600 East Third Street - Katy Depot

Welcome to the Trailhead of the Katy Trail State Park and the Boarding Station for the Sedalia Heritage Trail. Sedalia's historic Katy Depot, with its elegant Romanesque Revival Style appointments, is just a sample of the bill-of-fare awaiting you as you blaze your way down the trail. Your Stationmasters, the Sedalia Area Chamber of Commerce and Convention & Visitors Bureau are pleased to have you here. Before you travel along the Heritage Trail, we invite you to relax here a while, refresh yourself and enjoy our unique blend of Midwestern hospitality.

The Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad began operating in Sedalia in 1873. Bradford Lee Gilbert designed the depot which was built of limestone from the nearby Georgetown Quarry, by George Goodlander, and officially opened on May 10, 1896. The popular gathering spot served the community with elegance and charm for more than 60 years. The last passenger train left the depot in 1958.

The depot was offered for sale in 1983. The Missouri Department of Natural Resources took title to the building in 1987 as part of the Katy Trail State Park. If you follow the path of the old MKT, you'll see the tracks have been removed and the route converted into a walking and biking trail.

The exterior of the Depot was restored in 1998 to its original beauty and the interior renovation was completed in 2001. The Depot is the home of the Railroad Heritage Exhibits, which opened June 28, 2003. The unique design of the individual exhibits represents the way in which the railroads significantly influenced the community. Graphic panels, exhibit cases, an audio visual presentation room, and two motion-censored cast characters were added in April of 2004. As you enter the Depot, the gift shop greets visitors with Sedalia souvenirs, and Missouri made products. Your Stationmasters also serve as the Depot's managing tenants and their offices are located on the second floor.

The grounds around the depot are home to several art sculptures that symbolize Sedalia's heritage. The "Rag Tag Train" is a whimsical metal train sculpture by Springfield, Missouri artist Christine Shilling. Sedalia artist John Guffin created both the "Step Up Caboose" and the "Syncopated Rhythm Piano" sculptures. The caboose represents Sedalia's railroad heritage with one side designed for the Katy Railroad and the other for the Missouri Pacific Railroad. The piano celebrates the ragtime heritage of Sedalia. For complete details of events at the Depot, you can log on to the Internet at www.sedaliakatydepot.com.

Blazing The Trail

The whistle is blowing, the signals are flashing, so walkers, bicyclists and motorists, it’s time to travel down the great Sedalia Heritage Trail, where a trainload of treasures await your pleasure. We have chosen a few Whistle stops along the way, to enhance your enjoyment, but please feel free to stop and gaze anywhere your heart desires. There is a lot to see and much to enjoy. We’re proud to be called the Queen City of the Prairie.

Now, take a deep breath and step back in time to 1861 and visualize a little prairie town, which consisted of only two blocks between Ohio and Kentucky Avenues. It had three or four houses, a small store, post office and a couple of hotels. And then came the railroad...

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Katy Freight Depot, East Main Street

It took a lot of manpower and equipment to run a railroad and by 1881, Sedalia had become the intersecting point for four of them: the Missouri Pacific Railroad Co. (formerly Pacific Railroad) traveling east to west across Missouri; the MKT which carried passengers and freight from Hannibal to Sedalia and from Sedalia to Fort Scott Kansas and on to Denison Texas; the Lexington & St. Louis Railroad running from Sedalia to Lexington and the Sedalia, Warsaw and Southern R.R. from Sedalia to Warsaw. And when the track building moved on, Sedalia became the home of the Missouri Pacific and MKT shops, employing thousands of workers to build and maintain its railway cars; depots, general offices, railroad hospital and stockyard. The old freight depot stands as a reminder of the glory days of the railroad. In the year 1875 alone, seven million pounds of freight were received by the Sedalia depot.

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Washington Avenue Viaduct, Main Street and Washington Avenue

Early evidence of the railroad’s influence on the growth of Sedalia is the Washington Avenue Viaduct. The viaduct was built over the railroad tracks to provide passage from Main to St. Louis Streets. Steps were built on each side, to provide access for pedestrians. In 1910, maintenance of the viaduct became a joint project of the City of Sedalia, the Missouri Pacific and MKT Railroad Cos. Improvement projects have continued over the years.

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Downtown Sedalia Historic District

The elegant facades which grace the streets and avenues of the Downtown Sedalia Historic District, date back to Sedalia’s ‘great building era’ which in 1871 resulted in the construction of 22 brick buildings. This era was sparked in 1866 when Christopher Demuth and W. B. Adams established the town’s first brickyard. The Downtown Sedalia Historic District was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in March 1993.

Recent removal of 1960s aluminum sheathing on many of the buildings has revealed the beautiful historic architecture you see today. Main Street Sedalia provided incentives and guidance in the renovation process.

