And Visitor Information Center
The museums (both Darlington Depot and main museum) are open to the public free of charge. There are regular operating hours but both can be opened by request. Contact us if you need access beyond posted hours. To request additional access, call 608-776-8340 at least two business days in advance of your visit.
School field trips: We can customize the experience to area of study and grade level. The society has grant funding to cover transportation costs for schools.
HISTORY of the RAILROAD in LAFAYETTE COUNTY: In 1856 Southwest Wisconsin was filling up with settlers, and leadminers. Transportation was limited to horse or oxen drawn wagons, or walking. The Illinois Central Railroad had a line that reached Warren Illinois just at the Illinois/Wisconsin border, and in Mineral Point there were investors and business people that formed the Mineral Point Railroad Company to build and operate trains from Mineral Point WI to Warren IL in order to get goods and people a better means of shipment and travel.
The original line was built in 1956. It started in Warren, and traveled north to Gratiot, then Darlington, Calamine, and finally Mineral Point. Rail service provided an economic boom and convenient means of travel. The first Depot in Darlington was destroyed by fire. The second Depot, built in 1889 is now our railroad museum and visitor welcome center on the campground road, where it meets Washington Street between Louisa and Ann Streets.
DARLINGTON DEPOT MUSEUM & WELCOME CENTER
S Washington Street and the Cheese Country Recreation Trail near Ann Street in Darlington.
Location – perfect for Campers and ATV visitors to stop in on summer weekends, the Depot sits between the ATV trail that was once part of the railroad bed, and Pecatonica River Trails Park Campground. There is ample parking beside the building.
Access – the Station Building is at ground level. The Warehouse building is about 4 stair steps higher and wheelchair accessible by a ramp from the paved campground side of the buildings to the deck with entry to both buildings.
History — Built in 1889. After the trains stopped running it was owned by the Kiwanis Club which worked with local Boy Scouts to preserve and restore it. They added the adjoining warehouse structure in 1997. The two buildings were originally connected but the warehouse had been moved and repurposed. When it was moved back it had to remain separate from the Station building to accommodate a water main. The two are connected by a deck between them. The Historical Society has owned them since 2006.
The buildings have been repaired, landscaped, re-roofed and re-painted with the generous assistance of the community including the Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, Kiwanis Club, Daughters of the American Revolution, Darlington High School Students, Jim Mathys, Frank Graham, Robert and Emaline Bond, Mandy Wolf, DUWI, Dave Reed, Darlington Community Fund, Brad Wilborn, Dale Zywicki, Joe Boll, and more.
Hours – 1 to 4 pm, Fridays, and Saturdays in the summer (Memorial Day to Labor Day). Additionally we open for special events or other hours by request. Call ahead and we will do our best to accommodate you.
Inside –
- the Station Building has a model railroad, train equipment, framed photos and descriptions of local railroad events, railroad and travel artifacts, and a collection of Florence Bennett paintings of county train depots.
- The Warehouse Building has displays related to area industry including dairy farming, mining, creamery, Badger State Mineral Water (the pop factory), movie theater, early banking and more.
- The Station is also a Visitor Welcome Center with information on tourist attractions of the surrounding area.
The Caboose
The Caboose is open to the public whenever there is staff present, the Depot is open, or by request.
The Depot building had railroad tracks on both sides of the buildings. The east side tracks were removed and converted to the Cheese Country Recreation Trail for snowmobiles in winter and UTVs, ATVs, motorbikes, and bicycles in other seasons. On the west side of the Depot the tracks remained but were out of sight covered with dirt and grass over the years. The society wanted to place a rail car on the tracks so a long term project began.
First the old tracks were uncovered and determined to be satisfactory for static display of a rail car. Then a search for a rail car began. The best solution would be something from our area because transportation of rail equipment can cost as much as the equipment itself. A board member recalled a caboose in a wooded portion of private property. Another board member was friends with the property owner so he approached him about selling the caboose. He had purchased it from another private party, intending to refurbish it to use as a coffee shop, 20 years ago. The person that had it before him had purchased it from the Missouri Pacific Railroad to possibly convert to a cabin. The caboose rested in rough condition in Scales Mound, IL. The interior had been burned out by a fire started by a hobo that had lived in it for a time. It would be a lot of work but seemed in relatively good shape for a 1937 caboose. The society was able to purchase it in November 2023. The next step was moving it.
In December 2023, A-1 Crane Service in Dubuque, IA brought it from it’s wooded site to the rails beside the depot. Fundraising, grant applications, and donations large and small came together to fund restoration of the caboose which began in May with welding repairs to large rusted out areas, by Ted Thuli of Darlington Dairy Supply. Then it was washed thoroughly. Fiberglass resin was used to patch small holes. Rust Converter was used to treat any remaining rust. The entire car was painted with PPG epoxy primer with the help of many volunteers. The undercarriage and black areas at each end were spray painted with Urethane 2-part paint from PPG by volunteer painter Lindsey Lee. The upper portions were painted “Milwaukee Road Caboose Yellow” (swatch provided by the Milwaukee Road Historical Association and matched by PPG). Most people would characterize the color as a bright orange. Dove Designs, local sign painter provided the lettering, numbers and logo details.
Interior work on the caboose included repair of the floor, insulation, installation of pine “car siding” which is the typical wall and ceiling covering in a 1937 caboose, new fir flooring, paint of walls and ceiling with light gray (per the Milwaukee Road Historical Association), installation of electrical service, lights, security system, windows and doors, a desk for the conductor, and a wood/coal stove, by fall, 2024.
Plans for 2025 include additional fund raising and grant applications to cover the cost of outfitting the car with the tables, seats, benches or cots that were the furniture for the caboose crew. Also a sink with water tank, storage cupboards, and other artifacts appropriate for a working caboose of this period.
“This is not a Milwaukee Road Caboose” that is correct, it is a Missouri Pacific Caboose, but with the blessing of the Milwaukee Road Historical Association we are using this piece of history to represent a Milwaukee Road Caboose because Milwaukee Road is the railroad company that operated trains on the tracks through Darlington from the time the Mineral Point Railroad Company went bankrupt (1880) through the last train running in the 1980’s. The Missouri Pacific Historical Society, has graciously helped us with information on how the caboose was outfitted. The Milwaukee Road had several different types of cabooses – most made in their own shops, but some built by other companies.
We have had many former railroad employees stop in and provide additional information about caboose operation. We welcome any and all information to make our understanding more complete.
