Petersburg, asking whether the National Park Service should take over South Side Station is a no-brainer. Yes.

In fact, the Park Service must move fairly quickly to do so in order to meet a historic deadline. The 150th anniversary of the Civil War starts in 2011 and concludes in 2015. Petersburg’s role in the war will be marked in 2014 and 2015. That seems like a long time away, but not for the federal government and an effort to rehabilitate the historic property.

South Side Station has switched hands several times over the past few years. And now it is time to switch ownership one more time — to the National Park Service. The station was given to The War Between The States Inc., an organization that had plans to restore the station. After a legal battle earlier last year, the station was returned to the grandsons of its previous owner, William A. Patton. Then the city bought the station for $640,000, which included more than 2 acres of land just north of the station and a vintage railroad caboose.

The idea of using the rail depot as a visitor-contact station for the National Park Service has been around for more than a decade. City officials and Park Service officials are warm to the idea. We know of no substantial objections to the idea.

It’s time to get it done.

The project simply makes sense. The Park Service, which manages the Petersburg National Battlefield, has no presence in downtown Petersburg.

That simply makes no sense since the whole siege of Petersburg involved the entire city — and the main target of the Union Army was the city’s rail lines that supplied Richmond.

“There are just tremendous stories to tell from the city,” Petersburg National Battlefield Park Superintendent Bob Kirby said, such as the starvation balls the city held during the siege and the stories of both free and enslaved blacks in the city at the time. “Of course we’ll also look at the war and its many facets, the weapons, logistics and tactics.”

If all goes well, the Park Service would work to have legislation drafted and sponsored by Rep. J. Randy Forbes, R-4th.

Finding funding for the project could be tricky, especially with earmarks – special projects in spending bills — receiving a lot of criticism.

A proposed rehabilitation of South Side Station would cost millions of dollars.

The battlefield can get some money as part of the centennial challenge celebrating the 100th anniversary of the National Park Service where the federal government will match each dollar of non-federal money raised by the park.

But the exact details of funding and the scope of the project is a ways off. However, the future of the railroad depot shouldn’t be. South Side Station should be a historic property that is rehabilitated to tell the story of Petersburg during the Civil War. And it should be owned and operated by the National Park Service.


©The Progress-Index 2008

Online at: http://www.progress-index.com/site/n...d=462943&rfi=6