Clinton, MO - Missouri-Kansas-Texas (MKT) Railroad

From the late 1880's to Prohibition Clinton had two beer warehouses in town.

The Lemp Brewery warehouse was on the east side of the Katy north of Franklin Street, and had its own short spur track. It later became an implement dealership and from about 1950 to 1994 was the Henry County Library.

The library added 2 rooms on the east side where the side track had been, one was the bookmobile garage, later the Reference Room, the other was the director's office. Everyone stopped talking when a Katy freight came through town. Supposedly part of the building was on the MKT right of way and the railroad told the director they'd let it stay if the library promised not to sue in anything ever hit the building.

In 1993 the library brought the old Frisco station grounds (between Green and Lincoln Streets) for its parking lot, and tore down the former Frisco station, which had been used by the MKT since 1980. The new library is east of the tracks, but has no windows on that side.

The Anheuser-Busch warehouse was on West Franklin off the northwest corner of the square. It became a feed store (I think) with Prohibition, then was acquired by the Historical Society and is now the Henry County Museum. The old stables in back for the horses that hauled the beer in from cars on the MKT team track and took it out to the saloons and other buyers are still intact and hold some of the museum larger exhibits.

University of Missouri has placed many of the the Sanborn Fire Maps for Missouri online at
http://digital.library.umsystem.edu/cgi/i/image/image-idx?page=index;c=umcscsanic

Do a search on 'Clinton' as subject; there are 52 pages, 3 from 1885, 7 from 1891, 9 from 1896, and 11 each for 1902, 1909 and 1918. (Henry County Library has a paper copy from 1928 with updates through the 1930s pasted in). 1891 #2 has the Lemp warehouse, 1891 #3 the Anheuser-Busch warehouse.

The MKT and KCC&S stations can be found on 1885 #1, 1891 #6, 1896 #7, 1902 #9, 1909 #9 and 1918 #9.

The High Line (Blair Line - Frisco) station can be found on 1891 #2, 1896 #2, 1902 #2, 1909 #2 and 1918 #2.

The Blair Line roundhouse is on 1896 #9, 1902 #11, 1909 #11 and 1918 #11 - the first two are of the original Blair line roundhouse and the last two the Frisco roundhouse built after the 1903 "Chatauqua Storm" flattened the original roundhouse.

For some reason Sanborn never displayed the old North Clinton station, which the Blair line used before they built the Green Street station in 1889. The Frisco used as a meal stop in the period from 1898 to 1901 when the Frisco's Kansas City to Texas trains ran via the Blair Line to Springfield and over the Fort Smith line to Paris, Texas and beyond.

Clinton folklore says it was a Harvey House, but none of the Harvey House books or websites I have seen mentions it. I have found a 1 line note in the newspaper to the effect that the Harvey restaurant at North Clinton was closing, but so far nothing else.

Attached are several 1200dpi scans of portions of the photographic survey of Henry County in 1952 (which the Henry County Library has in its reference collection), from sheet BF-3H-111 which was photographed on 05/28/1952 -

From Rogers Street to Allen Street, including a short Katy freight doing some switching.



From Allen Street to Ohio Street, with the former Leaky Roof yard above (to the west) of the Katy tracks; the Frisco accessed their tracks by coming down the Katy main from North Clinton.



From Green Street to Oak Street, showing the Frisco Station, complete with 2 passenger cars on westernmost track, the ice plant and the Clearfield Cheese plant. Clearfield eventually took over the ice plant and the current Schreiber Clearfield plant extends the entire distance from Oak Street to Lincoln Street along the tracks.



And here is the Larrabee Mill and Elevator. The Katy came in from the northwest (upper left corner) from a switch which left the main at 3rd Street while the Frisco came in from the east (right side) from a switch which left their main a short ways north of the 8th Street crossing.



And here is the Frisco's North Clinton Yard, with the MKT crossing and interlocking tower on the left (North) end. This came from sheet BF-3F-109, also photographed on 05/28/1952



Finally, here is the Missouri Public Service power plant, just north of Sedalia Street (aka Clinton Junction) on the Frisco line going north out of Clinton. The switch for the spur to the Green Street depot is just off the bottom edge of the picture, just south of Sedalia Street. This also came from sheet BF-3F-109, photographed on 05/28/1952



The plant opened in 1922 with a capacity of 4,000 h.p. (3,000 kilowatts) and 6,700-h.p. (5,000 kilowatts) was added in 1928. The plant switched to using natural gas instead of coal sometime in the late 1950s or early 1960s, was shut down by the late 1970s and demolished sometime in the 1990s. The coal unloader and the coal pile north of the plant are clearly visible, as are the spray cooling ponds to the east of the plant.

North of the coal pile is the gasometer for the butane-air system which replaced the old manufactured gas plant on 6th Street just southeast of the Larrabee mill in 1930. It was in turn replaced by natural gas by pipeline in the late 1950s; the circular base of the gasometer is still there, however, and is visible in Google Maps at the north end of the present employee parking lot.

