The Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad, commonly known as the M.K.T. and affectionately referred to as “Katy,” was established in 1865. First called the Union Pacific Railway, Southern Branch (unrelated to the Union Pacific Railroad), the State of Kansas chartered the line to build from Fort Riley, Kansas, to the state’s southern boundary. After receiving a land grant, the company began construction in 1869. After the federal government announced that a right-of-way would be given through Indian Territory and a liberal bonus of land would be given to the first railroad to reach the Territory’s northern border, other companies joined the race. But, on June 6, 1870, the Union Pacific Railway, Southern Branch won the race and officially changed its name to the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railway.

Winning the sole right to build southward through Oklahoma, the company began construction. The company also acquired the Tebo & Neosho Railroad, which connected Sedalia, Missouri, to Parsons, Kansas.

The “Katy,” touted in advertisements as the Gateway to Texas, breached the Texas frontier near the site of present Denison, where the first regular train arrived on Christmas Day, 1872. Eventually, the Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad expanded to link Missouri’s leading cities with Tulsa and Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and Texas’s major cities, including Dallas, Fort Worth, Waco, Temple, Austin, San Antonio, Houston, and Galveston.

The Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad was purchased by the Missouri Pacific Railroad Company (MoPac), a Union Pacific Railroad subsidiary, in 1988. By then, the century-old company served six midwestern states with more than 3,377 miles of track. Today, it continues to operate as part of the Union Pacific Railroad system.

 

©Kathy Alexander/Legends of America, updated December 2025.

Also See:

A Century of Railroad Building

Linking the Oceans By Railroad

Railroad Lines

Railroad Main Page

Vintage Photographs of Railroads & Depots

See Sources.