WELCOME TO THE DEANVILLE HERITAGE FOUNDATION WEBSITE

Our mission is the preservation of the heritage of the Deanville community starting with the acquisition and restoration of the the original Houston Texas Central Railroad depot which provided passenger and freight service for Deanville and the western regions of Burleson County beginning in 1913.

HISTORY OF THE DEANVILLE HERITAGE FOUNDATION

The Deanville Heritage Foundation (DHF) is a Texas based 501(C)(3) nonprofit Corporation dedicated to the preservation of history, photos, stories, tools, buildings and the heritage of the Deanville area. The first major DHF project was the acquisition and restoration of the Houston Texas Central Railroad depot in Deanville, Texas.

In 2013, Tommy Ryan, Wayne Woltz, Matt Hicks and John Smith learned that the original Deanville train depot was located on the Rudderow farm a few miles south of Deanville where it had been used as a residence for many years. Andrew and Robin Rudderow began inquiring about the possibly donating the old depot to a responsible group in Deanville that would commit to restoring the old depot.

An organizational meeting of area residents was setup by Tommy Ryan and the project was discussed. The group decided to move to the next phase and set up officers and a board of directors for a new nonprofit corporation that would take on the task. Wayne Wolz was elected the first President, Tammy Jones Vice President, and Tommy Ryan Secretary Treasurer. Directors included Troy Poehl, Leonard Kubiak, Matt Hicks, and John Smith. The name selected for the new non-profit corporation was the Deanville Heritage Foundation or DHF.

Financial commitments were obtained from area residents to fund filing corporation paperwork and land available to house the depot in it's original location. Wayne remained President of DHF through the process of getting title to the land, preparing the depot for the move, cleaning up the site and moving the depot to its new permanent home.


Photo of Depot moving back to it's original location in Deanville.

In 2016, Tommy Ryan was elected President of DHF and Len Kubiak was elected as the new Secretary/Treasurer. In March of 2017, DHF received a much needed grant from the Union Pacific Railroad.



Shown in the photo are DHF members and a representative of Union Pacific Railroad.

With funds too low to begin restoration, the DHF board focused on planning for the eventual restoration. Board members visited various depot sites and talked to many folks who had gone through the fund raising and restoration process. One of the major decisions of the board was to focus on totally restoring the old depot to it's former glory including exact railroad depot paint colors. All installed features not part of the original structure would be removed and missing/damaged features would be replicated.

DHF President, Tommy Ryan began working with A&M's College of Architecture, Center for Heritage Conservation, in a mutually beneficial agreement with Brent Fortenberry, assistant professor of architecture, and his class of 11 Ph.D., graduate and undergraduate students.

Architecture class of 11 Ph.D., graduate and undergraduate students. The students spent countless hours surveying and documenting the depot's architectural features for classroom credit and DHF got valuable restoration documentation from high-tech tools such as photogrammetry, laser scanning and 3-D modeling,


3D drawings produced by A&M's architectural class documenting the depot prior to start of renovation. The documentation includes a layout of the surrounding buildings in Deanville.

Through a series of fundraisers and donations from local residents, sufficient funds were raised to begin restoration

The DHF board decided to go with Gary Ladewig as our general contractor based on his work with two other depots. With an innovative chimney support developed by DHF board member, Troy Poehl, work could now begin on the new chimney for the depot.


Director (and former DHF President) Wayne Wolz donated the firebrick needed to construct a double-sided stove chimney in the Deanville Depot. DHF members were on hand to assist with the loading and unloading of the firebrick.

The LADCO Construction Firm of Brenham, specializing in historical building restoration, began the process of removing unwanted materials from the Depot and hauling these to the dump. Then the process of restoring the depot to it's original configuration including a metal roof that resembles shake shingles.


Photo showing major renovations to Deanville Depot

MEETINGS OF THE DEANVILLE HERITAGE FOUNDATION

The Deanville Heritage Foundation is a non-profit 501c3 organization (all donations are tax deductible under IRS regulations) and membership is open to everyone. Regular meetings are 6:00 PM every second Tuesday of the month at the Deanville Fire Department building. After our grand opening projected to happen on June 6th of 2020, volunteers will be needed to help with exhibits after hours, classifying and organizing donations and staffing the museum during open hours.

PRESERVING DEANVILLE'S PAST

The Deanville Heritage Foundation is actively seeking donations of old photos, letters, and historical relics relating to the Deanville area. These donations are at the heart of preserving our rich heritage. All donated items will be carefully inventoried, documented, doners identified and recorded and the artifacts will be integrated into wonderful displays of Deanville's early history.
To make a donation, contact any of the Deanville Heritage Foundation board members. All donations to DHF are tax deductible.

ABOUT THE DEANVILLE DEPOT

The Deanville Depot is located in downtown Deanville . The physical address is 6558 FM 111.
Dedicated to the preservation of our railroad and local area history, a museum building is currently in the planning stages to house donated artifacts relating to the early history of Deanville and the surrounding areas.