M.K.T. Railroad Passenger Depot

M.K.T. Railroad Passenger Depot (1909)

The second station to open in downtown Columbia, the Missouri-Kansas-Texas (M.K.T.) Railroad Passenger Depot, colloquially known as Katy Station or Columbia Station, finished construction in 1909. Construction of the branch line connecting Columbia to the main line at McBaine had started years earlier in 1882 during a period of rapid and substantial growth for the M.K.T. Railroad. Columbia’s first M.K.T. depot opened in 1901 upon the completion of the branch line as little more than a siding by Boone County Milling Company on the corner of North Fourth and Broadway. Likely built as a temporary measure, the depot’s small size (72.5x18 feet) soon proved inadequate and in 1907 plans were drawn up for the construction of a new depot on the corner of South Fourth Street and Broadway. Initially projected to cost $32,000 by M.K.T. officials, Katy Station would begin operation in April 1909 having cost the company $40,000 instead. By late 1909, the station was fully operational and celebrated by offering a ”State Fair Special” ticket on the cheap that took Columbians to the Sedalia State Fair in early October. According to the Columbia Missouri Herald, the modern view of Katy Station, alongside a new $80,000 building for the local high school, gave Columbia a “lively appearance” that rejuvenated the appearance of the town center.

By the 1920s, the new station sat at the heart of the developing town centre in Columbia, with enterprising residents opening businesses and raising housing as nearby as possible. Among these were the Boone County Lumber Company’s new lumberyard adjoining the station; a slew of new offices and residences built in close proximity by E.C. Clinkscales; and the Payne-Roth Wholesale Grocery Company. “Opposite Katy Station” or “a block from Katy” became the predominant identifier of location for many advertisers printing in Columbia’s newspapers, centring Columbia’s businesses around the depot. Traffic was frequent as well, with thousands of passengers travelling to and from the terminus through the mid-twentieth century. The most common composition for a train bound for Columbia was a single passenger carriage – seating sixty – accompanied by a few luggage and freight carriages. Significant sporting occasions broke this norm; trains for baseball or football games often carried over 3,000 passengers in upwards of thirty carriages. Overnight sleeper trains frequently carried Columbians to St. Louis in this fashion, although with questionable reliability as two residents discovered. Shortly after Katy Station opened, Harry Broadhead and D.F. Luckey boarded a sleeper with the intent to catch the St. Louis Browns playing the next day and quickly dosed off. While they slept, the M.K.T. station manager had cancelled the journey without knowledge they were aboard. Come dawn, the two awoke and found themselves still in Katy Station, having spent the night there. Despite departing in swift embarrassment, rumours of their experience broke, resulting in ridicule at their expense.

By the 1930s, the station’s initial prosperity began to dry up. Competition with cars saw the McBaine line lose out. By 1855, all special services (sports teams, fans, students, etc.) had ceased and 1958 saw the end of passenger services across all M.K.T. lines. Employment also dropped with only 2,817 workers across the M.K.T. remaining by 1960 compared to an excess of 8,000 only four years earlier. With only freight services remaining – and even those operating inconsistently – the line between Columbia and St. Louis saw its number of stations decline from eighteen in 1932 to just five by 1961. By the 1970s, Katy Station was simply one of the M.K.T.’s many struggling depots. In Columbia, the station resorted to renting out its grounds in order to make some form of profit. Following the closure of Columbia’s M.K.T. freight office in 1975, the depot was eventually sold to a group of investors, signalling the withdrawal of the M.K.T. from Columbia.  

However, Katy Station’s sale was not the end of its central role in Columbia’s town centre. The buyers – Jack Maher, Ronald Westenhaver and Jim Estes – were an ambitious trio who sought to reinvent Katy Station as an “elegant restaurant” and cocktail bar. This was not a project of reconstruction, but rather one of revitalisation. According to Maher, Columbia’s town centre was a “blighted area” in the 1970s; an environment that was embodied in Katy Station’s increasingly decrepit appearance. Identifying a business opportunity, Maher and his compatriots sought to restore to Katy Station its previous prominence and charm. The remodelling into a restaurant aimed to maintain the “architectural style” of its initial construction. In essence, the trio sought to create a viable business while preserving the “feeling of the era.” This was one of downtown Columbia’s first rehabilitation projects that prioritised a historically aware and sensitive outlook. 

As a restaurant, Katy Station was certainly a spectacle – carriages acted as booths and, according to the Columbia Daily Tribune, you could “have a Manhattan where the porter used to stand.” A review by the Tribune’s Fats Gourmand cemented that Katy Station’s “décor… was heavy on the railroad motif.” Accordingly, the walls were lined with rail-related iconography and the wait staff wore nineteenth century style shirts. A diner could very well feel that they were on a train, at least in spirit. As per William Pryor’s restaurant review, the quality of the food matched the intended atmosphere where “great trains served great food.” Pryor ascribed it four spoons out of four on his ratings, a sign of an excellent restaurant. Sadly for Katy Station, downtown Columbia’s revitalisation in the 1980s meant the marketplace became far more competitive with the number of fast food and chain establishments doubling between 1981 and 1984. While this certainly made for good business, Katy Station struggled to entice clientele and was forced to reduce its dining capacity by thirty. 

In 1994, Maher and co. sold the restaurant to Jerry Kaufman of Kaufman Restaurants Inc., a veteran of Columbia’s restaurant business. Kaufman’s ownership was short-lived, for in 1998 he was forced to close the restaurant when financial troubles caught up with him. Supposedly, Kaufman owed $81,478 in federal tax and $2,632.69 in state tax, the latter also meaning that he was unable to renew the liquor license that was vital to the restaurant’s operation. By September, Kaufman had filed for bankruptcy and the Katy Station restaurant was liquidated. It would only remain closed for a year before Jeff Ferguson, Chris Smith and Matt Vaughn purchased the property and opened Colosseum Bistro in 1999. The ill luck would continue, as Colosseum Bistro would close less than a decade later in 2007. The owners blamed Columbia’s smoking ban, but Columbia residents wrote to local newspapers accusing them of spouting “baloney.” By 2007, the Bistro claimed to only have just over ten regulars, certainly not indicative of a thriving business. 

However, Colosseum Bistro’s downfall proved a stroke of good luck for a different restaurateur. In late 2007, Shiloh’s Bar & Grill owner Tom Atkinson was informed by his landlord that his lease on 227 South Sixth Street would not be renewed. With Katy Station vacated of business, Atkinson secured a lease and moved his restaurant there in early 2008. Unlike Katy Station’s previous owners, Atkinson’s problems as owner resulted from the restaurant’s success. By December 2008, Atkinson had already paid $172.50 in fines over noise complaints as “hordes of people” stood on Broadway queuing for his establishment. Shiloh’s Bar & Grill still resides in Katy Station, with the former depot retaining its historical red brick visage and its role as a center of congregation for downtown Columbians and student life.