Picture Courtesy of Jim Kuntz

Picture Courtesy of Jim Kuntz

From Rail to Trail
The first MKT depot in Clinton was built a few blocks south of the square in 1870. It burned in June 1886, and was replaced by a new structure of Victorian design. The station was remodeled in 1944. Passenger service on the Katy Line ended on May 1, 1958. The MKT acquired the remaining Frisco tracks in Clinton, and moved its freight operations into the Frisco's Green Street station in 1978. The Chamber of Commerce bought the depot the following year and moved it to the southeast corner of the square where it stands today.

The Katy hit hard times in the 1980s, finding itself overbuilt and hard-pressed to compete with larger railroads and modern trucking. Katy filed with the Interstate Commerce Commission in August 1986 to discontinue use of tits rail between Sedalia and Machens. Two years later, the company merged into the Union Pacific Railroad. Union Pacific generously donated the rail corridor between Sedalia and Clinton to the Missouri Department of Natural Resources in December 1991.

Though the whistle remain silent, visitors still arrive in Clinton along the age-old corridor. The department reopened this line to non-motorized travelers as an extension of Katy Trail State Park on Sept. 12, 1999. Little is left to remind visitors of the bustle of train activity that once took place. Yet Katy Caboose No. 206 stand nearby as both monument and testimony to an era that shaped the prosperity of Clinton.

[Upper Photo: M.K.T. Depot Clinton, Mo. The Katy depot, shown here around 1910, was built 1886. It now houses the Clinton Chamber of Commerce.]
Used by permission, State Historical Society of Missouri, Columbia [Bottom Photo: This was the scene of the last Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railway Co. (MKT or Katy) passenger train through Clinton on May 1, 1958.]
Photo courtesy of Donald R. Kaiser.

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