Midland Valley Depot – Arkansas City

This Arkansas City depot was a part of the Midland Valley, Western District Division of the Texas & Pacific Railway. In August 1917 E.L. Kingsbury, the agent for the Midland Valley Railroad announced that the roof was being put on a brand new $10,000 freight and passenger depot in Arkansas City. Built of brick with a chimney in the center it was set for opening by October.

Lots of depots throughout the region experienced hold-ups and robberies also like a Wild West movie and this one was no different.

Arkansas City Traveler Feb 24, 1921 – Would-be thieves sometimes during the night last night attempted to rob the Midland Valley depot in this city on West Madison Avenue according to the information given out this morning by local Midland Valley officials. A window to the ticket office was pried open by the robbers this being the means of their entrance to the building.

The marks of inexperienced thieves showed up very plainly on the large safe in the office, which looked as though it had been badly beaten up with a large sledgehammer or rocks as the combination on the safe was battered so badly that it could not be worked and this made it necessary to get a mechanic to open the safe.

Charles Beard of the Beard foundry and machine shop after several hours of hard work managed to get the safe open this morning. After the safe had been opened the cashier found everything as he had left it last night with nothing missing. It was also reported that the thieves had pried open the cash drawer but it did not contain anything of value and consequently, the robbers did not get away with anything.

The Arkansas City Daily News June 20, 1922 – A reward of $250 will be paid for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons guilty of entering the Midland Valley Depot at Arkansas City, Kansas on the night of June 4, 1922 and blowing the safe and stealing the contents thereof.

Arkansas City Daily Traveler Nov 4, 1922 – An attempted robbery of the safe at the Midland Valley Depot sometime last night was reported to the police station this morning. With an ax and a chisel, an effort had been made to break the combination which effort was successful in that the combination was entirely removed but the would-be robbers then failed to gain access to the interior safe. It was thought to be the work of amateur or boys. It was reported from the depot that there was only a small amount of money in the safe.

For decades the depot sat abandoned, becoming submerged in vegetation. Around 2013 as if mother nature was speeding up her reclamation of the land a devasting fire made the building a total loss. The building was then demolished and the ground leveled as if it never existed. Now only an empty lot sits in its place.

Gallery Below of Arkansas City Depot

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