My Railroads of Henry County Missouri pages at tacnet.missouri.org has some scans of the MKT Valuation Map for the southern part of Clinton (S19b) dated from 1918. They are at http://tacnet.missouri.org/history/railroads/katymap2.html

 

Mike,

Thanks for posting the photos and supporting info. I worked on the old Katy between Ft. Scott and Clinton in the early 1990s. Some of the industries that we switched in Clinton were located on former Frisco trackage. I have always been interested in the history of all railroad lines, but even more so on trackage that I have operated on.

 

mgood265,

Thanks for the valuable information. This will defiantly help me on my project. I couldn't find the photos on in the reference section of the Henry County Library. Could you post a link? Are the MKT valuation maps from 1918 or 1970?

 

Thank you Mike. The new aerial photos and history are much appreciated.

Dale Rush
modeling the Clinton Sub in N scale
Carthage, MO

 

Does anyone know what the structure is located at the south end of the yard in this pic?

 

Can anyone identify the MKT depot in this pic? There is a structure that looks like it's about the right size and location for the depot but it's on the east side of the main line. Everything I've seen has the MKT depot on the west side of the main line.

Thanks.

 

The old MKT depot is indeed on the East side of the tracks, right down town, and is used as the Clinton, MO Chamber of Commerce. I cannot tell you if it was moved, but I do not think so.

 

It has been moved and now sets on the west side of the tracks.

I'm trying to identify the MKT depot in the photo quoted in post #46 taken in the 1950's. Again everything I've read points to the depot being on the west side of the main line during this period. The only structure I see that might resemble the depot in the pic from the 1950's is on the east side of the main line. So this must not be the depot but I don't see any other structures that it could be.

 

My apologies to anyone who tried to reply recently. I think I closed the thread by mistake. Should be all good now.

 

Map of MKT and KCCS depot areas by Mike Good. Street names, trackage and depots located by Dale Rush. The MKT depot was relocated about two blocks north on the same side of the tracks (west) on the SE corner of the square. Hopefully Don Kaiser or Mike Good will see this post and confirm.

Dale Rush

 

I believe the MKT depot is clearly visible in the "Allen St. to Ohio St." photo you linked to. It's on the west side of the MKT main line near the exact center of the photo. West is to the top of the picture, where a couple of ex-KCC&S tracks are still visible.

Perhaps there is some confusion because there are house tracks behind the MKT depot, meaning that there are tracks on both sides of it -- main on the east, house/interchange tracks on the west.

 

Thank you sir. It makes perfect sense now. I was dead set on having the north and south reversed in the pic.

 

I've added some notes to one of the aerial pics around the MKT depot in Clinton from 1952. I've done my best to label some of the main structures during the 1950's. I'm sure I have some things incorrect but welcome any feedback or corrections. The blue line represents the MKT main line. Thanks and credit goes to Mike for posting the original photo.

 

Here is an undated aerial postcard of Clinton. MKT track is clearly seen. Less noticeable is the Frisco depot in the upper right area.

 

That's a great shot. Thanks for sharing!

I'm a sales rep for Con Way Freight and Clinton is in my territory. I was calling on Schreiber / Capri Foods looking for some new freight to put on our trucks. One of their three buildings in Clinton is located just northeast of the water tower in the postcard photo. I was strolling through a hallway in this building and noticed a large, vivid, aerial photo of the facility and the surrounding area. I stood there and studied it for about 5 straight minutes.

I'm guessing it was taken in the early 50's by most of the road vehicles. You could really make out a lot of detail. Like counting ties on the track spurs. I was so tempted to take a couple of pics with my iphone but thought better of it. They have very strict policies about anyone using cameras on the property. One of these days though, I'll sneak one in or have to make contact with someone that will let me bend the rules a bit.

 

I used to call on Clearfield Cheese back in the 70's and now wish I had taken photos.

If they don't allow photos on the property, borrow the photo and snap some pics across the street.

And oh, I have another aerial coming and it is even older, but I fear it may be too grainy for posting.

 

I wish I could but it's very large and framed fixed to the wall.

 

Here is another Clinton aerial postcard. Since it is a "linen" card, it really loses a lot of detail when blown-up.

 

Derrick, if you still have questions on Clinton, Katy & Frisco please LMK. I'm not saying anyone is wrong about all the info that has been posted. I've learned a few things myself! I've also been confused about some of it, and I walked, biked, & drove all of it from 1964-today. Just saying is all. Again I'm not criticizing anyone's information. Also the building you where in was the old Clearfield cheese plant. I know several older gents who worked there. I'll ask them about that picture.

 

You are correct Ken. At 10:47 pm, 30 April. No. 5 left St. Louis w/E-8 diesel MKT 106-A in charge. At 7 am, 1 May it paused in Clinton to exchange mail and express for the final time. Don Kaiser of Clinton got an excellent shot of No 5 at the depot.

1958 is the year, this photo appears in the book "Katy Power" by Joe G. Collias & Raymond B. George, Jr. Mr. Collias is no stranger to the Frisco. I get to see Mr. Kaiser at least once every 10 years. He records a photo of '72's class reunion.

As being most likely the newest member, would you inform me about your 2009 Engineer of the Year Title?

Thanks!

Ken