St. Joseph & Grand Island Railway depot in Sabetha, Kansas.
Construction of the St Joseph & Western Railroad (SJ&W) began in 1867. The railroad began as the St Joseph & Denver City Railway. By October 1871, the railroad had 182 miles of completed road westward from Elwood to Marysville, Kansas. After several changes in destination, it was completed as the St. Joseph & Western Railroad between St. Joseph, Missouri, and Hastings, Nebraska, a distance of 227 miles from the Missouri River, in 1872.
The railroad was sold due to foreclosure in November, 1875.
In 1879, the Hastings & Grand Island Railroad was built between its namesake cities and promptly sold to the St Joseph & Western Railroad, giving that railroad a connection to the Union Pacific Railroad at Grand Island, Nebraska.
The St Joseph & Western Railroad ran into financial difficulties and filed for bankruptcy in 1884. The Union Pacific brought the railroad out of bankruptcy in 1885, reorganizing it as the St. Joseph & Grand Island Railroad. As an essential part of Union Pacific’s system, it provided a connection from the transcontinental mainline to eastern Kansas, and Union Pacific Railroad undertook several steps to improve it.
In 1914, a connection was made between the Union Pacific Railroad mainline at Gibbon and Hastings, providing a more direct route than through Grand Island. Also, a connection was made between Marysville and Topeka, Kansas, in 1906, via the Union Pacific Railroad’s Kansas Pacific mainline, providing access to Kansas City, Missouri.
©Kathy Alexander/Legends of Kansas, June 2026.
Also See:
A Century of Railroad Building
Railroads & Depot Photo Gallery
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