LOUIS HOUCK'S TRAIN PULLS INTO OAK RIDGE

It was Dec. 15, 1905, when the first train arrived in Oak Ridge. People stood along the tracks to see the two coaches that had left Cape Girardeau early that morning. At the Jackson depot another group was added, along with some from the Fruitland and Pocahontas depots.

The train arrived in Oak Ridge at midmorning amid cheers and waves as the train passed by on its way to the depot.

After spending about 90 minutes having lunch and visiting, the passengers made the return trip home.

Some of the best earthwork of the old railroad can still be seen east of Oak Ridge, south of the intersection of U.S. 61 and Route E. The new brick home of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Fadler stands where the track went, with the Pocahontas depot near where U.S. 61 goes in front of the Fadler house.

Tracks of the Cape Girardeau-Northern Railroad had been laid to the mill pond at the eastern edge of Oak Ridge during the fall of 1905. A spur had also been built to the mill.

Cape Girardeau, Jackson, Fruitland, Pocahontas, and Oak Ridge depots, built by Louis Houck, were of attractive native limestone rock. Only the Fruitland and Oak Ridge stations stand today.

The popular 1901 county map, hanging in most libraries and county buildings, shows the railroad going from Cape Girardeau to Oak Ridge. The track, just being built, continued on to West Chester.

The home of the Marshall Morton family was used as a depot in Daisy. The large house stood across the street from the Hahs Mercantile Store. It was near the present home of Tilda Hobeck.

While I was riding the Oak Ridge School Bus in 1942, I went past the Hildebrand or Kirn's Station. The old building stood at the junction of Route B and County Road 419, southwest of Friedheim. The building was in rubble at that time.

It had been built of a rose-colored rock.

If anyone has a picture or information of the Morton house or Kirn's depot, or any good pictures or information of any of Houck's Cape Girardeau-Chester Railroad, please let us know.