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100 Block East Main Street - Maple Leaf Park

By 1899 Sedalia had shed much of its frontier culture and had become a lusty, vibrant railroad town. Main Street was still a major part of the business district where commerce was conducted throughout the day. By night, the scene changed as many store owners rented their upstairs rooms out to saloons and brothels. In that particular year, a young, black, itinerant musician, Scott Joplin, had his Maple Leaf Rag published by the John Stark Music Co. of Sedalia which was located at 114 E. Fifth St. It was the first piece of American music to sell 1 million copies. Ragtime music raided the parlors of mainstream America and musical history was made. Joplin named his famous composition after the club of the same name, which was located above Blocher’s Seed Store at 121 E. Main St. A historical marker and performance center at that location constitutes Maple Leaf Park.

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118 East Main Street

This Victorian/Italianate building was opened in 1883 as a grocery store. The original name, IBig Callies, can faintly be seen near the top.

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110 & 112 E. Main Street - Local Artist Workshops

These circa 1870s historic Victorian/Italianate buildings now serve as working studios and exhibition centers for painter, Douglas Freed and sculptor, Don Luper. In the early years, the buildings along East Main St. were frame structures, constructed on little more than a wing and prayer and were ready tinder for careless fire-builders and untended lanterns. A hand fire engine and water drawn from cisterns represented the only fire fighting equipment. The present buildings were a part of Sedalia’s ‘great building era’which began in 1866.

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106 - 108 East Main Street

Built in 1879 these buildings housed a saloon and a hall upstairs. Scott Joplin performed in the 400 Club located upstairs at the 108 East Main location. Leon Archias established a seed store in this Victorian/Italianate building in 1898. Today, the buildings provide office space for the bank next on the tour.

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101 South Ohio Avenue

This large Classical Revival bank building was built in 1908 to house Citizens National Bank. In existence since 1872, the bank remained here until 1931, when it was the first local bank to close due to the stock market crash of 1929. In 1932, Union Savings Bank, one of only two banks in Sedalia to have kept their doors open during the Great Depression, moved into this formal classical style building.

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103 W. Main Street

General George R. Smith and Col. David W. Bouldin filed the plat of Sedalia and held a public sale of lots on October 16th 1860.Ê This is the location of the first lot sold for $1000 dollars and was resold three times on that same day.

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Missouri Pacific Railroad Station/Amtrak Station - Pacific St. between Ohio and Moniteau Avenues.

Three stations for the Missouri Pacific have served on this site. The first stations for the Missouri Pacific Railroad were located in hotels on this location. In 1889, a grand, imposing Missouri Pacific Station was built on the site of one of the former hotels. The station was of the Romanesque Revival Architecture and featured two stories with quarters for rail workers upstairs. In 1951, in an effort to modernize the look of train travel, that depot underwent a “rehabilitation” to the current Art Moderne style seen today. Downtown Sedalia Development is currently renovating the station, which serves as an Amtrak Station.

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120 South Ohio Avenue

This building is an example of Mediterranean and Classical Revival style. It was the American Exchange Bank until 1926. The green tile roof and terra cotta detailing set this unique building apart from others on the block.

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123 South Ohio Avenue - The Farmers and Mechanics Bank

Now the VFW Hall, this building is unique because of the cast stone windows with the lower brackets still intact. Unfortunately, the original windows are gone. The building was built in 1880 with Italianate influence. A gentleman’s furnishings store, Bank of Commerce, Missouri and Kansas Telephone Company and American Exchange Bank all were housed here before 1920.

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205 S. Ohio Avenue - Scott Joplin Mural

The north side of this circa 1880s Romanesque revival style building provides the canvas for a large mural of Ragtime King, Scott Joplin, which was painted in 1994 by Kansas muralist Stan Herd. The building is unusual with its intricate castle-like brickwork at the cornice, decorative brick columns, and the arched central window.

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211 S. Ohio Avenue

This Romanesque Revival facade, circa 1880s, has iron Tuscan half-column pilasters. In 1885 the Bankers and Merchants Telegraph Company and millinery company. Upper level window signs reveal former tenants including a photography studio. Other previous tenants include a restaurant and the Nature Health Institute in 1921.

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213- 215 S. Ohio Avenue

These circa 1870s buildings housed a saloon, telephone office, cigar company and all before the turn of the century. The American Express Company and the Postal Telegraph Company both held offices at 213 in 1901, while 215 was home to Foraker’s women clothing store in the mid 1900s. These Chicago-style buildings were refaced after a fire in 1916.

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Click here for Whistle Stops 16 - 30

Whistle Stops 1 - 15 | Whistle Stops 16 - 30 | Whistle Stops 31- 45 | Whistle Stops 46 - 58D