By Rita Shirley LeBleu
(Editor’s note—Independence Day is celebrated across the United States on July 4. But this year, July 4, 2026, will be special in DeQuincy for a second reason. The date marks the 50th anniversary of the DeQuincy Railroad Museum. This week and until June 30, the DeQuincy News will share tidbits from the Railroad Museum’s history, thanks to scrapbooks from the Museum, DeQuincy News archives and from the folks who remember the early years or hearing stories about the early years.
At the end of each article, readers will be quizzed on America’s freedoms; railroad facts, memorabilia and objects; and 1976 in DeQuincy.
Look for answers in the special commemorative edition scheduled for Wednesday, July 1, that celebrates those freedoms and the 50 year anniversary celebration of the DeQuincy Railroad Museum.
Call or text Rita Shirley LeBleu to share memories or write your memories in “Letter to the Editor” for consideration. The DeQuincy News reserves the right to edit.)
In 1968, the last passenger train left the DeQuincy Kansas City Southern Depot. By 1972, only one employee worked in the building, according to an Apr. 23, 2023, DeQuincy News article by local historian and DeQuincy Railroad Museum Board of Directors President Vance Perkins.
No longer needed, what’s now considered the “jewel of DeQuincy” would have been demolished by KCS tout suite, had it not been for local women’s clubs.
Thanks to the DeQuincy Federated Service League and the Friendship Club – at first – then the Contact and Study Clubs, DeQuincy’s culture, heritage and a prime example of Mission Style architecture are preserved for future generations.
On Mar. 15, 1974, Mrs. J. Terrel Green, corresponding secretary for the DeQuincy Friendship Club wrote DeQuincy City Council to express the club’s interest in “renovating and restoring the building as a railroad museum to its original beauty and soundness.
Restoring the depot would be done in connection with our country’s Bicentennial celebration and Bicentennial funds would be available to help our clubs finance this project.”
She concluded with the sentence, “Deeding the station to the city would be an act of goodwill on the part of the railroad and would benefit both the KCS and the town of DeQuincy.”
Committee members from the clubs were Kathleen Alexander, Faye James, Bobbie Jean Moon, Ruby Snider and Sandy Treme.
Apr. 17, 1974, a local paper ran the headline, “KCS donates depot for use by DeQuincy.”
Under the terms of donation, the city would purchase the station for $1. Should the station ever be torn down, the land would revert to the railroad. It was decided the KCS agent would keep his office, and the railroad would pay the utilities.
Mayor L. A. Henagan said the city hoped to secure federal funds to help with the project, and because of federal regulations, the property would not be accepted by the city from KCS until such funding was approved.
It was a start, and the city had a crew to help with the heavy lifting with trustees from the Louisiana Correctional and Industrial School (LCIS).
Quiz Time
Which list best represents American First Amendment Rights?
Food, clothing, medical care and housing
Assembly, petition, press, religion and speech
Gun ownership, capitalism, patriotism and nationalism
Cities of refuge, military service, trial by jury of peers, the right to vote
True or False
The Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights are synonymous.
Benjamin Franklin wrote and printed the Declaration of Rights in 1776.
France aided America during the Revolutionary War.
