Rail service reached Boonville from Sedalia on May 31, 1873, before a passenger station stood there and while the Missouri River bridge was still eight months from completion. As passenger service grew, the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railway, known as the MKT or Katy, built the brick-stucco Boonville depot in 1911-1912 in the Spanish Mission Revival style, reflecting the company's motto, "Katy serves the Southwest." The MKT built only four other mission-style stations, one in Kansas and three in Oklahoma, and the Boonville depot is the only one remaining and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. An MKT architect known only by the initials HJB designed the mission-style depots. Iron rails supported the concrete floor, cinders and dirt filled and leveled the ground, Boonville's Cochran Construction Co. did much of the fill work, and bricks for the archways and paving came from Coffeyville, Kansas. Its light green and dark green color scheme was standard for many MKT structures. In the heyday of railroads, the depot became Boonville's transportation and communication hub, with trains carrying mail, a telegraph agent working there, and spur tracks branching from the main freight line for loading and unloading goods; these spurs were often called team tracks after the mule- and horse-drawn wagons once used for loading. The railroad helped shift commerce from local transactions to national and global trade, reduced the isolation of small communities, and increased mobility for Americans. With the rise of the automobile, train travel gradually declined, and the last two passenger trains through Boonville, southbound No. 5 and northbound No. 6, made their final runs on May 1, 1958. The last train passed in front of the depot in 1986. After years of decay, the Missouri Department of Natural Resources acquired the depot and interim use of the MKT corridor in 1987 for development as Katy Trail State Park. Citizens of Boonville lobbied for restoration and helped raise money, and the restored depot reopened in 1997 as the home of the Boonville Chamber of Commerce.
