Former train station to open as visitor center in Morgan

Morgan County officials have given the go-ahead for the Morgan County Historical Society to relocate to the newly refurbished train station on Commercial St. in Morgan. With this move, the former station will reopen as a small county visitor center and gift shop which will be open at least three hours a day, five days a week. It will be staffed by Morgan County Historian Cindy Kay.

In recent months Morgan City has spent $250,000, ($70,000 of which was a state grant) to renovate the former train station and make it ADA compliant, Morgan City Manager Ty Bailey told the Morgan County Commission June 6. Offering it as the new home for the historical society, “we just felt like this is the highest and best use of the facility versus other community groups,” he said.

The state grant covers any rent owed by the historical society for five years, Bailey said. 

Although the historical society will move from larger digs at the Morgan County Library, “I think the improved visibility and the traffic that they will get in that building will make that a worthwhile sacrifice,” Library Director Erin Bott said. With the work the historical society has been doing in recent years, having it staff a visitor center is a good fit, she said.

Along with covering the rent the grant will pay for a limited amount of souvenir-type merchandise to be sold at the gift shop, Bailey said. The proceeds will go back into maintaining the building.

The commissioners expressed support for the project.

“The facility would be occupied by the historical society in a place where people can come and learn about Morgan County history but also be a tourism center, a welcome center so to speak, where people can come and gather information about what's going on in the county and where they can go to spend their money and who they can contact if they want to go water skiing or horseback riding,” Commission Chair Mike Newton said.

Having the visitor center enhances the historic district designation that Morgan City has received, he said.

“There's a lot of folks who travel the interstate system and they'll see a sign saying there's a historic district; they'll get off the freeway because they see that sign,” he said “So this would give people a place to stop hopefully learn not only a little bit about Morgan County history but also what they can do in Morgan County and maybe stop and get a bite to eat on Commercial Street while they're the center.” 

Bott said she expected the historical society would also benefit from the exposure.

“I think it will do wonderful things for the historical society, improving their visibility and their capacity, their ability to serve the community more,” she said. “I do have concerns about what will happen in five years, but we will cross that bridge when we come to it because I think the benefits in the meantime make it work the risk.”

Bailey indicated that if needed, after the first five years, the city, which owns the building, would lease it to the historical society at $1,500/month. 

The lease has an effective date of July 1. Morgan City will now build out the inside of the train station to accommodate a historical society office and a gift shop. It is expected to be operational later this summer. λ