Texas & Pacific Railroad Depot
Abilene, Taylor County, Texas
Marker Inscription
With the arrival of the railroad in Abilene in 1881, a railroad car was used as the first depot. In 1882, a two-story structure was built consisting of a passenger waiting room, office space, dining and a hotel on the second floor. Located a few blocks from here, the depot was replaced with a one-story wood building in 1902. In response to growing public efforts, the Texas & Pacific Railroad announced in 1907 a plan to erect a new depot. Construction began in May 1910 and included a brick and concrete building with a tile roof. The Texas & Pacific Railroad Depot is a rectangular, one-story building displaying an eclectic blend of mission revival and prairie school influences. Surmounted by a hipped tile roof with gabled dormers, the depot features a projecting gable over the north first street entrance, opposite an octagonal tower. Over a battered stucco base, the red brick walls rise to a molded cornice, with corner quoins, stringcourse and decorative details at the dormers executed in stucco or cast stone. The windows originally had multi-light upper sashes with a row of diamond panes at the top. On March 14, 1911, thousands of people gathered to hear former President Theodore Roosevelt speak. In 1936, the works progress administration built a section of elevated track with concrete underpasses with passenger stairs to track level. The depot open freight bay was enclosed in 1947 and the dormers were removed from the main roof and tower in 1953. The passenger terminal closed in 1984 and the depot was donated to the city of Abilene in 1991. The city, in partnership with the Dodge Jones Foundation, completely restored the depot and it reopened in 1994. RECORDED TEXAS HISTORIC LANDMARK – 2016
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
When the railroad reached Abilene in 1881 the town's first depot was literally a parked rail car, soon replaced by a two-story station with a hotel and dining room upstairs. Public demand for something grander produced the current Texas & Pacific depot, built 1910–11 in an eclectic blend of Mission Revival and Prairie School style, with a tile roof, octagonal tower, and diamond-paned sashes. Thousands packed the grounds in March 1911 to hear former President Theodore Roosevelt speak; after passenger service ended in 1984 the city restored the building, reopening it in 1994.
Why it matters
The depot embodies how the railroad created and defined West Texas towns like Abilene, serving as the gateway through which people, goods, and even presidents arrived.
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Related people
- · Theodore Roosevelt
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
The Texas & Pacific Railway: First Railroad Across West Texas
Abilene, TX
Chartered by Congress in 1871 to reach the Pacific, the Texas & Pacific Railway pushed across West Texas in 1880 under railroad magnate Thomas A. Scott and engineer Grenville M. Dodge, the veteran builder of the Union Pacific. The first train reached Abilene in January 1881, and a station—housed at first in a boxcar—opened weeks later. To seed a town, railway agents auctioned 178 lots in March 1881 for over $27,000, launching what grew into the commercial center of central West Texas.
Morgan Jones
Abilene, TX
Welsh-born Morgan Jones reached the United States in 1866 and became a legendary railroad contractor, laying more than 1,000 miles of track across Texas and the West. By 1884 he headed the Fort Worth and Denver City Railway, and after 1906 he built the Abilene and Northern and completed the Abilene and Southern railways. Moving to Abilene in 1908, he poured extensive investments into the region and fueled the city's growth until his death.
Site of Old Headquarters of the Hashknife Ranch
Abilene, TX
In December 1880, a Texas & Pacific Railroad official met local cattlemen near this spot — the old headquarters of the Hashknife Ranch — to choose a site for a cattle-shipping center. Bypassing the county seat of Buffalo Gap, they platted a brand-new town and named it Abilene after the famous Kansas cattle town. A lively sale of city lots followed in March 1881, and Abilene grew swiftly into a major regional city of West Texas.
Site of Western Cattle Trail
Abilene, TX
From 1876 to 1887 the Western Cattle Trail—also called the Dodge City or Fort Griffin Trail—carried several hundred thousand longhorns north out of South Texas to stock northern ranches, supply Indian reservations, and feed distant beef markets. This branch skirted the western edge of Abilene before turning toward Fort Griffin, where feeder trails converged. The great drives ended when barbed-wire fences closed the open range and the Texas & Pacific Railway made the long walk obsolete.