Old ‘Engine 99’

Old ‘Engine 99’

Sami Windle Treasures around Goodland

In the library facing 8th Street is a beautiful stained glass window.  The window is of a train and is entitled Old ‘Engine 99.’  The train is representative of a railroad that used to come through Goodland.  That railroad was the Chicago, Kansas & Nebraska Railway and it brought the first train into Goodland on July 3rd 1888.

CK&N engine #1, a passenger engine. From the Parker Collection

The stained glass window was first put in the old Methodist church. Old ‘Engine 99’ is the artist’s depiction of the Chicago, Kansas & Nebraska Railway engine which pulled the first train into Goodland in 1888.  Farmers donated money to get the stained glass window made and it was dedicated to Charles J. Winsell who was killed when a girder struck his head.

When the Methodist church was replaced by a new church the stained glass window was hauled off to the garbage.  Mrs. John Cogswell noticed it was gone and told her husband. John Cogswell then phoned around and found it.  The window was brought back in the hope that it would one day go into a new library.  That hope came true as it can be seen in the Goodland Public Library today.  Find out more information about Old ‘Engine 99’ and some great reads at the Goodland Public Library website.