(The following story by Tim Rohwer appeared on the Daily Nonpareil website on April 25.)
COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa — After enjoying the sights and sounds of a popular hot spot, one person commented, “This place rocks.”
No, the comment didn’t refer to a new nightclub. The “hot spot” in this case is the Union Pacific Railroad Museum.
And, there’s been many others who have felt the same way.
“Awesome.” “Cool.” “Absolutely phenomenal,” they mentioned after touring the museum at 200 Pearl St.
It’s been almost a year now since the museum first opened its doors and already nearly 30,000 people have walked through them.
They’ve come from near, of course, and from afar.
People from all 50 states, five Canadian provinces and 31 foreign countries, including Japan, Luxembourg, Great Britain, Germany, South Korea, Columbia, New Zealand, Taiwan and West Africa.
“We’re very happy with the attendance so far,” said Beth Lindquist, museum director. “We had excellent attendance during last sum- mer; and while it slowed down a little when school started, it picked up substantially during holidays and when school was out.
“We’re now picking up a lot of groups and school groups near the end of the school year, and we’re expecting a surge for the summer.”
The Union Pacific Railroad Museum is the largest corporate museum collection in the United States.
Though it was housed in Omaha, the railroad’s headquarters, for decades, the new Council Bluffs location is fitting because the city was the railroad’s official starting point on its journey in opening up the West.
At one time, there were seven, even nine, different railroads that came through here, Lindquist said.
It’s no wonder then that so many people in this area, and around the world, are railroad buffs.
“Certainly, Council Bluffs has a history of being a big railroad town,” Lindquist said. “We’re fortunate there are a lot of railroad buffs in this area and all over the world, and a museum of our quality is of interest to them.”
The museum is located in the former Carnegie Public Library building.
In 1998, the Carnegie building, listed on the National Register of Historical Places, was vacated when the city’s new library was built.
A group of citizens, known then as the Friends of the Carnegie Cultural Museum, raised $3.5 million for renovation and museum exhibits. About $1.4 million of that amount came from the Iowa West Foundation and $800,000 from the Lied Foundation.
It officially opened on May 10, 2003. U.S. Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, was among the dignitaries who attended the opening ceremonies, along with hundreds of area residents.
“Council Bluffs and the opening of the West are synonymous,” Grassley said at the event. “It’s appropriate that this building highlights the rich history of Council Bluffs and the railroad.”
When people stroll through the three-level museum, they see a wide variety of railroad artifacts from the very beginning of railroad travel to the more modern technologies.
An exhibit that’s been popular with visitors is “the simulator,” which visualizes what it’s like to run a train. It’s located on the second floor.
“It provides a sense of being the engineer in a locomotive,” Lindquist said.
While the first year has been great, even bigger things are expected down the line.
The museum will celebrate its first anniversary on May 10 with activities and giveaways, Lindquist said. The anniversary is on a Monday, which is when the museum is closed. It will be opened that day, however, from 4 to 7 p.m.
All visitors will receive a reproduction of the historical “Great Event” poster from 1869.
Other activities that night, which is also the start of Pride Week, include a coloring contest for children 12 years old and younger, carnival train rides and a concert by local artist “Freight Train Frank.”
The museum is working with the Council Bluffs Public Library on several projects, Lindquist said.
The first will be a program of story time at the library, followed by a trip to the museum for hands-on activities. Initial dates have been set for July 15 and 16.
To enhance and refresh the museum, two different types of exhibit presentations are being considered, Lindquist said.
One of them is “traveling exhibits” from other museums that would be able to be displayed here for a time.
One of these traveling exhibits is from the National Atomic Museum called, “Warriors – Navajo Code Talkers.” It features the men whose language and bravery helped make defeat of the Japanese during World War II possible, Lindquist said. The museum will host the exhibit this October and November.
The other type of exhibit being planned is the “temporary” kind.
Even though there’s so much to see now, the museum has many other artifacts that can’t be shown for lack of space.
“There is still a lot we can bring out,” Lindquist said.
An exact time when these exhibits will be set up isn’t yet final.
The museum will continue to host operating train displays, both in the N scale and HO scale. Tentative plans are to host the N-Trak Club on June 18 and 19.
A major reason why so many people from around the country, and the world, have visited the museum is because of an aggressive promotion campaign.
With the help of a $45,000 grant from the Iowa West Foundation for promoting the museum for its first year, advertisements have been placed in widely-read train- and travel-related magazines.
These include Home & Away Magazine, Rail Fan Magazine and Trains Magazine. The museum has also been promoted in both the Council Bluffs and Omaha visitors guides and the College World Series programs.
“It’s been helpful,” Lindquist said of this campaign.
And, the museum has certainly been helpful for other local attractions.
“I believe we have brought visitors here that might not have come otherwise, and they go to other museums, such as the Squirrel Cage Jail, the RailsWest Museum and the Dodge House,” Lindquist said. “Once they come here, they ask what else is around.”
The museum is open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Tuesdays through Saturdays, closed Sundays and Mondays. There is no admission charge.