Chicago and Alton Railroad Depot ~ Higginsville, MO
Posted by: 
YoSam.
N 39° 04.407 W 093° 43.018
15S E 437980 N 4325172
Among the relatively few remaining Stick style buildings in Missouri is the Chicago and Alton railroad depot; fewer yet are extant Stick style depots with the physical integrity of the Higginsville depot
Waymark Code: WMNPTA
Location: Missouri, United States
Date Posted: 04/15/2015
Views: 7
County of depot: Lafayette County
location of depot: 2109 Main Street, Higginsville
Built: 1889
Architect:
Higginsville Depot - The train depot long served as a source of travel and news with passengers and postal service using the rail line daily. While no longer an operating rail station, the depot has been restored and is now a museum
"Harvey Higgins, born in 1812 near Lexington, Fayette County, Kentucky, left home as a young man of twenty-three for Liberty, Illinois where he practiced merchandising until 1840. He then immigrated to Missouri, entered over 400 acres in Lafayette County and dealt extensively in the Boonslick grain and stock trade. He also marketed hemp in Lafayette, Missouri's largest hemp-producing county. By the Civil War Higgins had almost doubled his landholding, owned twenty-one slaves, and had become a member of the local gentry.
"In a position to direct this speculator's vision, Higgins deeded to the branch railroad a strip of land 100' x I860' with the condition that a railroad depot be built within that strip of land. The Lexington and St. Louis depot was erected at the eastern of Ambrose street. One of the first mercantile houses near the depot was managed by A.E. Asbury, another town promoter, who with Higgins, would become responsible for a cluster of prominent Higginsville sites surrounding the future Chicago and Alton depot.
"From this thriving regional center, local shipments of wheat,
corn, livestock, coal (extracted from eighteen shafts active in the county), and locally manufactured brick and tile made their way to outside markets. During period, 1890-1937, the Higginsvilie C & A Depot provided freight service to the Higginsvilie Flour Mill, the International Shoe Co., and three large coal companies. It was also an important passenger terminal with ten passenger trains making daily stops. This heyday saw trains rolling through town twenty-four hours a day, and the hustle never stopped. The depot was manned by a staff of three telegraph operators, a cashier, and a clerk. There were always railroad men around who practically lived in the building." ~ NRHP Nomination form