JOHNSON CITY – Local lines will be the focus of this month’s Heritage Day, happening Saturday, Jan. 28, at East Tennessee State University’s George L. Carter Railroad Museum.
The event runs from 10 a.m.-3 p.m.
“The Lil’ Chicago name once was slang for Johnson City due to the rail traffic that once came through town,” said Geoff Stunkard, the coordinator of the Heritage Day program. “Both the Southern Railway and the Clinchfield had mainlines, small yards and industries they serviced here, while the original Tweetsie, the ET & WNC shortline, was headquartered here as well.”
During much of the 20th century, the area now occupied by State of Franklin Road was the site of the city’s largest yard trackage. Still-existent remnants of this operation are visible near Legion Street where the Tweetsie Trail now starts and close to Broadway Avenue, which once hosted a steel mill during the city’s industrial heyday. Beyond the rail connection, Lil’ Chicago references the occasional visits by notorious gangster Al Capone during Prohibition, museum officials said.
The Carter Railroad Museum is open every Saturday from 10 a.m.-3 p.m. and includes model railroad layouts, a special children’s activity room and ongoing programs. There is no admissions fee, but donations are welcome.
Identify the museum by a flashing railroad-crossing signal at the back entrance to the Campus Center Building. Visitors should enter ETSU’s campus from State of Franklin Road onto Jack Vest Drive and continue east toward 176 Ross Drive, adjacent to the flashing railroad crossing sign.
For more information about Heritage Day, contact Dr. Fred Alsop at (423) 439-6838 or alsopf@etsu.edu. For disability accommodations, call the ETSU Office of Disability Services at (423) 439-8346.