Concordia Missouri Train Caboose

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Railroads came to Missouri via the Missouri Pacific Railroad. This railroad started in St. Louis and would stretch all the way to Kansas City. Though construction was started in 1851, it took 14 years to complete.

Lafayette County, seeing the progress being made on the railroad in Missouri wanted to be connected to this mainline and voted budget half a million dollars to do so in November of 1859. However, the Civil War forestalled planning until 1866. In May of 1871, a railroad was completed running from Sedalia Missouri to Myrick- a Lexington subdivision- which passed through Concordia.

Passenger trains passed through Concordia twice a day and freight trains once a day, Monday through Friday. The passenger trains consisted of a steam locomotive, a baggage car, a passenger car, and a "smoker." The latter was a car designated for men who desired to smoke without offending women. However, Voigt notes, that if the passenger cars were full the conductor would offer a woman a seat in the smoker if she wasn't offended.

The railroad no longer comes through Concordia. However, there is still a lone rail car that sits in Concordia Central Park. The Union Pacific donated the caboose to Concordia in February of 1989 as a reminder of the railway which ran through the town from May 1871 to July 1982.