Denver, Memphis & Atlantic Railway
The Denver, Memphis & Atlantic Railroad was the last of the railroad companies chartered in Winfield, Kansas, from 1873 to 1887.
As early as 1884, an organization was formed of prominent men living along the proposed line of the Denver, Memphis & Atlantic Railroad for the purpose of doing the preliminary work of securing the right-of-way, municipal aid, and putting the work in such shape that capitalists would be willing to take hold of the enterprise and build the road. Most of the company’s members lived in Larned and Chetopa. Colonel J.B. Cook was the representative from Labette County in the company. Major Joseph Henson and Colonel John Doniphan, of St. Joseph, Missouri, who had some experience in railroad matters and were men of some capital, were also members of the company.
Initially incorporated to build a narrow-gauge line, the company struggled to make any headway, and no narrow-gauge track was ever laid. Municipal aid was voted in nearly every township through which the road was to be run. The proposed route, however, caught the attention of Jay Gould, whose Missouri Pacific Railroad was in the midst of a territorial war of sorts with the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad and other regional competitors. A survey and plat was made, and negotiations commenced with Jay Gould for the construction of the road. Gould acquired the Denver, Memphis & Atlantic Railroad charter through the Missouri Pacific Railroad, and construction began by early 1886.
Construction began near Pittsburg, Kansas, and headed westward along the southern tier of Kansas counties, just north of the Oklahoma border. By 1886, the Denver, Memphis & Atlantic Railroad made rapid progress, and by the end of the year, contractors had graded a roadbed and laid track through Labette, Montgomery, and Chautauqua Counties in Kansas. Through 1887, construction crews advanced the line westward through Cowley County, eventually reaching Larned in Pawnee County. The railroad was never a heavy hauler, but before the advent of automobiles and highways, the line was vital to the many rural agricultural communities along its route. The Missouri Pacific Railroad maintained passenger service on the line into the early 1950s. By all accounts, a ride over this circuitous route was a slow and tedious affair.
Abandonment occurred in stages over many years, with the segment between Dearing and Winfield being abandoned in the early 1980s. The portion between Pittsburg and Coffeyville survived into the early 1990s as the Southeast Kansas Railroad, one of Watco’s numerous shortline railroads. Most of the old Denver, Memphis & Atlantic Railroad is now a memory, but a short section of the line east of Coffeyville remains in use for car storage, and another short section remains in use in Winfield. Elsewhere, the roadbed remains fairly prominent and easy to follow.
©Kathy Alexander/Legends of Kansas, updated February 2026.
Also See:
Railroads & Depot Photo Gallery
Sources:
Abandoned Rails
Austin Business Computers
Case, Nelson; History of Labette County, Kansas, Biographical Publishing Co., Chicago, Ill. 1901.