Before 1867, beef bound for New York typically came on the hoof from Texas to railheads in central Missouri, then went by train to Chicago, where cattle were butchered into cuts such as top sirloin and T-bones and shipped east to restaurants. Those 800-mile drives from Texas to Missouri were inefficient and had to contend with weather, bandits, and Indian Territory. Meat packer Joseph McCoy looked for a new Kansas railhead along the Kansas Pacific Railroad as it stretched west from Kansas City, hoping to shorten the cattle drive by hundreds of miles, and he found it at Abilene, where the railhead was established. That same year, Octave Chanute began building the Hannibal Bridge, the first span across the Missouri River at Kansas City, completing the link between eastern and western trade. In the 20th century, railroads were also essential for moving people more quickly. In 1914, Kansas City celebrated the opening of Union Station, designed by Chicago architect Jarvis Hunt. Soldiers departing for two world wars said good-bye to loved ones there, and those who survived returned through its gates to reunite with them after the wars ended. Today, Union Station has been restored to its Beaux-Arts opulence and houses Science City Museum along with entertainment and dining attractions. The station was placed on the National Historic Register in 1972.
