Members of the Frankfort-Midwest Railroad Heritage Trust expect to know within a month where they stand in their bid to "Raise the Roundhouse."
According to Shan Sheridan, the interim executive director of the Clinton County Chamber of Commerce, the group will probably make a decision by the end of the week on which design firm they will secure.
Personnel with three businesses were scheduled to make presentations to the group Tuesday night.
"We'll award them the contract and then we'll get into negotiations with the state on our $50,000 grant," Sheridan said. "Our grant hasn't been approved yet. By the end of October, we should know if the grant has been approved and we'll certainly know what design firm we're going with."
Dave Little, chairman of the Frankfort-Midwest Railroad Heritage Trust, and Sheridan gave presentations Monday to the Generation XYZ group at St. Mathew United Methodist Church.
Little said the Frankfort roundhouse is one of the 10 most endangered treasures in the state, according to the Historic Landmarks Foundation of Indiana. The railroad has been a very important industry in Clinton County, he said, and Frankfort is still a very busy railroad town.
"We want to bring back the history of the railroad and we want to bring trains in," Little said. "It played a vital part in our history and in our nation's history. We have lots of plans and lots of ideas for the future."
Little has talked about having a museum on the site, while Sheridan has visions of including a conference center.
According to Little, the roundhouse has been vacant since the early 1990s. The trust started meeting with Norfolk Southern in 2004 to try and acquire the property.
The first step was recently completed when the trust and the Norfolk Southern signed an agreement regarding a non-revenue lease of the office building at the old roundhouse. The trust gained possession of the building on Sept.15.
A brochure created by the trust boasts Frankfort's proximity to larger cities and Interstate 65 as one reason for restoration. An economic development project could create a location similar to Union Station in Indianapolis.
Sheridan said the chamber receives a number of calls each year from various groups asking if Frankfort has a conference center or site where they could host a large meeting.
"They say this would be the perfect place to get our family or company together," Sheridan said. "This would be a great place for a meeting."
The history of the roundhouse includes a fire that destroyed the building in 1924, Sheridan said. It was rebuilt in 1926. He said the structure was "never completely round. It was more of a horseshoe."
He added only a little over a quarter of the property is still standing and almost the entire east side of the building is gone.
Sheridan also believes the property has petroleum-based contaminants.
Right now, the number one priority is securing the grant.
"We still have to get our grant," Sheridan said. "If we don't get the grant, we're going to have to look at how much it's going to cost, what it is going cost from the design firm and then we'll have to raise the money ourselves. We're not going to ask the city or the county for money. We will raise our own money."