Rock Island Depot Then and Now

309 Third Avenue

In the 1880s, Dodge City dreamt big. People were moving here from modern cities and they knew the survival of a community depended on rail access. The Santa Fe line was a vital link but it wasn’t enough to establish this area as a commercial hub. Dodge also needed modern amenities to attract more newcomers. A streetcar service was planned but never materialized. I won’t bore you with all of the railroad companies which formed and fizzled. There were many.

The Chicago, Kansas & Nebraska Railroad was formed at the end of 1885 and received its charter in January of 1886. It was financed by the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific, which would operate the line in Kansas.

Mayor A. B. Webster traveled to Chicago in July of 1886 to meet with Rock Island officials regarding the extension of the line to Dodge City. There was a lot of back and forth over whether to sell bonds to help finance its construction.

The Rock Island, Dodge City & Denver Railway was formed in April of 1887 in anticipation of the main line’s arrival. Directors were George Hoover, Chalk Beeson, J. H. Crawford, James Langton, Robert Wright, James Arment, R. W. Evans, D. M. Frost, W. C. Shinn, George Cox, C. A. Milton, R. Small, and A. Russell.

That company was absorbed by the Arkansas, Kansas & Colorado Railway Co. the following month. A special bond election was announced for June 22, 1887 to aid this new company in building the line. It was said this could be accomplished by December 31, 1887. Voters approved $120,000 in bonds to make it happen.

The planned route was along Fourth Street in Crawford’s Addition with a depot just to the west of Bridge Street.

That requires a bit of translation for you to understand where the heck they were talking about. Bridge Street is now Second Avenue and Fourth Street is now Sycamore Street.

So yes, South Dodge had a depot which cost around $4,000 and it was nearly enclosed by mid-December of 1887 when the track reached town.

For the first time in the history of the world, a project was completed ahead of schedule. The first passenger train arrived on December 29, 1887 and P. G. Reynolds established a bus service between the Rock Island and Santa Fe depots.

The weird little spur from the main line to Dodge City was the subject of great controversy. When those bonds were sold, people thought they were getting main line service rather than a trip to Bucklin where they would then connect to the main line. Such is life.

The need for a link between the Rock Island and Santa Fe lines was immediately apparent. By the end of 1889, plans for a bridge across the Arkansas River were underway.

The 1892 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map shows the Rock Island connection to the Santa Fe line at Third Avenue and South Front Street with a small wood frame railroad tool house. Land was purchased at this spot in 1897 and the buildings were removed that November to make room for the depot. One of the homes was moved to Military Avenue by J. F. O’Neal, later of the O’Neal Hotel. The 90-foot depot was loaded onto a couple flat cars and moved in December of 1897.

A wooden platform was constructed along the siding and plans were made for a sidewalk which would connect to the nearby Santa Fe depot.

Flooding along Third Avenue was a constant problem so a culvert system was installed and the tracks were raised.

The depot was enlarged in 1914 to increase the size of the waiting room at the east end of the building.

Rock Island traffic peaked in the mid-1950s. Aging infrastructure and non-rail competition contributed to its decline.

The company lost $16.6 million in 1970 and spiraled into its third bankruptcy in 1975.

The depot was no longer needed and was sold to Wayne and Suzanne Gilbert, who had the building moved to its current location on Avenue A for use as a residence.

The unfinished home was included in the AAUW holiday home tour lineup in 1976.

The former Rock Island Depot location is currently a parking lot.

If I remember correctly, the depot was sided with cedar shingles for several years but it now resembles a log cabin. You can view a couple photos by clicking here and here or check out the Google Street View images here.

I’ll leave the drama surrounding the end of the Rock Island line into Dodge City for another day. It’s nice to occasionally see rolling stock moving along the tracks on Sycamore and the former depot being converted to a residence really was the best possible outcome.

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