Great Overland Station

Once just a simple ferry across the Kansas River, this area evolved into the Great Overland Station.

Courtesy photo by Ron Reiring

Quick Facts

Location:

Topeka, Kansas

Significance:

River crossing for Oregon and California trail

Designation:

Union Pacific Railroad Passenger Depot - National Register of Historic Places

MANAGED BY:

Shawnee County Parks and Recreation

Amenities

6 listed

Accessible Rooms, Accessible Sites, Benches/Seating, Restroom, Restroom - Accessible, Wheelchair Accessible

By the late 1860s, Topeka was a bustling hub for the railroad. Miles of track connected cities and towns in the state and throughout the nation. Railroads crisscrossed the state, bringing with them a flood of immigrants and goods. Just after the Civil War, African American refugees from the South arrived in Topeka and began settling in the area and other parts of Kansas. These refugees became known as Exodusters. A group of these refugees settled in Nicodemus, Kansas, which became the first African American settlement west of the Mississippi. By World War I, roughly 1,850 train depots dotted the Kansas landscape. Built as a passenger station for the Union Pacific in 1927, the Great Overland Station was described as one of the finest on the line. The last passenger train left the Station on May 2, 1971. The building continued to serve as railroad offices until 1988, when it was abandoned. Adjacent to historic North Topeka, the station today houses a railroad museum that bring the people and stories of an earlier time back to life.