Columbia preservationists are gathering Sunday at Shiloh Bar and Grill to announce a major update on the fight to save Katy Station, the 1909 railroad depot now facing an uncertain future after its longtime tenant confirmed it will close in December. The event runs from 5 to 8 p.m. at the historic building, located at 402 E. Broadway, and organizers say the campaign has now drawn more than 1,200 supporter sign-ups.
The gathering, detailed by ABC 17 News, will open with socializing and live music from 5 to 6 p.m., followed by a presentation on the building's history and potential future from 6 to 6:30 p.m., and a public listening and feedback session running until 8 p.m. Shiloh Bar and Grill owner Nic Parks confirmed the restaurant will close in December after the property's landlord moved to sell, with a potential buyer eyeing redevelopment of the depot, according to the station's reporting. The Save Katy Station campaign says it remains in contact with the new developers of the property.
A Depot With Deep Columbia Roots
A Depot With Deep Columbia Roots Katy Station originally served as a passenger terminal for the Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad, built in 1909 for $32,000 to connect Columbia to the rail line at McBaine, according to COMO Magazine. Passenger service ended in 1958 and freight operations stopped in 1975, after which the old rail corridor became the MKT Nature and Fitness Trail. The same account notes that private developers renovated the depot in November 1976 and opened the Katy Station Restaurant. Shiloh Bar and Grill moved to its current location in 2009.
The building was added to the national historic register on January 29, 1979, per the seed facts, though that designation carries limited weight against private redevelopment. Under Missouri law, listing on the National Register of Historic Places is purely honorific and does not stop a private owner from altering or demolishing a building zoned M-DT, Downtown Mixed-Use, unless local landmark protections or a historic overlay district apply, according to The Historical Marker Database. Pat Zenner told ABC 17 News that no official application for new development has been submitted so far.
Grassroots Momentum Builds Fast
The Save Katy Station push traces back to former Boone County Southern District Commissioner and local publisher Fred Parry, who launched the campaign on Facebook in September to rally opposition to the depot's possible demolition. Support ballooned quickly after word spread of Shiloh's planned closing, climbing from roughly 600 registered supporters in mid-September to more than 1,100 by late September, according to prior reporting cited in the dossier. The figure has since grown past 1,200, per the Save Katy Station campaign's own count ahead of Sunday's event.
The 402 E. Broadway property is privately owned by Columbia's Maher family, who purchased and restored the long-neglected depot back in the 1970s, according to 939 the Eagle. That private ownership, combined with the lack of local landmark protections, leaves advocates negotiating rather than relying on regulation. Community organizers have floated alternatives to demolition, including asking developers to fold the depot into new student housing plans or relocating the structure to Flat Branch Park, the station reports.
Institutional Backing and a Local Precedent
Local preservation organization CoMo Preservation formally joined the coalition supporting Katy Station in September, folding the depot into its CoMo Brick & Mortar Project, a joint effort with downtown business district group The District, according to CoMo Preservation. The move gives the grassroots campaign institutional weight as it heads into negotiations with potential buyers.
Columbia has been here before. Katy Station is one of two historic 1909 train depots built downtown, and the other, the Wabash Railroad Station on Tenth Street, was purchased by the city and restored into a $2.5 million multi-modal transit hub for Go COMO in 2007, according to background cited in the dossier. That precedent shows public acquisition can save a depot, though no such deal is currently on the table for Katy Station.
The pressure extends beyond the depot itself. Potential redevelopment plans at the corner of East Broadway and South Fourth Street could also put the historic Broadway Diner at risk of relocation, per discussion among local residents. For now, all eyes are on Sunday's gathering at Shiloh Bar and Grill, where organizers say they'll lay out what comes next for the century-old depot and invite the public to weigh in before any final decisions are made.
