Newton, KS (NEW)

Ticket Revenue

FY 2011

$1,540,425

Station Ridership

FY 2011

13,890

Note: Fiscal year is from
October through September.

The current Amtrak station in Newton, designed by Kansas architect E.H. Harrison, was built in 1929-1930 in the Tudor Revival style and was modeled after Shakespeare’s house on Stratford-on-Avon. This two-story brick building is constructed with a steep slate roof and patches of half-timbering. The interior has medieval touches of heavy-beamed ceilings and half-timbered walls.

The current building is the third depot in this location. In its heyday it housed a ticket office, waiting room, railroad offices and a Harvey House restaurant, which operated from its opening until the late 1940s. The Arcade Hotel, a Harvey House hotel, opened in 1900, replacing an earlier structure from 1883. Today, the depot building houses the Amtrak waiting room and provides space for a variety of shops and offices, including a law office which takes up the space once occupied by the Harvey House lunch room and news stand.

This former Atchison Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad (now BNSF Railway) depot, holds a key location at the intersection of the railroad and Main Street in Newton which lies at the “bull’s eye” of North America: U.S. Highway 81 stretches from Winnipeg, Canada to Mexico City and southward, and is Newton’s Main Street. U.S. Highway 50 passes from Washington, D.C. through Newton, and on to Sacramento. The Amtrak station here truly is where the roads and the railroads meet. Despite the late hours at which the trains stop, Newton’s depot is busy because of its proximity to Wichita, 25 miles to the south.

The station was added to both the National Register of Historic Places and Kansas Register of Historic Places in 1985 and is part of the Newton Main Street Historical District II, as designated in 2003.

In July, 1871, the ATSF railroad extended its line to what became the town of Newton, which succeeded Abilene as the terminus of the Chisholm Trail. Named by a group of Santa Fe Railroad stockholders after their hometown of Newton, Massachusetts, the city is situated on the east bank of Sand Creek in well-watered rich farm land.

It began as a railroad and cattle town, but the cattle boom actually only lasted a year, until the rail terminus was extended to Wichita. After the boom days, the town settled to farming, especially the raising, milling and transportation of red winter wheat from the area.

A large group of Russian Mennonite farmers arrived in 1879 and still make the Newton area their home. Newton remained a very busy freight center and it served as the ATSF railroad division center and headquarters until the mid 1980s.

The facility has a waiting room and is staffed by an Amtrak employee. Should an employee not be available, a caretaker assists the passengers.

The Newton station is served by two daily trains.