By Stephen Baldwin, RealWV, www.therealwv.com
“Being in Ronceverte Development Corporation, I was told this was impossible,” said Mark Trent, City Council member for Ronceverte, as he looks up at the train depot in the center of town. It’s owned by CSX and multiple city administrations have sought to gain ownership of it for Ronceverte from the rail company.
“We’ve tried for years,” City Administrator Pam Mentz added. “Mayor Smith tried very hard prior to Mayor Pack. But she was able to get the conversation going and…here we are today.”
Pack stood on the back platform along with Trent, Mentz, City Recorder Leah Smith, and Todd Gunter from Sen. Shelley Moore-Capito’s office for an announcement on Monday that was years in the making.
“After several years of ongoing conversations and with the ongoing help of Sen. Capito’s office, CSX has agreed to deed the train depot to the City of Ronceverte,” Pack said. “We do have an agreement and will be moving forward.”
City officials say they plan to place a welcome center and museum in the first floor of the train depot as a way to honor the legacy of Doug Hylton, a former resident who devoted much of his life to aiding the town and was particularly interesting in preserving its history.
“We should have the paperwork done in the next month,” Pack said of the timeline for the transfer. “We couldn’t have done this with without the help of Sen. Capito’s office. They helped enormously.”
“It’s been an arduous process, but being able to have the depot belong to the citizens of Ronceverte makes it all worth it,” she told those gathered for the announcement.
In addition to taking ownership of the historic train depot, the city is also working with Capito’s office to procure funds for refurbishment of a bridge over the train tracks beside the depot, which used to connect downtown to the Ronceverte Island Park.
The park has a splash pad, dog park, baseball fields, playground, amphitheater, a mini golf course (opening soon), and access to the river. By connecting the downtown area to the island, city officials think they can make a real difference with local residents.
“Deena put the work in to make it happen,” said Trent, “and I’m looking forward to seeing what comes next.”
