By BECKY KISER
Hays Post
The historic Kansas Merci Boxcar which sits in front of the former Hays American Legion building, 1305 Canterbury, will be moved to its new home in the adjacent Veterans Park.
The non-profit local chapter of “40 and 8” has raised $8,000 towards the project, which may cost $35,000, according to one estimate.
Parks Director Jeff Boyle told Hays City Commissioners Thursday the new owner of the building has contractors ready to work on the exterior and the attached railroad car needs to be removed.
“We’ll set the railroad ties and the rails over there, have a contractor remove the roof over the existing structure, and basically pick the boxcar up and set it down in the new location. We’ll put some fencing around it while the site is under construction,” Boyle explained.
He showed commissioners a proposed site map by Advanced Land Surveying & Drafting of Hays, which was created at no cost for the project.
A new roof structure and permanent fence will be installed at a later date when additional funding is available. The boxcar was first located on the campus of of Fort Hays State University where it sat for 20 years in the open.
City commissioners agreed they would like the city to match a portion of the funds raised. Commissioner Sandy Jacobs is executive director of Heartland Community Foundation and has been working with Boyle and the group to find more grants and funding. “I think it’s out there,” she told commissioners.
The Hays boxcar is one of 49 that toured each state, the District of Columbia and Hawaii in 1949. They were all filled with gifts of cultural significance from the people of France in thanks to Americans who sent needed supplies to France after World War II. The boxcars were able to hold 40 men or 8 horses which is the origin of the name Society of 40 Men and 8 Horses.
According to information provided by Vance Chartier, 40 and 8 Chef de Train, the Kansas boxcar toured 120 cities, ending in Hays on Nov. 11, 1949. After it was paraded through town during the Armistice Day parade, it was placed at Fort Hays Kansas State College (now Fort Hays State University) for display and awarded to the local 40 and 8 chapter to maintain and preserve for the state. In 1975 it was moved to the American Legion where it was rebuilt and turned into a museum.
Donation boxes are currently located at The Press restaurant in the Hadley Center, Vanderbilt’s, Heartland Lumber, JD’s Chicken and Dairy Queen.
More information is available from Chartier at 785-623-6747 or Ed Holzmeister at 785-625-9681.