San Antonio & Aransas Pass Passenger Train Depot
Kerrville, Kerr County, Texas
Marker Inscription
In 1887, Kerrville was chosen as the last stop on the SA&AP Railroad. A wood depot was erected four blocks west of here to accommodate the large influx of travelers and trade. The original depot burned in 1913. Lumberyard owner Frank J. Beitel sold the SA&AP a portion of his land for a new depot. The 1915 brick depot’s design incorporated arched doorways at the main entrance and open-air platform, a central ticket counter, storage and two waiting rooms with wood-burning stoves. Original windows with wavy glass remain. After train service discontinued in 1970, the depot served as a restaurant and retail space for the community. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark – 2017
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
In 1887 Kerrville became the western terminus of the San Antonio & Aransas Pass Railroad, and a depot rose to handle the surge of travelers and trade the line brought. After the original wooden station burned in 1913, lumberman Frank J. Beitel sold the railroad land for a new brick depot, completed in 1915 with arched doorways, twin waiting rooms, and wood-burning stoves. When passenger service ended in 1970 the building found new life as a restaurant and shops, its wavy original glass still in place.
Why it matters
The depot marks how railroads made and remade small American towns, opening isolated frontier communities to national commerce and travel.
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Related people
- · Frank J. Beitel
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Beitel Lumberyard
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When the San Antonio & Aransas Pass Railroad made Kerrville its last stop, San Antonio lumberman Frank J. Beitel bought land here in 1889 to open a lumberyard, betting on the county's timber and coming growth. The business thrived, expanding into a warehouse, retail building, and lumber shed, and gained its own rail spur for loading goods after the town's depot was rebuilt in the 1910s. For more than a century the yard supplied the materials that built Kerrville.
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