***OUR MISSION IS TO RESTORE THE LEACHVILLE COTTON BELT DEPOT*** By liking our page, and showing your support, we can restore the depot through donations, state, and federal grants. For more information, please see the CONTACT information on this page***
Here is a little bit about the "Cotton Belt" depot:
The Leachville "Cotton Belt Depot" is a significant structure to the founding of Leachvill
e, Arkansas. In 1898, the Cannon family, which had moved to Leachville early on, started a sawmill. Products from the mill were transported to Arbyrd, Missouri, for shipment. In 1899, the railroad came to Leachville to help ship products out of the town. The next railroad to reach the area was the Blytheville, Leachville and Arkansas Southern Railroad (BL&AS). This rail was owned by the Chicago Mill & Lumber Company, a huge operation that had mills in Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana & Mississippi. It owned a box factory and mill just west of Blytheville providing transportation from the logging camps to the mill. The tracks extended from Leachville to Rivervale located on the St. Francis River. In 1910, the BL&AS company constructed a new depot in the community of Leachville for easy shipping of goods. Instead of constructing its own railroad, the BL&AS company preferred to rent tracks from Jonesboro, Lake City & Eastern Railroad, the Frisco Railroad, and the Paragould Southeastern Railroad. In 1928, The BL&AS company was acquired by the Cotton Belt Railroad Company creating a new short route between St. Louis and Memphis but passenger trains were never put into use. The merge of these railroads gave the BL&AS depot it's commonly referred to name: The "Cotton Belt" Depot
The depot was abandoned for many years. Realizing the importance and history of this structure, the city clerk filed to have the depot listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1992. In 2006, a group of young community volunteers came together to restore the depot. Jerred Price, Jed Sparkman, and Todd Thompson worked hard to raise donations and do some minor work that needed to be done on the depot. With lack of funding, the depot was once again lacking a proper restoration. In February 2012, Jerred Price re-visited the idea of restoring the depot. Work is being done to form a non-profit organization for the building to be donated to so that it is eligible for state and federal restoration grants. To help with the restoration effort, please contact Jerred Price via the contact information on this page.
***To read more on the original BL&AS railroad, please click here: http://ttarchive.com/Library/Articles/TapLineCase_BlythevilleLeachville&Arkansas.html ***
