Katy Trail State Park became one of the most successful rails-to-trails conversion projects in the United States over its first 25 years and, as the longest developed rail-trail in the country, was inducted into the national Rail-Trail Hall of Fame. Its route followed the former Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad, begun in the 1870s and known as the Katy, which ran through much of the Missouri River valley by the 1890s and provided a vital link between central Missouri agriculture and the developing American Southwest, helping support existing towns and spur new ones such as Mokane and Tebbetts. After severe flooding washed out several miles of track in the fall of 1986, and with repair costs high, rail use declining, and the company in financial trouble, the railroad ceased operations, with trains 101 and 102 making the last run from Sedalia to Machens on Oct. 4, 1986. Under the National Trails System Act Amendments of 1983, which created railbanking to preserve rail corridors through trail use, the Missouri Department of Natural Resources received a Certificate of Interim Trail use for the Sedalia-to-Machens corridor in April 1987 and developed the route into a major public trail. First opened as the Missouri River State Trail in April 1990 between Rocheport and McBaine, then extended in August 1990 from Augusta to just northeast of Defiance, the trail was officially renamed Katy Trail State Park in 1991. The corridor from St. Charles to just past Sedalia was developed by 1996, an added section from Sedalia to Clinton opened in September 1999 through a Union Pacific Railroad donation, and the final 12-mile section between St. Charles and Machens opened in 2011, completing the 240-mile trail. The park's creation and growth depended heavily on community and private support, especially from Ted and Pat Jones, whose initial $2.2 million donation helped acquire the corridor and develop the trail, and from Edward Jones, which continued support after 1990 through reconstruction funding after the 1993 flood, assistance for openings and publications, and ongoing backing for the trail and state parks, alongside support from communities and conservation organizations.