Florence was railroad hub for 66 years
Staff writer
Tens of thousands of visitors will converge on Florence June 12-13 for Prelude to the Symphony in the Flint Hills. They won’t be coming by train.
Amtrak passenger trains pass through the town daily but do not stop. Local service was discontinued in 1971 when scheduled stops at small communities were eliminated.
It wasn’t always that way, however. In the heyday of the Flint Hills, Florence was a crossroads of America.
Florence was the first town in Marion County to have rail service. Speculators filed the town plat in December 1870 after learning the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railroad Company was planning a crossing of the Cottonwood River there.
Steam-powered trains reached Florence in May 1871, and the population grew rapidly.
Two branch rail lines were built.
The first was the Florence, El Dorado, and Walnut Valley, built in 1877. It went south through Burns into Butler County.
Another line branched north to Marion, the county seat, then on to Hillsboro, McPherson, Lyons, and Ellinwood.
In the booming 1880s, more than five miles of side track lay within the city limits. A switch engine, “Neptune,” quickly moved cars from one track to another.
The railroad company built machine shops, a large depot, and a roundhouse. Nearly 500 people. An estimated two-thirds of Florence’s work force, were employed by the railroad.
In 1897, according to the Florence Bulletin, eight passenger trains and a larger number of freight trains stopped or passed through Florence each day.
From 1878 to 1900, Fred Harvey operated a restaurant and hotel at Florence for rail passengers.
The dining room was elegantly furnished and provided nutritious meals served by young women in attractive uniforms.
When the railroad developed dining cars, the need for meal service declined. Harvey sold the hotel to W.F. Aves of Florence and moved his restaurant business to Newton.
In 1904, Santa Fe expanded its operations in Florence by building new and larger facilities, including a five-stall roundhouse, repair and machine shops, and a brick depot. The first depot had been destroyed by fire.
Mexican families began moving into the community, providing workers for the railroad. Most lived in a separate community south of the tracks. Many became American citizens.
A coaling station was built in 1915, and fuel oil facilities were installed in 1923.
In time, Santa Fe began to use diesel-electric engines on its main lines. The company built gas-electric “Doodlebugs” to run between small communities, and one of those was in service on the Florence-Ellinwood line for many years.
Many people remember riding the “Doodlebug” between Hillsboro, Marion, and Florence.
In the late 1940s and early 50s, Jerry Plett of Lincolnville and his brother, Bob, sometimes rode from Lehigh to Hillsboro to visit their cousin, Ed Willems. The fare was 25-30 cents.
“We went to Hillsboro in the morning and came home in the afternoon,” he said. “You couldn’t walk down the aisle because the ride was so rough. There weren’t many passengers.”
The prosperity that came to Florence with the railroads was not to last. In 1937, the community suffered a financial blow when the Santa Fe decided to move its facilities to Newton.
In a 1946 story in the Marion Record-Review, a Florence businessman said part of the reason for the move was that the company could not buy land needed for expansion.
Another blow to the town came in 1942, when the Interstate Commerce Commission shut down the El Dorado branch. According to former Florence resident Robert J. Harris of Marion, the track was dismantled to provide steel for World War II war machines.
The Doodlebug passenger train ran between Florence and Ellinwood until April 2, 1952. Going all the way to Ellinwood cost $2.88 including tax.
After passenger service between Florence and Ellinwood was discontinued, people still could ride two freight trains that continued to run.
In 1959, at least 20 passenger trains passed through Florence daily on the main line. Two stopped, and two others would stop if necessary.
George Hardey of Marion was the station agent in 1971, when Amtrak took over passenger service nationwide.
Four or five passenger trains came through Florence when he first took the job, but fewer and fewer chose to ride as the years passed.
“I saw a big change,” he said. “I was there when the last passenger train stopped at Florence and talked to the engineer and conductor.”
Later, 10 freight and passenger trains passed through Florence daily. They seldom stopped except to load a few carloads of Florence stone or wheat.
In 2009, the Santa Fe is a busy thoroughfare. Burlington Northern Santa Fe freight trains pass through every 15 to 20 minutes at peak times. They seldom stop. All grain is shipped by truck.
The two-story Harvey House Museum at Marion and Third streets is part of the original Harvey House Hotel and Restaurant. It is operated by Florence Historical Society.
To experience a step back in time, groups eat by reservation in the restored dining room by servers dressed as Harvey girls.
