Kansas City & Southern Depot, Decatur Arkansas

Date added: March 15, 2025

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The Kansas City-Southern Railroad was the realization of the dream of Arthur E. Stilwell, a native of Rochester, New York. Stilwell envisioned a railroad that would be "straight as the crow flies" to connect Kansas City to the Gulf of Mexico. Farmers, ranchers, lumber, and coal men were being exploited by the rates charged to ship goods by way of the east, ignoring the ports to the south, in order to get them to waters for European markets. With "his" railroad Stilwell could ship faster, cheaper and preserve the perishables that were often spoiled along the normal shipping channels. At the age of thirty Stilwell organized the Kansas City Suburban Belt Railroad and in 1889 started the Kansas City, Pittsburgh & Gulf (later named Kansas City Southern), stretching 789 miles to the sea, ending at his namesake, the city of Port Arthur, Texas.

The tracks had been laid to Siloam Springs, Arkansas, only 228 miles from Kansas City, when, in 1893, an economic depression hit. Most other railroads went into the hands of receivers, as did many well-established businesses, but not Stilwell. When he needed more money to operate, one of his "hunches" came to him and in February 1894 he left for Amsterdam, Holland, to try and raise the capital from Dutch and German investors.

He had never been to that country before and knew only one person, the wealthy coffee merchant he had met aboard the 5,000-ion steamer in 1885. After two unsuccessful weeks of trying to sell his securities, he spent a couple of days in his hotel rooms thinking, and remembered the Dutchman. He did not remember his name, only that he was a coffee merchant. He left the next morning for the coffee exchange board, where he obtained a list of brokers from the doorman, and on the list he recognized De Goeijen. De Goeijen was summoned to meet the American and recognized him at once. He was overjoyed to see his old acquaintance, and they left together for a most rewarding luncheon.

Arthur Stilwell set upon one of his best-selling jobs and overwhelmed the Dutchman. He convinced him to sell his coffee holdings and go to work for him and his American friends as the agent for the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Trust Company at a salary of $5,000 a year, more than twice his present salary. De Goeijen accepted, and Arthur stayed in Holland to teach the Dutchman to sell the securities. The Regalement Van Het Arkansas Construction Company syndicate was formed and became the vehicle for their operations in Holland.

Stilwell returned to Philadelphia and went to the offices of Drexel and Company asking them to draw a $500,000 draft on the Bank of Amsterdam. They laughed. He could not seem to convince them that in the middle of an international depression, he had raised $3,000,000 to build a railroad through Western Arkansas and Northwestern Louisiana. Finally, they were convinced and Stilwell left for Kansas City.

Robert Gillham (for whom the town of Gillham is named) was named Chief Engineer of the KCP&G and the construction company. Gillham had introduced the Cable Car to Kansas City and was Chief Engineer of the Metropolitan Street Railway. Gillham road on horseback south of Siloam Springs to the Arkansas River, surveying the route. The Arkansas bridge site was selected and men put to work. However, the rugged Ozark topography proved too difficult, and Gillham decided to shift the main line west into Indian Territory, reaching Fort Smith by a branch line. Crossing the virgin territory in the midst of the depression began to cause financial troubles for Stilwell and his investors.

A central division point was needed for the railway, and the town of Gentry in Benton County was chosen. Named for Richard Gentry, a chief engineer and large investor. The town was laid out and formed by the Arkansas Townsite Company, a Stilwell firm. George M. Craig became the agent for Gentry, and the town was advertised as a future division point on the KCP&G. The town did not boom, and it was decided to move across the state line into Indian Territory, where the first town was formed and named for Stilwell.

Stilwell, Indian Territory, located 30 miles south and west of Siloam Springs, first appeared on the map in 1895. The brick roundhouse was built and contained eight stalls, a 65-foot turntable, a coal chute with a trestle approach, a water tank, a depot, and a fine track yard. Many railroad employees were stationed there. The KCP&G also formed the towns of Howe and Spiro.

Many still did not consider Stilwell a successful developer, until he crossed back into Arkansas, where he became known for his "egoistic" habit of naming towns for himself, friends, and investors. Stilwell's success as a developer partly stemmed from his far-sightedness and salesmanship concerning these new towns. He always went or sent someone ahead of the tracks to write publicity, form parks, recreation sites, and tourist attractions so that by the time "his" railroad reached a destination point he would have people to fill up the town.

Stilwell's dream was ultimately fulfilled, as by the arrival of the twentieth century the Kansas City-Southern Railroad had become the principal transportation route for both passengers and freight between the agricultural heartland of America and the Gulf of Mexico.

Though the early history of Decatur is difficult to establish (due to the lack of surviving primary sources), it is known that the first post office was established in 1883, when a John Cotton was made the postmaster. It seems likely that the town as such remained small, with only a few stores and blacksmith shops, until 1893, when the Kansas City, Pittsburg and Gulf Railroad (later the Kansas City-Southern Railroad) arrived. As was almost always the case, the arrival of the railroad caused a dramatic spurt of growth, resulting in the construction of several hotels, a sawmill, two churches and a large shipping yard by 1903. The Bank of Decatur opened by 1906, and by 1915 had grown prosperous enough to garner a Dun rating. By then its primary commercial enterprise was the processing and shipping of locally-grown apples.

This increased prosperity required the construction of a new, formed concrete block railroad depot by 1920, when this structure was built.

Building Description

The Kansas City-Southern Depot in Decatur is a single-story, concrete block freight and passenger railroad depot constructed circa 1920 in the Plain Traditional style. The composition-shingled hipped roof features two eyebrow dormers, projecting eaves with Craftsman brackets underneath, and a cross gable with decorative fish scale wood shingles over the three-sided telegrapher's bay. A single brick chimney rises through the ridge to the north of center. A continuous, cast concrete foundation supports the entire structure.

The eastern elevation is lighted by five one-over-one windows to the north of a sliding wood freight door. The western elevation opposite is accessed via a sliding wood freight door at its southern end, a single-leaf entry placed just to the north, and another single-leaf entry at the northern end of the elevation. The telegrapher's bay is lighted with a single window on each of its sides and two windows in the front. This bay is flanked to either side by a single window.

The southern elevation is blank except for a single, central horizontal window placed beneath the broad cornice. The northern elevation is lighted with two symmetrically-placed windows.

Significant exterior details include the wood knee braces that ornament the cornice around the entire building and the diagonal cross-timbering on the freight doors.

Though no original windows remain, the one-over-one aluminum replacement windows are of the same sash configuration as would have been found on a depot of this age, and they are a dark brown, anodized aluminum type that is compatible with the building's historic appearance.