It was designed by railroad staff architect James Nocquet after a fire destroyed the original Illinois Central offices on the site.

The locomotive was obtained from the now defunct Northwestern Steel and Wire company and is maintained as a static display.

[2] When the Illinois Central was authorized by a Stephen A. Douglas-sponsored act of Congress on September 20, 1854, it was to be the largest railroad company on earth.

[3] The act authorized a mainline from Dunleith (later East Dubuque) to Cairo and branch lines from Centralia to Chicago.

[3] After the fire the railroad decided to raze the remains of the old structure and construct a new combined depot and division headquarters, leaving hotel functions to other private entrepreneurs.

[4] The mid-1980s brought the end of the Amboy Illinois Central Depot's days as an active rail building.

[6] The Amboy Illinois Central Depot was designed by railroad staff architect James Nocquet in the Italianate style of architecture.

The depot section consists of waiting rooms and ticketing counters typical of their era while the headquarters portion of the building is well illuminated through ample fenestration.

The museum encompasses much of the former rail yard that Illinois Central maintained at Amboy's Northern Division Headquarters for its Cairo to East Dubuque line.

Palmer School is a restored one-room schoolhouse that was relocated to museum property during the 1990s from its original location west of Amboy.

The other structure is the Amboy Illinois Central Freight House which was relocated to museum property in 2003 to prevent its planned demolition.

When it was christened, NS&W #76 (76) was the last steam locomotive engine to be commissioned for regular freight service in the United States.

76 operated in daily service until the mill owner's death in 1980, it was retired shortly after and obtained by the Amboy Depot Commission.