Back in July of 1951, Bill "Doc" Trefz, William "Art" Gibson, Sr. and
William "Art" Gibson, Jr. were watching Santa Fe detour trains in
North Topeka on the Union Pacific due to the major flooding taking place
in Topeka, and Kansas in general, at that time. Anyways, "Doc" happened to
say to "Art" Sr. and "Art" Jr. the following while they were watching
the detour trains:
"You know...we got enough railfans here in town-----Why don't we think
about starting a NRHS Chapter (here of our own)???"
"Art" Jr. and "Art" Sr. thought that "Doc" Trefz's idea was a great one; And
so, after talking about it to soon-to-be Chapter members Ray Hilner and
Howard Killiam, the five of them held another informal meeting where
"Doc" said:
"Well, I know Ralph Cooper---Who is (was) the regional Vice-President
(of the NRHS) and lives in Kansas City---Let's have hime come (on) over
and we will talk about creating a Chapter here in Topeka."
So they had Ralph over; And, after he took their membership applications---plus did
the necessary things to get their Chapter proposal brought before the regional
NRHS board---was our Topeka Chapter affiliate born.
Charter Chapter Members/Early Meeting places---
In the early days of our Chapter, some Charter members included such notable people
like Frank "O" Kelley, Perry Landis, Merele Graves, Vernon Smith, Oliver Gibson,
Ray Hilner, "Doc" Trefz, Howard Killiam, William "Art" Gibson, Sr. and
William "Art" Gibson, Jr. to name a few. "Where did they meet", you might ask???
Well, let me tell you.
The first official meeting of our Chapter took place back in November of 1951 in
"Doc" Trefzs' Dentist's Office at the State Hospital. Anyways, members of our
NRHS Chapter held meetings there a few times. Then, it was time for the
Chapter to start looking around for a more "permanent" home.
For a short time---After moving out of Doc's Dentist's Office, the Chapter met in the
"Cabin Room" at the Union Pacific Railroad Depot in North Topeka (i.e., They met
at the Great Overland Station in the same location as where the offices are located
now---on the west end above the restrooms). Still, the Chapter needed someplace
that would not just let them meet there for only a couple of months---they needed
an actual place to call home.
Meetings at the Santa Fe Depot; "Finally, A place to call home!!!"---
After searching for a place to hold Chapter meetings without the fear of being told to
"Pack up and leave" for good within just one or two meetings---tops---the Topeka
Chapter NRHS finally had a place to call home: The meeting room at the Santa Fe
Depot Downtown. Originally the site of the Santa Fe Harvey House Kitchen here in
town, it is the room now used by Amtrak for the storage of baggage (i.e., bags, suitcases,
etc...); Moreover, the Chapter met there for a good number of years.
According to William "Art" Gibson, Jr. :
"It was a great place to meet. If you got there for
the meeting a little bit early, you were able to see Santa Fe Trains #11 (The Kansas
Cityan) and #20 (The Chief). Furthermore, if train #20 was on time, you got to
watch it come in to town. Basically, we would pour out onto the platform to not
only watch #20 come in, but we also got to see the local switch engine go over,
get the "set-out" Pullman Passenger car, and place it on that same train (#20)."