McComb Railroad Depot Museum

Fire Ravages Landmark Train Depot and Museum in McComb

May 31, 2021

A fire ravaged a prominent landmark in the city of McComb midday Sunday, destroying irreplaceable artifacts that date back to the city’s founding and railroad roots in the 1800s.

The blaze demolished the historic McComb train depot and museum in the city's downtown area that stored a collection of more than 1,500 artifacts, according to its museum website.

The Enterprise-Journal reported the fire started on the north end of the building where officials said archives and photographs, along with elaborate train sets, were stored.

It spread farther south, destroying the Amtrak waiting room and delaying the commute of holiday travelers.

"It will take some time to process a loss of this magnitude and to assess the considerable damage," said Ralph Price, the executive director of the railroad depot museum. "While we do, we respectfully ask that you keep a safe distance from what remains of the depot building. Recovery efforts of items that are salvageable will continue, and we pledge to save everything that we possibly can."

Mayor Quordiniah Lockely said on his Facebook page that a majority of the artifacts, stored in the south end of the building, were saved by firefighters. Fire Chief Gary McKenzie told the Enterprise-Journal that about 90% of the artifacts were recovered.

Among the salvaged artifacts were brass bells, photographs and replica train engines, the news outlet reported.

No one was injured in the blaze and a cause has yet to be determined. Lockely said the fire is being investigated by the State Fire Marshal's Office and an insurance investigator.

Much of the museum collection had been accumulated and preserved by a collection of railroad retirees over the years, as well as with help from the city of McComb and volunteers.

Among the artifacts was an oral history of the railroad from railroaders and photographs from famous railroad photographer C.W. Witbeck.

The exhibit area of the museum included several model trains that recaptured the prominence of the railroad industry to the town, along with mannequins dressed in period railroad attire.

The museum — billed as one of the South's best preserved collections of railroad history — also illustrated President Teddy Roosevelt’s trip to McComb in 1911, where he spoke to hundreds of local citizens and railroaders, according to the museum website.

"My hometown of McComb is rightly weeping over the loss to fire of its splendid railroad museum that spelled out the town’s very beginnings," said retired reporter and McComb native Mac Gordon in a guest column.

"This tragedy won’t separate McComb from its historic launch – on April 5, 1872 – as 'a railroad town,' but certainly hundreds of irreplaceable displays telling how it all began were destroyed in the heartrending event," he said.

Justin Vicory / Mississippi Clarion Ledger