As I have yet to set foot in the state of Georgia, I have some questions that maybe locals can answer, hopefully without restarting the Civil War again.

A couple of years ago, I saw an antique collecting show on PBS (not Antiques Roadshow) where they took a tour of the old Glover Locomotive Works in Marietta, just before it was razed. Though the place was a mess, it was obvious that much of the machinery used to build the little Glover engines was still there, with even two derelict saddletankers hiding in the shadows. The offices were filled with old papers, prints, glass negatives and tons of other historic stuff.

The show's host, being a collector of course, thought the place was neat, but could only make comments like "this would look nice on my wall", in typical collector fashion.

We all know that much of what was in the building was saved, and it would appear was dumped, on the museum at Kennesaw, which is now trying to raise money for a building to house it, even though it would seem to have little relevance to their original Andrews Raid story.

My questions are these:
1. Was there ever an effort to save the Glover Works building as a historic site? It would seem to have been most appropriate to do so, with it being really the most intact facility that once built locomotives, and a several of the small Glover engines still in existance. A lot of the original machinery there could have probably been used to restore them. Glover apparently took in old engines as trade-ins, so shortline Baldwins, etc., would not have been out of place there.

2. If there was no effort to save the place, why not? I realize the Atlanta area already has one rail museum, plus the Kennesaw exhibit and Stone Mountain, but the Glover Works was a genuine historic site, that to me should have merited at least a decent fight to save.

I'll be most interested in learning the particulars...



bobyar2001@yahoo.com

Oh boy.....

I wasn't involved in the business / political decisions but did work on the artifacts back when the decisions were being made so here's my understanding:

Cobb County planned to purchase the grounds and use them for public utilities support services. No, I don't know why they didn't retain the very sturdy brick and steel structures (the wooden sheds were about gone) instead of demolishing them to build new junk. I sort of chalk it up to a lack of appreciation for the beauty inherent in industrial sites in the backyard of some of the wealthier suburbs of the Big Peach.

The Glover family is an ancient and venerable one and has been in Cobb County since god wore knee pants. The square in downtown Marietta is actually owned by the Glover family and on long term loan to the city provided it is only used as a city park. The fact that what was preserved was preserved is due entirely to the appreciation the Glovers have for their and their regions heritage.

There as sort of an "open bid" situation for new homes for the Glover collection. I don't know how it was publicized, but I believe there were only two interested parties to submit proposals: one was the Kennesaw Civil War Museum, the other the Savannah roundhouse. The Savannah proposal was couched in such broad, generalized inspecific terms that it was obvious nobody there knew what this stuff was and how to use it. The Kennesaw proposal indicated plans to build new structures on adjacent land now under contract and specific interpretive goals, and available resources. So, it wasn't dumped on them, they did a great job of asking for it.

The fact that Kennesaw is in Cobb County didn't hurt - also, former Marietta Mayor Joe Mack Wilson who was the party originally who got GENERAL back on home ground, was not comfortable with the entombment of her in the small cotton gin structure she is in now - no room for even a decent photo - and he wanted to do a better job of it. His support and a $250,000 grant for retrival and storage helped the Kennesaw program get started.

OK, it didn't get started until way too late when the buildings were already coming down but that is another story. I don't know all the characters that figure into it either.

Anyhow, after a long cold weekend triaging and prioritizing patterns, tooling, machinery, etc with Hillman in an ice storm with no roofs on the buildings something got saved and is warehoused for the museum. I don't know exactly what, nor do I know if it was inventoried. I don't know who besides myself could do a good inventory based on knowledge of the place and steam stuff both, and I didn't.

The Kennesaw Museum just hired a curator, I don't know who, and hopefully things will actually start to take shape soon. The proposals I was party to long ago included such things as actually building new locomotives as demonstrations of foundry and machine shop arts but it could easily have been scaled down. besides, how many serious customers are there with funding enough to buy them? Do we even know that enough patterns were saved to make the parts?

Too many unanswered questions now but we should hopefully have some answers soon, soon being relative of course.

Dave

irondave@bellsouth.net

Dave,

The Kennessaw Civil War Museum has just hired George S. Deeming, the Curator of Collections at the RR Museum of PA, whose last day was on February 22. George will be starting in his new position on April 1. In the meantime I have assumed interim curatorial duties at Strasburg.

Kurt R. Bell
RR Museum of PA

> Oh boy.....

> I wasn't involved in the business /
> political decisions but did work on the
> artifacts back when the decisions were being
> made so here's my understanding:

> Cobb County planned to purchase the grounds
> and use them for public utilities support
> services. No, I don't know why they didn't
> retain the very sturdy brick and steel
> structures (the wooden sheds were about
> gone) instead of demolishing them to build
> new junk. I sort of chalk it up to a lack of
> appreciation for the beauty inherent in
> industrial sites in the backyard of some of
> the wealthier suburbs of the Big Peach.

> The Glover family is an ancient and
> venerable one and has been in Cobb County
> since god wore knee pants. The square in
> downtown Marietta is actually owned by the
> Glover family and on long term loan to the
> city provided it is only used as a city
> park. The fact that what was preserved was
> preserved is due entirely to the
> appreciation the Glovers have for their and
> their regions heritage.

> There as sort of an "open bid"
> situation for new homes for the Glover
> collection. I don't know how it was
> publicized, but I believe there were only
> two interested parties to submit proposals:
> one was the Kennesaw Civil War Museum, the
> other the Savannah roundhouse. The Savannah
> proposal was couched in such broad,
> generalized inspecific terms that it was
> obvious nobody there knew what this stuff
> was and how to use it. The Kennesaw proposal
> indicated plans to build new structures on
> adjacent land now under contract and
> specific interpretive goals, and available
> resources. So, it wasn't dumped on them,
> they did a great job of asking for it.

> The fact that Kennesaw is in Cobb County
> didn't hurt - also, former Marietta Mayor
> Joe Mack Wilson who was the party originally
> who got GENERAL back on home ground, was not
> comfortable with the entombment of her in
> the small cotton gin structure she is in now
> - no room for even a decent photo - and he
> wanted to do a better job of it. His support
> and a $250,000 grant for retrival and
> storage helped the Kennesaw program get
> started.

> OK, it didn't get started until way too late
> when the buildings were already coming down
> but that is another story. I don't know all
> the characters that figure into it either.

> Anyhow, after a long cold weekend triaging
> and prioritizing patterns, tooling,
> machinery, etc with Hillman in an ice storm
> with no roofs on the buildings something got
> saved and is warehoused for the museum. I
> don't know exactly what, nor do I know if it
> was inventoried. I don't know who besides
> myself could do a good inventory based on
> knowledge of the place and steam stuff both,
> and I didn't.

> The Kennesaw Museum just hired a curator, I
> don't know who, and hopefully things will
> actually start to take shape soon. The
> proposals I was party to long ago included
> such things as actually building new
> locomotives as demonstrations of foundry and
> machine shop arts but it could easily have
> been scaled down. besides, how many serious
> customers are there with funding enough to
> buy them? Do we even know that enough
> patterns were saved to make the parts?

> Too many unanswered questions now but we
> should hopefully have some answers soon,
> soon being relative of course.

> Dave

Good for them! I look forward to welcoming him south. His expertise will prove invaluable at this critical stage of their development.

I feel a lot better after this news Kurt - thanks.

dave

irondave@bellsouth.net

"George will be
> starting in his new position on April 1. In
> the meantime I have assumed interim
> curatorial duties at Strasburg.

> Kurt R. Bell
> RR Museum of PA"

Does this mean that they will be opening a search for a new Curator, or for your previous postition?
S'
David D.


djdewey@cncnet.com