Historic Blue Springs building moves to new home

BLUE SPRINGS, Mo. - You may have seen people waiting for a train, but have you ever seen them waiting for a depot to arrive?

In Blue Springs they have not only been waiting, but working hard for nearly a year to get the building moved to a new location.

“It wasn't an easy process," Mayor Carson Ross explained. "I mean it was very challenging for us, but persistence and not giving up is, I think, the reason we're here today."

When they found out the railroad wanted to demolish the old depot that stood by the tracks near downtown, the community mobilized.

"It's a community effort and you know I like to tell people Blue Springs is certainly a city on the move where people come together to make things happen," Ross said.

Eventually, they came up with the idea of moving the historic depot to a pretty, but undeveloped, city park. The city agreed to lease the land to the "Save Our Depot" organization for a dollar a year.

Tireless fundraising and volunteering resulted in the arrival of the depot in Central Park at 1108 SW Walnut St. in Blue Springs.

"I think it's exhilarating that we've got to this point. I mean to me this was the major hurdle," Mary Potter with Save Our Depot said.

“To get agreed to with Kansas City Southern, to have a bill of sale now in pocket from Kansas City Southern, to have a lease agreement with the city of Blue Springs and enough money to get here,” she listed some of the steps on the journey.

"And that to me is the big accomplishment. The building represents it, but the sense of community that has developed for the first time that i can see it, for historic preservation" Potter observed.

They hope to finish restoration by October of next year.

"Save Our Depot" says money is still coming in to cover the restoration.

They say they have already lined up much of the work, although they are still looking for a stucco crew.