A free public meeting on the future of Katy Station, the old Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad depot in downtown Columbia, will be held Sunday, Oct. 4, from 5 to 8 p.m. at Shiloh’s Bar & Grill, the restaurant inside the building.
Katy Station is a Columbia building, but the line it was built for is the one Rocheport walks and rides on. The MKT — the Katy — ran through both towns, and the corridor that carried its trains past our bluffs and through the tunnel west of town is now the Katy Trail. Rocheport’s own depot did not survive the railroad era that built this town. Katy Station is one of the few original stops still standing along the route, which is why what happens to it matters at this end of the trail too.
Shiloh’s is set to close in December. In the Times’ Sept. 8 report on preservationists’ worries over the depot’s future, no demolition had been approved and the building’s privately owned status meant the city had no say over it. Katy Station has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1979.
The Oct. 4 meeting is being organized by Save Katy Station, which describes itself in its own materials as a group of private citizens. In a press release issued Wednesday, the group said it has passed 1,000 supporters in the eight days since it launched. That is the campaign’s own count, and the Times has not independently verified it; the supporters page on the group’s website said Wednesday that “over 950” people had signed on.
According to the release, the evening runs in three parts: social time and live music from 5 to 6, a presentation on the building’s history and possible future uses from 6 to 6:30, and a public listening and feedback session from 6:30 to 8. Old blueprints and photographs of the building will be on display, the group says. Music will be performed by Audra Sergel, whom the release describes as Columbia’s first artist laureate.
The release adds that the venue’s use “does not imply endorsement for or against Save Katy Station or its efforts.” It names no officers of the group; Matt Fetterly is listed only as the media contact for the release.
If you go: Save Katy Station public meeting, Sunday, Oct. 4, 5 to 8 p.m., Shiloh’s Bar & Grill at Katy Station, downtown Columbia. Free and open to the public. A small appetizer buffet is included; other food and drink are available for purchase. The release lists no RSVP or ticket link, and directs people to savekatystation.org. The contact given for the release is Matt Fetterly, savekatystation@gmail.com or 573-207-9614.
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