Following is an excerpt from a very interesting article about the Truman Train depot, located in Independence, Missouri. Not only was this the last stop depot on Harry Truman’s 1948 campaign for President, but it was also the depot where he was met about 10,000 or so supporters after leaving office in January of 1953.
The depot today houses the Jackson County Genealogical Society Library.
The little red depot tucked away in a quiet part of Independence has stood for nearly a century, once a symbol of a mighty railroad that has passed into history, once a busy travel hub for Independence before airliners or interstates, once and forever linked with America’s 33rd president, often neglected and sporadically embraced.
“We’re lucky that it’s still standing, really,” says Gloria Smith.
She says it’s time to commit to the historic site once and for all, securing its future. And she has a plan.
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The depot dates to 1913. An Examiner article that year referred to it having “very handsome red brick walls with red tile roofing.” It replaced a depot that had stood since just after the Civil War. In the first two decades of the 20th century, the Missouri Pacific – a forerunner of the Union Pacific, which today owns the east-west tracks next to depot – replaced a lot of old depots with the low, red-brick-and-red-tile buildings.
Read the full article in the October 22, 2010 edition of The Examiner.
