Casey Jones Home & Railroad Museum celebrates folk hero’s 155th birthday

JACKSON, Tenn. — As you walk up to the Casey Jones Home and Railroad Museum, it sounds as if a train is going by you.

“Our family could just not be more pleased that Casey Jones’ Village and The Old Country Store have invested in Casey’s legend,” Charles Howse, Jones’ great-grandson, said.

Casey Jones would have been 155 years old Wednesday.

Jones worked for the Illinois Central Railroad in the late 1800s. Howse says the thing that made Casey famous was saving people during a train crash.

“There was a train stuck on the siding. Rather than just jump off and let things happen the way they might have, Casey asked his foreman to jump off and he stayed there blowing the whistle and holding the breaks.”

Jones was the only one to die in the crash, and Wednesday the train museum wanted to celebrate his birthday.

Every Wednesday, the museum also hosts story time, so they combined the two.

“We’re doing a train story, of course, and we have a coloring page that has a drawing of Casey on it,” Erin Rager, a volunteer, said.

The kids also made a train out of paper to take home. The museum had balloons as well as cake for everyone to enjoy.

If you weren’t able to make it out to the party on Wednesday, there’ll be another celebration on Saturday at the museum.