One of Winchester’s historic buildings is hoping to host more community events this year after several completed renovations.
The Winchester Depot has been the home of the Scott County Historical Society since the mid-80s. The depot, at that time, was in a decrepit state and was put through a series of renovations under the leadership of the late Audrey “Queenie” Peak.
Peak’s granddaughters, Stevie VanDeVelde along with her sister Sonnie Hoover have helped the Historical Society oversee recent renovations to keep the historic building in public use.
VanDeVelde says that work on a second round of major renovations began last year, which are the first major updates to the building in some time: “Last year, we had finished remodeling the inside, which included painting, flooring, getting new bathrooms up and running. Then, this year, we were able to do the outside with some generous donations from the community. We were able to have it professionally painted along with doing some repair work by the company that painted it, and that included the fencing and just all around benefiting the outside of the building.”
VanDeVelde says that the goal this Spring is to advertise the rental opportunities for The Depot: “We are just hoping to get the word out that it is available for rentals, and just to utilize the building. We have had some committees use it for meetings and like to see that, as well. We have no big plans for the building. Again, we just want to see the community utilize it.”
She says that the hopes are to hold more of the Historical Society’s fundraising events at The Depot so people can see the building and some of the historical displays inside. VanDeVelde says that when people have come to the building in the past two years, they have enjoyed the updates that have been completed and love the fact that the building is open for public rental space. To rent, visit the Winchester Depot on Facebook and leave a message.