To many Dartmouth students, the small Amtrak station a few miles down I-91 serves one main purpose -- to hustle friends from the Northeast back home for holidays and long weekends.
Yet the area holds a rich history as a center of travel and commerce. A team of Dartmouth students, faculty and administrators recently came together with members of the White River Junction community to share this past with the public.
The evening of Sept. 7 marked the opening of the New England Transportation Institute and Museum (NETIM) and the culmination of a process stretching back to 1999. That was when Dartmouth adjunct professor of environmental studies Norman Miller and Tuck School professor Joe Massey originally took on the project -- they were joined by Hotel Coolidge owner David Briggs, Byron Hathorn and John Rogers, all of White River Junction, Vt.
For Miller, the motivation to work on the museum came from both an extensive family history in northern New England and a desire to rejuvenate a once-bustling town.
One of the key challenges was to combine a "payback" to the community with an authentic research experience for students. NETIM had to find a way to make their museum a relevant scholastic tool.
Miller explained that a part of the modern museum's role is to provide a forum of education available to a general population. He wants to attract an audience that "doesn't go to Dartmouth College, but will go to a Dartmouth museum."
"The old school -- the stuffed beaver -- is dead. Museums have to be interactive, and museums have to have a clear message," Miller said.
Visitors to NETIM can see "The Tools of the Trade," an exhibit of machine and hand railroad tools designed to teach children about the workings of a locomotive.
"The Wreck in the River" showcases archaeological artifacts from an 1890s collision between two engines that occurred two miles downstream from Dartmouth, near the Wilder Town Park.
A Collaborative Effort
The complicated process of constructing and running the museum has required help from teams of workers culled from a wide array of backgrounds.
At various stages in the museum's development, Dartmouth-affiliated participants have included Assistant Director for Foundation and Corporate Relations Mark Johnson and many current and former students of the College and Tuck School.
Help has also come from members of the White River Junction community like Hathorn -- even people passing through town have lent a hand.
"We had participation from the homeless ... People would come out of the woods, paint a little and then hop a train," Miller said, drawing an analogy to Tom Sawyer working with the whole of his community to build a fence.
Dartmouth's Hood Museum was an important role model for the fledgling curators.
"The staff of Hood became tutors in how to build a museum," Miller said, pointing to their assistance in teaching students about the complexities of the business, curatorial and research aspects of a museum.
For NETIM employees like Mary Ellen Rigby, also a part-time business manager at the Hood, conversing with the area's railroad enthusiasts is one of the job's greatest rewards.
"There are a lot of people who are just keenly interested in this stuff, and they're willing to tell you about it," she said.
Rigby described one such person who can measure a train's distance from the station just by the sound of its engine. She has met another man who had thousands of photos of trains arriving and departing.
History Built Along the Rail Line
"The history of the Connecticut River is very much the history of early America," Miller said, citing the waterway's effect on commerce and politics.
White River Junction played a large role due to its strategic position along both the Connecticut and White Rivers.
The construction in 1847 of the rail line connecting White River Junction to such commercial centers as Concord, Montreal and Boston fundamentally changed business in New England by opening up a shipping path along east-west routes. Business had previously been dependent on flatboat travel north and south along the Connecticut River.
The station saw its peak at the turn of the century, when 120 trains passed through each day.
Though White River Junction remains at the center of rail travel in northern New England, the rise of the road system contributed to economic struggles for the town that continue today. Business in White River Junction began to slow before World War II and fell into a steep decline in the 1950s.
There is some hope for renewal. It comes not only from projects such as NETIM, but also from a growing community of young artists attracted to the availability of low-rent housing. The town has tried to encourage this trend by building a new studio arts center and promoting its well-established theater.
Daily Operations
Through mid November, NETIM will be open 20 hours a week. During the tourism-unfriendly winter months, Miller plans to keep the museum open only on Saturdays and by appointment.
On a typical day, Rigby estimated that between 30 and 50 visitors stop by the museum, many of them wandering over from the Vermont Welcome Center next door or on their way to catch a train.
Another class of students will pick up responsibilities at NETIM this Spring, when Miller's Environmental Studies 50 class will begin field work in White River Junction.
One of NETIM's goals is to provide educational activities for children in the area, according to Rigby, and the first event of this kind, "Hobo Halloween," will be held Oct. 27.
Rigby's objectives are simple -- "We want people to use this space."
