Florida Railroad Experience - Museum Criteria
Exceptional quality of exhibits and displays; A design in the style of an authentic Florida railroad station built by the Seaboard Airline Railroad during the golden age of railroading; For national and world notoriety the museum will be of high quality throughout - in its collections, interpretive exhibits & displays and staff; The staff will be well trained in their particular areas of expertise; Archives and the museum library will be available to researchers; Open year round.
Potential Benefits to the Florida and Manatee County Economy
Florida Railroad Experience, with its partnerships with the Florida Railroad Museum and the Railroad Education and Learning Center of Florida (RealRail), has the potential for attracting a world audience. For Manatee County this translates into direct additional revenues to business throughout the tourist industry. For the state, Manatee County and Parrish this translates into direct additional tax revenues. This increased visitation will most likely create the need for additional jobs in the hospitality and food service sector. As the Museum will have a positive cash flow it will be self supporting.
Exhibits and Displays
The Museum will have as its emphasis the value of railroading to the economic growth to the State of Florida and the impact of the railroads to the cultural heritage of Florida. Significant emphasis will be on the Seaboard Airline Railroad, the original railroad that ran through Parrish and which constructed the Right of Way next to the museum.
Focus will be on the resulting effects of all Florida railroads and Florida railroad pioneers such as David Yulee, Henry Flagler and Henry Plant, and the resulting impact on state tourism & agriculture. Motive power and rolling stock will be featured in static displays provided by the Florida Railroad Museum both in Parrish and at their Willow, FL Maintenance Facility. The Florida Railroad Museum will continue to operate excursion train rides for visitors. RealRail will provide the skills to construct and maintain model railroad exhibits that demonstrate the extent of the railroads in Florida, moving agriculture to northern markets, bringing tourists and commodities to Florida from the north.
Interpretive displays will emphasize railroad workers and operations in juxtaposition with appropriate artifacts. Other interpretive displays will feature aspects such as construction, railroad advertising art, the passenger experience, and the impact of Florida railroads on the growth and development of Florida as an agricultural and tourism leader in the United States.
Currently the Museum will be able to display motive power, rolling stock, and artifacts from The Florida Railroad Museum and RealRail. Additional artifacts committed to the Museum collection are in the process of accession. RealRail will construct a 5,000 square foot model railroad depicting operations of the Seaboard Airline Railroad, the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad and the later merged Seaboard Coast Line Railroad.
Location
Historically, Parrish, Florida was an early agricultural community and remains one today. Parrish is named after one of its first settlers, Crawford Parrish (1811-1899) who came to Manatee County in 1869. Crawford and Mary Parrish’s son John Parrish (1857-1918) was influential in the early years of Parrish. Like many of his neighbors, John Parrish made much of his income from citrus, which had to be hauled by mule and wagon to waiting boats in Bradenton. Parrish knew that a railroad stop at Oak Hill (as Parrish was then known) was crucial to the town's development. He convinced railroad and government officials to build a depot at Oak Hill and he donated land for the depot, water tank and for miles of track. The depot brought packing houses, grocers, doctors, druggists and other merchants to town. Parrish thrived until the Great Depression destroyed much of its commerce and farmers and ranchers were forced to leave for work in big cities.
The Seaboard Airline continued to use the rail line through Parrish which connected Manatee County with Plant City up until the time of the railroad's merger with the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad in 1968.
Today the rail line from Parrish to the south is track owned by CSX corporation. The rail line to the north is owned by Florida Power and Light which leases operating rights to the Florida Railroad Museum. The current departure site for The Florida Railroad Museum will be the sit of the Florida Railroad Experience.
Tucked away in the quite town of Parrish, the location is a 5 minute drive from Interstate 75 in Northern Manatee County. Downtown Bradenton, Sarasota, St Petersburg, Clearwater and Tampa are all within a one hour drive to the Florida Railroad Experience.
Size of Facility
10 acres with 25,000 sq ft under cover
Costs
Initial: $4 million for design and construction
Annual: (approx--subject to staffing) - $1 million
Funding
Initial Construction: Donations, Memberships and Private Grants; State and Federal legislative appropriations will also be requested.
Operating: Admission; Fee for services programs; Museum store; Grants; Memberships; Donations; Special events such as a "Day Out With Thomas"; Special events in cooperation with National Railroad Historical Society and the National Model Railroad Association; Facility rental of the museum and surrounding grounds.