November 16, 2018
As the Civil War came to an end in the East, work on the Kansas railroad
line picked up and by October of 1866 construction had at last reached Pawnee
on the Fort Riley reservation. The
“Union” newspaper reported that “the first shriek of the locomotive that was
ever heard at Junction City came last Monday morning.”
It was on
November 10 of 1866 that the first regular passenger train puffed into town,
which converted Junction City almost overnight from a frontier outpost into a
bustling small city. Only a week
earlier, the railroad had brought an excursion train filled with “one hundred
distinguished ladies and gentlemen from Philadelphia and St. Louis” to
celebrate the extension of the line to Junction City.
This excursion
train stopped first at Fort Riley where Major General Custer had “horses
saddled and in readiness to convey the party over to the Post.” As the visitors
later continued on to Junction City, the train was met by omnibuses that
conveyed the group to the Central Hotel where an elegant supper prepared by the
city was waiting. However, “the
excursionists were so well fed at Fort Riley that they weren’t hungry”, the
“Union” newspaper reported.
It wasn’t
until about 20 years later that a train depot had begun to be built “at the
foot of 10th Street.” It was
apparent that Junction City’s new Union Pacific Depot was up and operational as
written in the “JC Tribune” in May of 1887.
The author of the article wrote: “The new depot, which could be viewed
from Washington down to Tenth Street makes a splendid appearance. When you get closer, it gets better.”
All that
remains of the rail industry in our town is the “depot waiting room” exhibit
found on the second floor of our Museum.
Stop by and see the depot waiting room.
You may even hear a train whistle as it approaches.
And...that
is our story on “Our Past Is Present” from the Geary County Historical Society.
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