1865 MISSOURI PACIFIC RAILROAD DEPOT
(FREIGHT DEPOT)
The first train arrived in Washington, Missouri in 1855. That event confirmed Washington's position as the major transportation center in Franklin County. The town's first railroad depot was destroyed in a Civil War raid on October 2, 1864.
In 1865 the present frame depot was constructed just west of the foot of Elm Street. The frame Missouri Pacific depot served for 58 years as Washington's transportation center, from the close of the Civil War until it was replaced by a the more modern brick depot in 1923. The frame depot had separate waiting rooms for men and women in one half of the building and handled baggage and freight in the other half.
At the time the Missouri Pacific began construction on the brick depot, the frame depot was relocated from its site at the west edge of Elm Street to its present location at the foot of Cedar Street on the north side of Front Street. The building was then converted for use as the freight depot.
Ownership of the depot buildings passed from Union Pacific Systems to the City of Washington in 1985. Renovation work on the freight depot proceeded in cooperation with the Washington Area Chamber of Commerce.
This 1865 Missouri Pacific depot is the oldest railroad depot building still remaining on an active rail line in the State of Missouri.