HistoricSiteMarkers
Progressive & Modern Era

Texas & Pacific Railroad Passenger Terminal

Fort Worth, Tarrant County, Texas

Marker Inscription

A line of the Texas & Pacific Railroad was extended to Fort Worth in 1876 and proved vital to the economic growth of the City. Company officials, led by the President John L. Lancaster, had this Passenger Terminal Building constructed in 1931. Designed by Wyatt C. Hedrick (1888-1964), it is a good example of the Art Deco style. Rail traffic began to decline during the 1950s and the last T&P passenger train to the city stopped here on March 22, 1967.

Erected by Texas Historical Commission

The Story

The Texas & Pacific Railroad reached Fort Worth in 1876 and became a driving force in the city's growth. In 1931 company officials, led by president John L. Lancaster, built this passenger terminal—a striking Art Deco design by architect Wyatt C. Hedrick. As rail travel declined through the 1950s, the terminal saw the city's last T&P passenger train depart on March 22, 1967.

Why it matters

The terminal stands as a monument to the railroad's central role in making Fort Worth a commercial hub, and to the Art Deco optimism of an era just before passenger rail's long decline.

Own a business near here? Add it to the map.

Related people

  • · John L. Lancaster
  • · Wyatt C. Hedrick

Themes & tags

Nearby & related markers

Fairmount-Southside Historic District

Fort Worth, TX

The Fairmount-Southside Historic District spreads across roughly 375 acres and 100 blocks just south of downtown Fort Worth, with more than 1,200 contributing homes and buildings. Platted largely between 1883 and 1907 during the boom that followed the railroad's 1876 arrival, its additions—led by the 1890 Fairmount Addition—drew middle-income workers, and streetcar lines soon carried doctors, lawyers, and railroad men to and from their homes. Its cottages, bungalows, and foursquares chart the evolution of domestic style from Queen Anne to Craftsman.

Eagle Ford Community

Dallas, TX

Eagle Ford took root beside an important crossing of the Trinity River's west fork, where settlers like the Hortons arrived in 1844 and built farms, a grist mill, and a cemetery. Railroad and depot land donated by James Horton spurred the village until the line pushed on to Fort Worth and the town began to fade. A new chapter opened in 1907 when Michigan investors founded a Portland cement company here, drawing Mexican immigrant workers whose descendants — among them decorated World War II soldier Eladio Martinez — enriched the community's culture.

Franco-Texan Land Company Building

Weatherford, TX

Built around 1870, this two-story brick storefront was the beating heart of Weatherford's money and politics as the frontier gave way to the railroad age. It housed the first bank west of Dallas, opened by cattle-fortune banker James Couts, and later the law offices of Samuel Willis Tucker Lanham, who would become governor of Texas. In the 1890s it served the troubled Franco-Texan Land Company, which speculated on the vast stretch of country the Texas and Pacific Railway opened between Weatherford and El Paso.

Neil P. Anderson Building

Fort Worth, TX

Cotton was king in the early-20th-century Southwest, and broker Neil P. Anderson helped make Fort Worth a hub of the inland cotton trade. His firm commissioned the prominent architects Sanguinet & Staats to design this "Cotton Exchange," completed in 1921 with skylit top-floor showrooms where buyers could inspect samples in natural light. Home to leading local businesses, the Exchange closed in 1939, though the Anderson family held the building until 1963.