Fort Wayne Speaks visited the Fort Wayne Railroad Historical Society and spoke with project manager and communications director Kelly Lynch to discuss the riverfront and placemaking project Headwaters Junction. Click…
WANE-TV Reports that the City of Fort Wayne has chosen SWA Group as the consultants for Legacy Fort Wayne’s Riverfront Development study. In one of SWA’s renderings, the illustration of…

“Enthusiasts Delighted as Steam Train Chugs Through Town” says CBS Pittsburgh. “Steam locomotive, a crowd favorite, motors through Western, Pa,” reports Pittsburgh’s Tribune-Review Photo by Todd Dillon.
Interestingly, out of the many proposed riverfront development projects, Headwaters Junction is the only multiuse development project the RFP requires consultants to consider. That plan, proposed by the Fort Wayne Railroad Historical Society, calls for moving the locomotive steam engine No. 765 to downtown and using it as the centerpiece of an educational and entertainment venue located on a portion of the North River property.
The North River property, despite not being on the river, is featured prominently in the study proposal request. The property, formerly occupied by OmniSource, is a site of about 37 acres northwest of Clinton and Fourth streets.
The 2007 North River Now development plan is required reading for prospective consultants. And rather than follow the contours of the rivers downtown, the map outlining the study area takes in the North River property, making it clear city leaders want the study to prompt its development.
Speaking of transformational, the Henry Administration has a wonderful opportunity in the “person” of the massive and inspiring steam engine 765. The people who resurrected the legacy engine, who have made it again into a stunning Iron Horse, are willing to put it to work for Fort Wayne. They have proposed using the North River property, the old Omnisource space, as a home for the huge memorial to Fort Wayne’s grand transportation history. We were once IT when it came to the rails, to steam engines, to the manufacture of grand rail cars and rail commerce.
Not to take advantage of 765 and put her back to work for our city would be a shame and a missed opportunity of the first degree. The Legacy process talked of transformative; this is it! Fire her up, build an interactive, family friendly center around her and schedule 765 to regularly carry fun lovers and history buffs to Chicago or wherever the tracks lead. Any developer involved in the North River Project, whether from Baltimore or Butler, should jump at the offer.

Originally published in the Fort Wayne News Sentinel: “Big, bold, transformational.” These are the words used by community leaders and Legacy Fort Wayne to describe an idea to bring a…
Reported in today’s Journal Gazette: “It was the image of people discovering (steam locomotive No. 765) and using the engine as a social gathering space that kept me up nights…
Headwaters Junction not only speaks to the potential of downtown but it speaks to the hearts of so many dedicated, intelligent, free-thinking individuals striving to create the downtown Fort Wayne…
Fort Wayne Magazine has covered Headwaters Junction it is August and November issues in two articles titled “Thinking Big Inspired by Historic Locomotive” and “High Stakes on the Riverfront.” Thinking…
The Journal Gazette covered the third, final, and most popular weekend of the Fort Wayne Railroad Historical Society‘s Santa Train. The Santa Train, a modest two-caboose affair, operates over 50…