Historical Society gets Interurban Depot, land

By MIKE JOHNSON
Last Updated: July 17, 2003

Cedarburg - Although its effort to restore the Interurban Depot remains behind schedule, the Ozaukee County Historical Society has two reasons to celebrate this week.

Interurban Depot   Photo/File The Ozaukee County Historical Society became the owner Monday of the Interurban Depot, pictured above in 1908. Also ths week, We Energies donated a narrow strip of land adjacent to the depot for development by the society.

The city on Monday transferred ownership of the depot to the society.

And We Energies has donated to the society a narrow strip of land adjacent to the depot that is the utility's right of way, said Curt Gruenwald, the Ozaukee County Historical Society depot project chairman.

That right of way is where the Interurban tracks ran. Without the land, Gruenwald said, "if you're in the depot and walked out the door three steps, you'd be on somebody else's land."

The land donation by We Energies paves the way for the historical society to develop the area outside the depot, Gruenwald said. This work will include adding parking, green space and park benches.

"We feel a certain tie to that project because the Interurban is in our past, part of our company," Jim Baillon, vice president, We Energies, said of the company's donation. The utility company owned the depot until 1950.

Also on Monday, the Common Council unanimously turned over ownership of the depot from the city because a $279,840 federal grant administered by the Wisconsin Department of Transportation for renovation work has been exhausted.

The transfer "is kind of an exciting moment," Cedarburg Administrator Clint Gridley told the Common Council on Monday.

Under a 1999 agreement with the historical society, the city acquired the depot and served as the umbrella agency for the renovation work. The agreement called for the city to transfer depot ownership to the society once the renovation was complete.

While work remains to be done at the depot, city officials determined that they could hand over the property because the historical society is "close to having a finished product," and the grant had expired.

The grant was to cover 80% of the estimated $349,800 cost to rehabilitate the depot, with the historical society covering the remainder.

But in 2001, the historical society learned the renovation costs would more than double to about $730,000, in part because of complications with removing lead paint and asbestos, Gruenwald said.

The group has been restoring the building, at Center St. and Hanover Ave., to the way it appeared in 1910, a few years after it was built.

The building already is returning to the look of its glory days. The exterior has new paint, a new roof, new decking and new copper gutters, Gruenwald said.

Interior work comes next

Soon, restoration of the interior will begin, Gruenwald said, noting the society needs to raise about $150,000 for the work.

Renovation of the waiting room will be the first priority, followed by the depot's main room, which will become a museum, Gruenwald said.

The depot will become the headquarters of the historical society and its research center, which now uses a 20-by-20-foot room in the basement of the Lincoln Building next door to City Hall.

Gruenwald said the society is trying to obtain an Interurban rail car to display on tracks in front of the depot.

The Interurban, owned by the Milwaukee Electric Railway and Light Co., was part of southeastern Wisconsin's transit system in the first half of this century.

It carried passengers north to Port Washington and Sheboygan, west to Waukesha and Watertown, southwest to Burlington and East Troy and south to Racine and Kenosha.

The northern route through Cedarburg ended in 1948, with the entire system shutting down in 1951.

The former railway now forms the countywide Interurban Trail in Ozaukee County.

Based on past experience, Gruenwald said, he won't estimate when the work will be finished.

"I would have liked to have had it done by now," he said. "But based on all delays, I don't set any dates."

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