Along with the new railroad line through Galesburg, a new depot was erected on North Broad Street. It opened in 1888 and became a Galesburg landmark. The red sandstone station, with a covered entry on the south and a tower on the north side, contained two waiting rooms. The women’s room was on the west side of the depot. The men’s waiting room on the east was the smoking area.

In 1962, Galesburg business and community leaders agreed with the railroad company that a new depot was necessary. “Urban renewal” was the theme of the time. The city wanted a more modern looking depot to improve the appearance of the area. The railroad wanted more space for a freight depot and loading dock.

After much debate, the old depot was torn down and a new depot  was put in its place. The railroad received more space for its loading dock by the closing of part of Cedar Street. The metal and glass depot was torn down in 1996—there was no more passenger service on the Santa Fe at Galesburg.

In the last week of June, 1897, Carl Sandburg walked to the old depot with a few dollars in his pocket and climbed on to a waiting freight train. He rode to Fort Madison, Iowa. He found work on a small steamboat loading kegs of nails. It carried him to Keokuk. It was the first time he had seen the Mississippi River.

He tried his luck at blackening rusty stoves in homes, but there weren’t enough rusty stoves around the town. Buying the asphalt for the blacking had taken a good deal of his money.

Next, he worked in a restaurant, but the owner kept leaving to go get a drink. Carl prepared the food and served what few customers came into the place. At the end of the day, he prepared and ate his meal and took fifty cents from the cash box. He found an empty boxcar and climbed in to sleep. The train crossed about half of the state of Missouri while he was sleeping. He found a job working on a railroad section gang and left after two weeks.

In Kansas City, he called himself “Gus” and worked as a dishwasher in a restaurant. The owner, Mrs. Mullins, gave Carl a place to sleep and clean up. He left that job after several weeks and slept in a flop house for two nights (no fresh linens). “Gus” went back to the restaurant because an abcess developed on his hand (probably from working on the section gang). He was sent to the charity hospital for treatment. The wound was cleaned and bandaged. A nun gave him some medicine to use in healing.

On another boxcar, a brakeman (called a shack by other hobos) demanded a quarter. Carl didn’t make the correct response and was given a 1-2 punch to the jaw. There were other shacks who preyed on hobos. On another occasion, Carl was told by a local shack to keep himself hidden until the train was out of town.

A train took him to Emporia, Kansas, where he walked about ten blocks from the tracks to ask for food. He had learned the houses near the railroad received far too many requests for food. One day, he chopped fire wood and received a good dinner.

In Lindsborg, Kansas, he worked in the hay and broomcorn harvest. He and other workers were allowed to sleep in the hay now of the barn. The Swedish farmer called Sandburg a bum.

Carl also visited Larned, Pawnee County, Kansas, where his father had owned a quarter section of land. He had helped his father by writing letters to the county government when paying the taxes on the property. The town was drying up.

To be continued--