As I stood looking east down the never ending strip of white
chat where the big trains once came and went from, I couldn't help
from feeling that something good was now gone. The trains brought
life to Bryson, MO.. And just as the trains no longer exist, so does
Bryson no longer exist as a town. It contains only three homes now.
How many it had when it was in its prime, I know not. It does not
appear to me that it was ever much more than a railroad-stop in its
heydays. But from the stories of my great aunt, whom was one of the
Butcher children living there in the very early 1900s, it must have
had plenty of life going on.
Looking east, the town was on the right of this photo. The old depot
is just barely out of my camera's view (on the right) in this photo.
Understand, that what I know about Bryson comes only from information
that my great-aunt mentioned, and from what my aunt wrote about. My
great-aunt was one of the Butcher children who had lived in Bryson.
My father's sister (my aunt) wrote about what she was told, an essay,
giving us some information about how it was in Bryson for our ancestors.
Other than an hour or less of my time spent there, a lot of what I
write about here is only my speculation of how it was years ago. Even
what I saw on my visit is only my assumption of life there now.
I ask a resident there if she knew where the old train depot
once stood.
She replied that it was one of the old metal buildings still
standing, down by where the tracks used to be. I found evidence of
large concrete steps facing the tracks and close to an old metal
building. I assume that the steps, which are several yards from the
building, once allowed people to access a long wooden dock that may
have been part of the depot.
My great aunt talked about living in Bryson, and
mentioned that one of her brothers, Edward, had died of a heart
attack when they lived there. As I see little indication that there
was ever a large population in Bryson, one would assume railroad
workers and local farmers were the main residents of the small town.
Whatever the trains did at Bryson must have been of some
importance to the MKT Railroad, because when my great grandfather
asks the railroad for a transfer from Bryson, the railroad said they
needed him there. They then went to fixing the reason he wanted the
transfer. They arranged for a schoolhouse to be built there. My
great-grandfather had thirteen kids.
The brown building in the center is what is left of the train depot.
You can read more about the Butcher family and a little
about the time period when they lived at Bryson in the article titled
"Our Ancestors" by Virginia White here:
I couldn't help from feeling a little sad, and at the same
time thinking that not all was bad. Bryson may have had some good old
days back then; back when the trains shook the entire town as they
came and went. As the day-to-day routine of being a railroad town
would have been normal for those living there, it is just as normal
for the people to have moved on, just as the trains did. It isn't as
if the town was wiped out; it's more like, the job is done, lets move on.
Standing there with my camera on a very hot dry midday, where
the gravel road into Bryson crosses the remains of the railroad
tracks, I can almost see the life that once was there. The only
moving thing that passes by me is a UPS truck; in a hurry kicking up
a large, long, brown dust trail. But in my mind, I see things that
went on forty years before I was born. Going back around one hundred
years ago; a train setting there, stretched out for some distance,
making a soft chug-chug-chug sound and occasionally spiting out
steam, as it awaits the engineer on his return from the depot. While
a railroad worker fills the engine's tanks with the water it needs
for steam; there are some kids in Bryson playing, and a few adults
going about their daily chores.
Yes, Bryson may be gone, but it's legacy lives on. It is
located about 6 miles southwest of Green Ridge, Missouri. - Ron
Ulmer 2006
