Discover the rich railroad history on display at The Dennison Railroad Depot Museum.
Our beautifully restored 1873 Pennsylvania Railroad Depot, which served as the Panhandle Division Headquarters, offers plenty of family entertainment. The Depot houses a museum, restaurant, bed and breakfast, Panhandle Theater and Whistle Stop Railway Gift Shop. Picnic space is available outside where you can see Bing’s House plus our collection of Rolling Stock including a 1940s Thermos Bottle Engine, Nickel Plate Caboose, the 2700 Chesapeake & Ohio Locomotive and various other railroad cars.
Come see our new featured exhibit: “Celebrating 90 Years: Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District” open now in the Museum! The public is able to move through an immersive story of the District’s beginnings, its progress through the years, its highlights, a description of its future, and an interactive hands-on children’s component families will enjoy. Everyone is encouraged to take this opportunity to learn more about the history of the MWCD and how it works every day to make lives safer and secure homes, businesses, and communities.
Visitors can explore the museum’s immense railroad history and wartime exhibits, then watch the trains run in the large Model Train Layout depicting Dennison in its heyday. The Panhandle Theater features a film on Dennison’s role as a WWII Canteen that earned Dennison the nickname Dreamsville, USA.
A train of railroad cars is attached to the Depot which features the Children’s Interactive Railroad Car Experience, a special yearly Feature Exhibit Car, a rare WWII Hospital Car housing our WWI and WWII collections, and a Local History Car. A fifth car in the Museum’s Addition is a Railroad Research Library, housing our archives. It is available for research upon appointment during open hours.
Our museum is interactive and hands-on. As part of the experience, we offer special activities for kids such as Bing’s Scavenger Hunt, making your own hobo satchel, running a ticket booth, preparing and serving a meal in the dining car, creating your own luggage tag, and more!
All kids get a dog tag at the beginning of their tour.
