Where People Once Lived

Where People Once Lived. . , There was once a town here. Holmes Park, with its school, railroad line, houses, and factories, exemplified the western Missouri settlement transition from wagon trails to farming to railroads to communities. At this place, the westward-expanding railroad crossed the Santa Fe, Oregon, and California trails, used earlier by thousands of travelers moving both east and west., The railroad offered new economic and travel opportunities, and Holmes Park, like many other communities, grew along railroad rights-of-way., Developed in 1870 on the Blair Line Railroad, Holmes Park was a thriving community for more than 50 years. Its livelihood depended on the subsequent Kansas City and Southern Railway, followed by the Frisco Railroad, with its depot for passengers and post office for mail., [Captions:] , The Excelsior Powder Manufacturing Company once was a part of the community., Named for Robert Holmes, who owned this land, the community contained several businesses over the years, including a general store, blasting powder manufacturer, and a chinchilla rabbit farm. Holmes Park disappeared in the 1960s after the railroad stop and post office closed. The Frisco Railroad line was abandoned in the 1970s.