"Great Plains Opulence"

by Michael Boss
Gouache on Rag Board
14" X 18"
From the Collection of the Trego-WaKeeney State Bank, WaKeeney, Kansas

Unlike the standard "Big Shack" depots on the Kansas Pacific Railway, Albert Warren and James Keeney of the Warren, Keeney and Company hired a Chicago based architect to design the native limestone edifice. No doubt this was one of the most elegant KPRW depots between Kansas City and Denver .

The painting shows a westbound Baldwin-built, 4-4-0 American, adorned with a Congdon stack, rolling to a stop. After four decades of service, the building was razed in 1932.