City of Amory - 125th Anniversary - Amory, MS - Community Commemoration on Waymarking.com

County of plaque: Monroe County
Location of plaque: 1st Ave. S., fence around Frisco Engine 15239, Frisco Park, Amory
Date of celebration: 2012
Sponsors: BNSF, Amory Main Street, inc., The City of Amory, North Monroe County Community Foundations, The Amory Railroad Festival Committee, Community Bank

Plaque Text:

A letter from the Mayor about the anniversary: From the Desk of Mayor Brad Blalock

"If you’ve spent any time in Amory, you have heard the blaring of train whistles and loud thud of rail cars bumping into each at all hours of the day and night. Those sounds are the music that remind us that Amory is a railroad town. This year, as the city celebrates their 125th anniversary, you’ll hear stories about how in 1887, Amory became the first planned city in Mississippi. It was planned because it served as the midway point for the locomotives of the Kansas City, Memphis & Birmingham (KCM&B) Railroad that ran from Memphis, TN and Birmingham, AL. In 1903, KCM&B would become part of the Louis and San Francisco Railroad (SLSF) which became know as the “Frisco”.

"In 1926, the SLSF (Frisco) Railway purchased 30 of the 4-8-2 configuration type locomotives from Baldwin Locomotive Works of Philadelphia, PA. The 4-8-2 designation was devised by Frederick Methvan Whyte and became a way to classify steam locomotives by wheel arrangement. Whyte’s system counted the number of leading wheels, then the number of driving wheels, and finally the number of training wheels, with groups of numbers being separated by dashes." ~ Colleen Conger

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