ATSF Dodge City, KS Depots

Dodge City, KS

Built in 1897, this expansive structure once housed Santa Fe's Western Division offices, the 41-room El Vaquero Hotel, Fred Harvey lunch and dining rooms, and the Santa Fe station. By the time this photo was taken in 1991, the building was largely vacant, but passengers of Amtrak's Southwest Chief continued to use the waiting room. In 1999, restoration work began on the structure. A portion of the building will be converted into a new theater for the Boot Hill Repertory Company, which conducted the fundraising campaign for the restoration.
	Dodge City's freight depot consisted of an attractive 2-story brick headhouse and a 1-story frame warehouse, both built in 1913. The building stood partially boarded up in 1992 when Evan Stair recorded the view at left, but within a few years it had been converted into a restaurant called "The Freight House." A fire of suspicious origin swept through the structure on August 26, 2000, and initial reports suggested the building was a total loss. Thankfully, the headhouse was saved and reopened as the Steakhouse Depot & Restaurant.