Midland Valley Station - Muskogee, Oklahoma
Posted by: 
gparkes
N 35° 44.753 W 095° 22.371
15S E 285437 N 3958360
This train depot was constructed in 1917. Passenger service is no longer here at this depot, and the building has been turned into the the Three Rivers Museum.
Waymark Code: WM8ETP
Location: Oklahoma, United States
Date Posted: 03/22/2010
Views: 4
A marker on site reads:
Midland Valley Station
The Midland Valley Railroad Company was incorporated in 1903 and headquartered in Muskogee. This passenger station was built in 1917 and during the 1920’s as many as eight trains carrying 9,000 passengers per day traveled to Tulsa from this point. Regular service was also provided to Ft. Smith, Arkansas, Denison, Texas and Wichita, Kansas. Nearby, the railroad built locomotive and car repair shops with facilities and roundhouse to maintain 16 steam engines. At one time coal, crude oil, and farm products made up a sizable portion of the freight carried by this railroad. In the 1930’s as passenger traffic declined, this depot was used primarily as a light freight station. In 1964 the Midland Valley, with other shortline railroads, was acquired by the Texas and Pacific, then the Missouri Pacific Company, and in 1983 merged into the Union Pacific Railroad.
Currently this site is privately owned.
Today the Three Rivers Museum is here:
Three Rivers Museum
Three Rivers Museum was established in 1989 as the dream of local historian Dorothy Ball, who was then chairman of the Muskogee Historic Preservation Commission.
The Museum board searched for a number of years for a suitable building to house a museum that would tell the fascinating story of the development of the Three Rivers region of Oklahoma. As one of the earliest areas west of the Mississippi to be settled, this region has a long and colorful past.
In 1998, with federal grant funds, the city of Muskogee purchased the derelict Midland Valley Railroad Depot, a mission-style structure built in 1916 that had been abandoned for a number of years.
These same grant funds enabled the city to restore the Depot to its original beauty. Today, exhibits on local multi-ethnic history fill the passenger and freight areas of the depot and a charming gift shop is housed in the old ticket booth.
In 2002, Georgia Pacific donated a 1940s-era diesel switch engine to the museum and it is open for visitors to climb aboard. Come visit us in the historic Depot District of downtown Muskogee, the Five Civilized Tribes capital of Oklahoma.
Information quoted from Three Rivers Museum website.