BEDFORD – The Monon Depot located on J Street in Bedford was consumed by fire early this morning.
Bedford Fire Department Battalion Chief Jim Elkins reported off-duty firefighters were called in to battle the blaze.
“When firefighters arrived the building was fully engulfed in flames,” Elkins added.
It took firefighters around an hour to get the massive blaze under control.
“The cause of the fire remains under investigation,” Elkins added.
No firefighters were injured while battling the blaze and no one was found in or around the building.
Firefighters remained on the scene until 9:30 a.m.
Duke Energy responded to turn the power off to the building, Elkins added.
Built of sturdy Indiana limestone in 1926, Bedford’s Monon Station at 1221 J Street signaled the area’s eminence as the primary supplier of the building material favored for monuments, statues, churches, commercial, government, and other buildings nationwide.
Indiana Landmarks placed the depot on the 10 Most Endangered, a list of historic places on the brink of extinction and too important to lose in 2020.
Situated at the heart of the “Limestone Capital of the World,” the depot played its own role in the story, acting as a freight station for shipping the enormous blocks harvested from local quarries. Doubling as a passenger station for the Monon Railroad, the depot also served as a backdrop for students departing for and returning from college, those heading to take the waters in French Lick, and travelers beginning the long journey to Chicago.
The Monon ended passenger service in 1967, and the Louisville & Nashville Railroad and later CSX took over operations. Lawrence County officials adapted the building for use as a recycling center in 2006.
Now vacant, the Craftsman building is dilapidated and a target for vandals, and severely deteriorating soffits endanger the tile roof.
Community leaders and trail advocates in the past had expressed interest in adapting the depot as a trailhead for the growing Milwaukee Road Transportation Trailway, but now a part of Lawrence County history is gone.
