Overland Park will take over part of the historic Strang Depot property in downtown Overland Park from the historical society to use as a public plaza.

Under this deal, the Overland Park Historical Society will maintain ownership of the actual Strang Depot building near the corner of 80th Street and Santa Fe Drive.

However, the group will forgo its final $100,000 grant disbursement from the city for general site improvements and give the city ownership of the portions of the property that front Overland Park Drive and 80th.

Now, the city plans to use that money to create some kind of plaza space for the public to enjoy at this prominent intersection down the line, though the exact details of what that might entail are yet to be settled.

“I really think that this is the smart way to go about it,” said Councilmember Logan Heley. “I think this deserves to be a public park and something that the city maintains and enhances over time.”

Overland Park Historical Society bought the Strang Depot in 2019

The historical society first bought the Strang Line Depot property about six years ago after waiting decades for such an opportunity.

The original structure is older than the city itself, built in 1906 to serve as the depot for William Strang’s Interurban Railway, which connected Johnson County to Kansas City, Missouri. It was the very first commercial building in what is now called Overland Park.

Eventually, the Strang Line shuttered in the 1940s, and subsequent owners added onto the building until it was practically unrecognizable. Still, many people — including prominent historical society figures — believed the original depot building remained encased inside the simple brick structure.

It wasn’t until 2019 that the historical society got the chance to purchase the building when the owners of a flooring and paint store housed inside it announced plans to close for good.

At the time, Brad Moore, the executive director of the Overland Park Historical Society, said the purchase set the stage for the historical society to realize a “lifelong goal” for the group.

Shortly after the sale was finalized, a handful of members quickly moved to prove once and for all that the depot was still inside. They turned out to be correct; after removing some of the interior wall, the stone facade from the original building was revealed.

City offered financial support for Strang Depot restoration

A couple of years after buying the building, the historical society unveiled its plans to remake the former Strang Line Depot into a museum, archival space and permanent home for the group.

The cost of that effort would prove to be significant, forcing the sale of the 1910 Stanley Bank building in southern Overland Park and later the iconic Strang Line Car Barn down Santa Fe Drive in downtown Overland Park.

The historical society also embarked on a large fundraising effort.

Even so, the city eventually stepped in. In 2022, the Overland Park City Council agreed to contribute $500,000 to the renovation project, dispersed in $100,000 increments over a five-year period.

Last November, the historical society officially moved into the Strang Depot building, opening its Discover OP museum space. Community members, city leaders and the historical society marked the occasion with a formal ribbon-cutting ceremony.

In the end, Overland Park distributed $400,000 for the project, but now plans to keep the final $100,000 installment, said Kate Gunja, assistant city manager, at the October Overland Park City Council Community Development Committee meeting.

Moore, the historical society’s executive director, said he believes this arrangement will work better in the end.

“This is an important piece of property situated right in the middle between the Clock Tower Landing and Thompson Park, so it deserves to be done right,” he told the committee.

Instead of going to the historical society, the money will stay in-house to eventually fund the public plaza the city plans to construct on the Strang Depot property.

The project will be added to the capital improvement project list for a future year, though exactly when is unclear. Gunja said the project will still need to be designed.

As part of the amended arrangement — which the city council approved in October as part of a consent agenda — the city will also take on ownership of a portion of the property where the public plaza will eventually be. Overland Park will also get the right of first refusal if the historical society were to foreclose on or sell the Strang Depot building.

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