Kirkwood Station: Missouri's Oldest Surviving Railroad Depot

The stone depot in front of you was built by the Missouri Pacific Railroad in eighteen ninety-three, but the railroad itself arrived in Kirkwood forty years earlier. In eighteen fifty-three, the Pacific Railroad of Missouri extended its tracks west through here on the way to Kansas City, making Kirkwood one of the first communities in Missouri to receive rail service.

The eighteen ninety-three Romanesque Revival building replaced an original wood-frame depot from eighteen sixty-three. Built with rough unfinished stone and characteristic rounded arches, it is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Kirkwood station is operated entirely by volunteers and is one of the busiest Amtrak stops in Missouri, still serving the Texas Eagle and Missouri River Runner routes. Over a century and a half of train travel connects in this small suburban station.