Grand Central Station, at the foot of Wyandotte and 2nd, was built in 1890 by the Kansas City Pittsburg and Gulf Railway, now the Kansas City Southern. H. C. Lindsay and F. W. Martin planned and constructed the building for Arthur E. Stilwell, railroad builder of the early days. It was considered a model depot at the time and the pride of railroad men. The cost was $65,000. The building faced south with an 189-foot frontage. A large main hall ran through the structure to the north platform. To the right of the hall was the gentlemen's waiting room, 50 by 50 feet, and to the left, a women's waiting room, 27 by 50. Stilwell's greatest triumph was building the line from Kansas City, through Arkansas and Louisiana to Port Arthur, Tex. (The town bears his given name.)The Kansas City Southern used the old station from 1890 until it moved to the new Union Station in 1914. For a time it was used as a storage house and in 1929 was leased to the Interstate Bottle and Jar Company and became a repository for assorted bottles. The building was razed by men from the Helping Hand Institute in November, 1932. The railroad donated salvaged material to the institution in payment for the men's labor. Kansas City Times, November 10, 1973.
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