Rail service to Colorado City began on April 16, 1881, when a Texas & Pacific supply train arrived with materials for the construction of a freight and passenger depot in the town. Completed the following month at the foot of Oak Street, it was similar in style and size to A T & P Station in Fort Worth. Cattle pens were constructed later to the east of the station on land donated by Aaron W. Dunn, John Wesley Mooar, W.H. Snyder, and George W. Waddell. The railroad and stockyards established Colorado City as the major shipping center and supply station for the vast ranching region of West Texas and sections of Eastern New Mexico. W.A. Crowder came here in 1885 as the agent for the T & P Railway. During his 35 years of service, local rail traffic flourished. Trains brought the necessary manufactured products for local ranches such as barbed wire and windmills. Goods shipped from here to Eastern markets included cattle, hides, salt, ice, wool, and buffalo bones. The 1881 depot was later destroyed by fire and replaced by a new freight station in 1896. Another depot, built at the foot of Walnut Street in 1907, was used by passenger trains until service to the city ended on March 22, 1967. (1981)
Texas & Pacific Railway Depot, Site of
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Texas & Pacific Railway Depot, Site of is a historical marker in Colorado City, Mitchell County, dedicated in 1981. It is one of 38 historical markers documented in Mitchell County in the Texas Historical Commission Atlas, among 55 historic sites cataloged across the county.
The site sits at 32.3895, -100.8677 near Colorado City. The nearest cataloged historic site is Colorado Opera House (historical marker), about under a tenth of a mile away. Others within a short drive include The Founding of Colorado City, Mitchell County, and Texas & Pacific Railway.
This record corresponds to Texas Historical Commission Atlas #5335004943. Use the map below for its exact position and turn-by-turn directions.
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