Created 141 years ago, in September 1884, the Lauro Müller railway station, in Santa Catarina, today tells the story of the exploration of mineral coal in the municipalities of the region.
The coal deposits on the ground of Santa Catarina were discovered in 1841 and, 20 years later, the government signed a contract with the Viscount of Taunay for the exploitation of mineral coal.
It was in this scenario that in 1874 the government of Dom Pedro 2º granted the English the concession for the construction of the Estrada de Ferro Dona Teresa Cristina, inaugurated 11 years later.
It mainly transported coal, but it was also used to transport passengers and colonial products.
Formerly called Minas – for an obvious reason – the station was renamed Lauro Müller in 1905, in homage to the Minister of Industry, Transport and Public Works, Lauro Severiano Müller, according to the IBGE.
Lauro Müller is a town in Santa Catarina with 14,628 inhabitants, according to the IBGE (Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics), and was only named a municipality in 1956, during the dismemberment of Orléans, with installation the following year.
The building now houses the Manoel Martinho Fortunato Historical and Cultural Space. Restored in 2016, it presents tracks, train parts and the history of the economic development of the city and the region.
The museum houses a permanent exhibition of historical objects from the town, particularly linked to railway memory and coal exploration.
Among the stories told in the exhibition is the heavy flood that hit Dona Teresa Cristina in 1974, which devastated the banks of the Tubarão River, from its source to its mouth. It partially destroyed the town of Tubarão and the entire railway branch which served the section between Lauro Müller and Orléans.
The railway was built in four years, between 1880 and 1884, with a main (main) line of 118 kilometers, connecting Imbituba to Lauro Muller, in addition to a branch line of 7 kilometers.
As was the case with other railway companies in the past, the company that managed the railway did not prosper and the federal government took over the concession just 18 years after its inauguration.
The head office left Imbituba and became Tubarão in 1906. After being leased to another company, it returned to the federal government and in 1957 was incorporated into the now-defunct RFFSA (Rede Ferroviária Federal SA).
Since 1997, the southern railway network of Santa Catarina has been operated by Ferrovia Tereza Cristina, 164 kilometers long and crossing 14 municipalities.
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