Santa Fe Depot
Fort Worth, Tarrant County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Built 1899. Beaux Arts design features native stone banding. When intact, north windows of painted glass depicted travel from Pony Express to steam locomotives. Visitors here have included such world figures as Presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt, Dwight D. Eisenhower and Lyndon B. Johnson. Depot was used by six railroad companies. As of 1970, Santa Fe served Texas with greater trackage than any other railroad, 5102 miles.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Built in 1899 in dignified Beaux Arts style with native-stone banding, Fort Worth's Santa Fe Depot once glowed with painted-glass windows tracing travel from the Pony Express to the steam locomotive. Serving six railroad companies, it welcomed presidents Franklin Roosevelt, Dwight Eisenhower, and Lyndon Johnson through its doors. By 1970 the Santa Fe line it anchored ran more track across Texas than any other railroad.
Why it matters
Grand union depots like this were the civic front doors of American cities in the railroad age, where national figures and ordinary travelers alike arrived.
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Related people
- · Franklin D. Roosevelt
- · Dwight D. Eisenhower
- · Lyndon B. Johnson
Themes & tags
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