Probably no single community agency or facility in urban America today provides the variety of important services associated with the railroad depot of yesterday. Beginning in the 1870's, railroad companies, particularly those engaged in constructing new lines, had their engineering departments design inexpensive wooden standard plan stations. Constructed sometime between 1879 and 1883, the Chicago and Alton Railroad's Depot employed distinctive architectural and design features standard to the company's stations at this time. Today, it is thought to be the only two story, frame station, and one of the oldest depots in the state. The combination freight and passenger station built by the Chicago and Alton Railroad sits on flat ground in the railroad right of way.
Tracks flank the building on the north and south sides.
In siting, design and architectural styling, the depot reflects the use of standardized procedures, architectural designs and paint schemes utilized by railroads beginning in the 1870's. For over seventy-five years the station functioned as a passenger and freight depot. In April 1960, the depot was closed to passenger and freight traffic. The line was acquired by the Chicago, Missouri and WesternRailroad in 1987, the Gateway Western in 1990, and most recently, the Kansas City Southern in 1997. Today, the depot has been saved from demolition and sits at its new home, located on a Union Pacific spur line, at the National Frontier Trails Center in Independence Missouri.