Sedalia Missouri Katy Depot

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Formerly the Tebo & Neosho Railroad line, The Missouri, Kansas, & Texas train tracks ran from Denison, Texas to Fort Scott, Kansas, and on to Sedalia, Missouri. The Sedalia to Fort Scott, Kansas portion of the railroad was completed by December 1870. The next year, the increased freight and passenger traffic over the M. K. & T. Railroad resulted in the construction of Union Depot on Engineer Street in 1872, but five years later, the depot burned and was not rebuilt. A few machine and railcar shops were built and a small number of men were employed but increased over the next few years. By 1881, the Missouri, Kansas, and Texas Railway Company was a branch that was a part of the Missouri Pacific Railroad owned by Jay Gould. In 1886, a new structure on Pacific street served as a station for both the Missouri Pacific and MKT railroads.

Construction on the new MKT depot on Third Street was completed in 1896 and utilized granite stone from Texas. The depot included lunch and dining rooms, men’s and women’s waiting rooms, a ticket office, rail offices, and a baggage room. The architecture was similar to other Katy Depots. The two-story red brick building with a limestone base displays an octagonal appearance on the north end, slate-hipped roofs, a rectangular section with five flat bay windows, arched windows bordered by limestone, and beam openings. The second story included offices for the telegraph superintendent, resident engineer, roadmaster, train master, dispatcher, superintendent, and superintendent’s clerks. The depot served passengers, freight, and mail services and contributed to the economic success of Sedalia and the surrounding area.

In the 1920s, continuous strikes impacted rail traffic and during the Great Depression, the M.K.T workers disassembled rail cars to extract lumber for petrol as a way of saving expenses, but the railroad shops closed. By the 1950s, the railroad traffic along the rail line began to decline. By mid-1958, the last passenger cars carried people through Sedalia and the shops were empty.

The M. K. & T Railroad Company placed the depot on the real estate market and the Pettis County Historical Society insisted that the depot be nominated to the National Register of Historic Places and it was placed on the National Register in 1979. In 1983 the Missouri Department of Natural Resources acquired the Depot and today it is part of the Katy trail. In 1990 Sedalians established the Sedalia Katy Depot Heritage Foundation dedicated to the preservation, maintenance, interpretation, promotion, and operation of the depot. Today, the Sedalia Chamber of Commerce and the Sedalia Convention and Visitors Bureau manages a museum and gift shop that showcases the history of Sedalia and its significance as an important rail and trail hub.