Advocating for the protection and appreciation of Blair’s historic assets

The Depot Gets a Facelift

In 2007, the Blair Historic Preservation Alliance joined with the City of Blair to save the 1880 Train Depot by relocating it to Lions Park. It was restored and repurposed as a community event space and has been steadily rented and enjoyed for 13 years. However, all that use has taken a toll and the Depot needed some maintenance and upkeep. In March of 2026 the BHPA donated $5000 to the City and requested a matching $5000 in Keno funds to kickstart a Depot facelift. In April Hayes Enterprises LLC sanded and refinished the floor in the passenger side of the Depot and new “serving” tables with electrical outlets were purchased. In June City crews did exterior and interior “touch up” painting, while Tom Koziol of Hydro Hank power-washed the exterior walls and deck to clean off years of grime. In mid-September the deck will be stained and the metal railings repainted. BHPA has agreed to contribute another $3,800 to complete these final tasks.

The Blair Historic Preservation Alliance is now 25 years old!

In 2001 the City proposed tearing up the bricks on Grant Street to replace that road surface with concrete or asphalt. Several Blair citizens attended a City Council meeting in March and voiced their opposition. After the meeting was over, this disparate group of people gathered at the back of the chamber and agreed to band together to fight the destruction of any brick streets in Blair. A couple weeks later the group met at Ed and Shirley Jipp’s home and the Blair Historic Preservation Alliance was created. Ed Jipp, Tom Kranda, Louis Nappolini and Dawn Nielsen were elected as officers and were still functioning as such when The Depot project came along in 2007. In 2020 another effort to tear up brick streets was rebuffed and now the City is committed to repairing rather than destroying Blair’s historic brick streets.