Volunteers are needed to assist in an exterior clean-up of the Old Linden Firehouse chosen by Preservation Texas for its 2016 Texas’ Most Endangered Places list in the local public building category. The Linden Heritage Foundation is supporting the restoration of the Firehouse.

When: Saturday, November 5^th, 9 am -12 pm

Where: 1939 Firehouse under the old Water Tower

Bring: Gloves, wheel barrows, and garden implements

Refreshments: Water, coffee, hot chocolate, and donuts

Spread the word! Invite your family, friends, students, customers, and non-profit groups who are interested in preserving this building that is of historical significance to Linden.

Can you help? Call or email Joe B. Lovelace (512.799.6294 or Joe.Lovelace@LindenHeritage.org) to get on the list.

Thank you to the City of Linden for assistance they will be providing during the clean-up!

#LindenHeritageFdn

The Foundation was incorporated as a nonprofit charity in the State of Texas on September 1, 2015 by four founders: Sue Morris Lazara, Sam L. Higdon, Joe B. Lovelace, and Dr. James S. Jacob.  During this initial year, the support of our 245 individual and 7 organizational members has been amazing as has the record of accomplishments by our hardworking Officers, Directors, and Committee Members.  A summary of special successes to date follows.

• Saved Linden’s 1934 Water Tower from a demolition order passed in July 2015 by a 3-2 vote of Linden City Council and then facilitated the acquisition of additional City land to expand the water tower site and make future commercial development there more attractive to potential investors.
• Took ownership and responsibility for the preservation of Linden’s 1939 Firehouse.
• Formed a hard-working Historical Research Committee in late 2015, which has documented the 1934 Water Tower and the 1939 Firehouse along with other New Deal era town features. This work has ensured the eligibility of a future Linden National Register Historic District.  The committee has expanded its scope to 1) work on documenting two African American historical sites, Macedonia School and the Carver Center; and 2) gather additional documentation on two key archeological sites in downtown Linden.  Those sites are the 1856 Veal Brickworks and the 1856 Dungeon with Iron Cage, a feature of the County Jail facility of the middle 19^th
• Qualified both the Water Tower and Firehouse for listing on the National Register of Historic Places.
• Secured a place for the Firehouse on Preservation Texas’ 2016 List of Most Endangered Places.
• Released a request for proposals to invite commercial development of the Water Tower and Firehouse and thereby to help revitalize Linden’s economy.
• Successfully completed the Step I application to the Texas Historical Commission for a Texas Preservation Trust Fund grant for our historic Firehouse.  This grant is being sought to fund professional planning services in the form of a Historic Structure Report on the Firehouse. The Step II application for this grant was submitted on July 12, 2016 and final grant awards will be made this coming fall.
• Developed a Firehouse Rescue Fund Campaign that has secured major grants and donations.
• Successfully promoted and then helped write the City of Linden’s application to become a Texas Main Street City in January of 2017. That detailed application was just submitted on July 27, 2016.

If you are one of the many who have contributed to these special efforts and successes over the past year of excitement, we thank you wholeheartedly.  If you are not yet one of the members who have been integrally involved with Foundation work, please jump in for this second, very important year.  We have so many talented members.  Our collective imagination is the only limit on how much more good work can be accomplished!

#LindenHeritageFdn

For those who may be thinking about attending the upcoming Preservation Texas program on local historic railroads (August 11^th in Marshall), you might like to know in advance about Linden’s own Jefferson & Northwestern (JNW) Railroad and Depot.  If so, read on!

Linden’s first train depot (image on right) was moved from the original site where Linden Heritage Foundation (LHF) Charter Member Lanita Williams now lives – just south of Lanier Auto Center.  After railroad service was discontinued, the building was moved to a field off a local Farm to Market Highway where the photo was taken.

A map of the Jefferson & Northwestern (JNW) Railway Company, showing the 1918 station layout at Linden, was located by LHF Research Committee Co-Chair Gail Dorgan at http://www.ttarchive.com/library/Maps/Jefferson-NW-Linden_1918_ICC.htm.*  If you view the Station Map, you will see that the engine overshot the Depot one full block so that the passenger car could align conveniently with the Depot lobby.  To turn the engine the 180 degrees necessary for it to head back to Jefferson, railroad personnel used a roundabout located on the north side of Houston Street, between Foster and Smithland Streets.  This circular device (a round platform on ball bearings) was very similar to the roundabouts still in use to turn San Francisco Cable Cars at each endpoint on their route.  Later, the JNW acquired engines that could push either forward or backward.  That innovation ended the long delays for the vehicular traffic on Houston Street.

The following 11 photos of the first Depot are historic images digitized from family history albums, mostly courtesy of Barbara Skelton and Charline Morris.  They show that the railroad shipping lanes and tracks served young people as a sort of social promenade.  Also, crops and cattle were shipped out, dry goods and other merchandise received, and local boys were sent off to war from this Depot.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The building shown below is rumored to have served as the second JNW Linden Depot, but no evidence has yet been found to verify the claim.  This brick structure is located on the east side of Lanier Auto Center.  It is owned by the City of Linden and is showing signs of endangerment:

 

You can still register for the Preservation Texas meeting in Marshall at http://www.preservationtexas.org/marshall2016/

Hope to see some of you in Marshall on the 11th! 
Sue Morris Lazara 
Vice President for Preservation and Education

*Source: United States. Interstate Commerce Commission. Valuation Reports of the Interstate Commerce Commission. Linden Station [map]. Valuation Docket 423, Jefferson & Northwestern Railway Company. Washington, DC: [s.n.], June 30, 1918.