(The following story by John R. Pulliam appeared on The Register-Mail website on December 28.)
GALESBURG, Ill. — The president of the Galesburg Railroad Museum Board of Directors says the first year in the new building went well.
The museum opened in its new depot-style building April 30. The 2,800-square-foot building replaced the Pullman car at Mulberry and Seminary streets, which had served as the home to the museum’s collections since 1982. A number of pieces of rolling stock, including a steam engine, also are part of the museum.
“We feel we had a very good year,” said Mike Godsil. “I think we’re slowly getting (noticed) out there that we’ve got a new building.”
A rough estimate of attendance for the first year of the new museum was 3,800, Godsil said, but he noted that some people did not sign the visitors book and other didn’t list all of their children, simply listing a name “and family.”
Reliable attendance figures from the old museum are not available. While 6,000 had been mentioned at times, Godsil said that had to be overstated. He said he spent a lot of time at the old and new museums and there is no doubt attendance was greater at the new museum.
About 5,000 new brochures were recently printed. Godsil said he left 1,000 at the Galesburg Welcome Center, as well as some at Galesburg City Hall and the Galesburg Public Library. As spring approaches, brochures will be delivered to area hotels and motels.
With an annual publicity budget of about $3,000, the museum’s annual membership drive, which begins in January, is important. An annual membership is $15, which includes free admission to the museum and a quarterly newsletter, once the publication is up and running. This year, a lifetime membership will be available for $300. Godsil said Jim Clayton is the membership chairman. Anyone interested in becoming a member who doesn’t receive a card in the mail can request one by writing to the Galesburg Railroad Museum; P.O. Box 947; Galesburg, IL 61402-947.
Weekends always bring the largest crowds. Godsil said Railroad Days, the fourth full weekend in June, is when the museum is really jumping. Some busy periods are unexpected.
“There was about a two- or three-week period when we had a lot of people from the East Coast, what I call ‘museum hoppers,'” Godsil said.
He said those people were interested in the CB and Q, one of the railroads that eventually became part of the BNSF Railway, because of its similarities to the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. The B and O began operations in 1834, he said, about 20 years before what would become the CB and Q arrived here.
“It seemed like the CB and Q copied the B and O as far as organization and how (it) branched out,” Godsil said. “The people who followed the B and O were quite familiar with the similarities between the B and O and the CB and Q.”
According to Godsil, his daughter, who worked as an attendant at the museum, said, ” ‘They knew almost as much about the CB and Q as we did.’ ”
The most popular attractions have been the reading room, with its collection of railroad history books and four albums about the history of the Fulton County Narrow Gauge Railroad, Godsil said.
Volunteers are now working on the museum’s model train layout, which is expected to be completed when the new season begins in April.
Perhaps the biggest challenge, Godsil said, is to convince more area residents to visit. Godsil said those who live in and around Galesburg just aren’t regular visitors.
“The locals do bring their friends and relatives when they come to town,” Godsil said, voicing a hope more will stop by the museum other times, as well. “It’s always changing.”
Galesburg Railroad Museum
Address: Colton Park (near Amtrak depot on South Seminary Street)
Telephone: 342-9400
Season and hours: Opens mid-April, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturdays and noon-4 p.m. Sundays. Near the first of May, Tuesday-Saturday, 10 a.m.-4 p.m.; Sunday, noon- 4 p.m. Closed Mondays. Mid-October, see April hours. Closes for season mid-November.
Admission: Adults – $4
Children 8-16 – $1
7 and younger – Free