CARBONDALE, Ill. (KFVS) - An upcoming event will honor the first train’s arrival in Carbondale, as well as America’s 250th anniversary.
CarbonRail: Celebrating Carbondale’s Role in American History will be June 27.
Organizers say it’ll start at the Southern Illinois Multimodal Station with a proclamation from the city and a brief performance from cellist Bill Cernota. Join them at 3 p.m. in the main lobby of the SIMMS, with the proclamation and music starting at 3:30 p.m.
Afterward, you can make your way to the Varsity Center for an evening of classic silent train films, live music, a panel discussion and demonstration on the history of Contra/Barn Dances.
Max Senteney will play a clawhammer banjo set from 4-4:30 p.m.
ADVERTISEMENT
According to organizers, next, they’ll debut the new play “Full Steam Ahead,” which is about the first train arriving in Carbondale on July 4, 1854.
Some featured films will be shown throughout the evening at The Varsity:
- The Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat (August and Louis Lumiere, 1986)
- The Great Train Robbery (Edwin S. Porter, 1903)
- The General (Buster Keaton and Clyde Bruckman, 1926)
Organizers say all three films will be screened back to back from 4 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. and from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m.
Admission for the films will be a nickel per viewer, a nod to the nickelodeon theaters they would have been originally screened in.
The celebration is hosted by the Historic Preservation Commission of Carbondale, the city of Carbondale and The Varsity Center.
Copyright 2026 KFVS. All rights reserved.