Railroad History at Lehigh Portland Trails

The railroad history is rich at Lehigh Portland Trails! Our trail system is built on the remnants of four former railroad lines:

The Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad (M-K-T) once ran east-west through Allen County, and a spur served the Lehigh Portland Cement plant. This is Iola’s “Katy Trail”! The MKT came to Iola in 1870, and served Iola until 1958.
The Missouri Pacific Railroad (MoPac) also ran a spur to service the Lehigh Plant. The MoPac also ran east-west through Allen County, from 1881 until the mid 1970s.
The Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad (AT&SF) ran north-south through Allen County, and a spur went to the Iola Brick and Tile factory (located just west of Lehigh, along Elm Creek). This is the route followed by the connector trail that links the Lehigh Portland Trails with the Southwind Rail Trail. The Southwind (and the Prairie Spirit Trail) are built on the former AT&SF mainline. This line came to Iola in 1870 (as the LL&G — Leavenworth, Lawrence & Galveston), and ran through about 1990.
The Iola Electric Railroad was a local commuter trolley line that served the Lehigh plant, as well as other industrial plants in the area. It crossed Elm Creek just east of Washington Avenue. The Iola Electric Railroad ran from 1901-1919.

Portions of the backbone trail run along the former MoPac route. The signature “Hegwald” bridge is located in place of an old railroad trestle.

Segments of the Creekside Trail run atop the old MKT and MoPac right-of-ways. The Ol’ Katy Fishing Hole is located at the site of the former MKT trestle across Elm Creek.

Here are some excerpts of old maps showing the rail lines serving the property:

This map is from the early 1900s. The north-south railway on the left is the mainline AT&SF route, with spurs servicing the Iola Brick Co. and the Star Brick Co., as well as a spur further south that connects to the cement plant. Towards the east, the MoPac and MKT lines cross Elm Creek on two trestles, before splitting off to service the cement plant. The Iola Electric Railroad crossed Elm Creek diagonally to connect to Bassett city streets. In addition, some local rail lines ran from the cement plant down into the quarry, to carry raw limestone up to the crusher.

This map is from mid-century, and is oriented with “up” as northwest. The Lehigh Portland Cement Company plant is on the left. The map shows details of the MoPac and MKT rail lines, with the Missouri Pacific on the top, and the Missouri-Kansas-Texas below. Note that this map also shows the trestles over Elm Creek, and the trestles that crossed the small stream that flows into Elm Creek. The Hegwald bridge is located where the longest trestle crossed this stream (nearest to Elm Creek).