#9617 North Carolina Transportation Museum Centennial Celebration Collection
North Carolina Transportation Museum [Spencer Shops] Centennial Celebration Collection
MSS #9617
October 1996
Abstract: Materials from the reopening of the North Carolina Transportation Museum's roundhouse, a part of Spencer Shops' Centennial celebration.
Online catalog terms:
Gettys, Buddy
North Carolina Transportation Museum
Spencer, NC history
Spencer Shops--Centennial Celebration
Size: 1 folder.
Provenance:
Gift of Mayor Buddy Gettys
Town of Spencer
P.O. Box 245
Spencer, NC 28159-0245
Access: No restriction.
Copyright: Retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.
Introduction
Spencer Shops was Southern Railway's largest steam locomotive facility. The Shops, located in Spencer, NC, were begun in 1896 and soon became the largest employer in the area. It was here in the shops that locomotives were overhauled and rebuilt and a whole way of life, railroading, defined the citizens of the town that sprang up alongside the Shops.
In 1953, Southern Railway became the first major railroad to convert entirely to diesel engines. This new method of motive pwer signalled the end to Spencer Shops. By 1960, the Shops were operating with only a skeleton crew. In 1977, Southern Railway donated some of the Shops' buildings, making way for the creation of the North Carolina Transportation Museum, and two years later, Southern gave 57 additional acres and several other buildings to the new museum.
In 1996, a year-long celebration was held during the Shops' centennial. A key event in that celebration was the rededication of the old roundhouse which had been converted into primarily exhibit space.
Materials in this collection concern the Spencer Shops' Centennial Celebration and specifically, the grand opening of the museum which included the roundhouse rededication ceremony and the opening of the new visitor's cneter in the Barber's Junction depot.
Series I. Miscellaneous materials
All materials dated 1996
Materials from the North Carolina Transportation Museum's Centennial Celebration, including a listing of the celebration's 100 special events, an invitation to attend the Artrain, a flier announcing a presentation "North Carolina Railroads and the Civil War," and an invitation to the North Carolina Transportation Museum's grand opening on September 15, 1996.
Also included in the collection are the program of events for the opening of the new museum, September 12-15, and a map of the facilities distributed on this "opening weekend." Among the grand opening materials is the speech delivered on September 15, 1996 by Mayor Buddy Gettys at the rededication of the roundhouse at Spencer Shops (the speech contains his corrections and jotted notes about the edges, etc.)