Copied from HANDBOOK OF TEXAS ONLINE

Brief History of United States and Texas Railroads, 1815 to 1920

In 1815, Revolutionary War veteran Col. John Stevens hurried to catch up with developments in England and applied for the first railroad charter in the United States. The state of New Jersey granted him a charter to build a railroad across the state. Pennsylvania followed in 1823. The first successful locomotives ran in Great Britain in 1812 and 1815, and the first rail line, the Stockton & Darlington, steamed over the tracks in 1825. In the United States, Stevens built a small locomotive operated by a cog wheel and rack rail on a circular track in his yard to prove to skeptics that the idea would work.¹

He never lived to see his own railroad operating.

Maryland chartered the first large railroad of any importance in 1827, the Baltimore & Ohio. America's "railroad fever" began spreading across the country over the next decades. Freight could now be shipped cheaper than over turnpike levies and faster than by way of canals. At the end of 1836 there were 1273 miles of track in the United States. By the time of the financial panic of 1837, which closed some weak lines, over 200 railroad projects forged ahead. The fever swept over the Midwestern states and Illinois with a population of 380,000 in 1837 authorized 1300 miles of railroad track.²

Bitter opposition often followed the railroad. Assisted by tavern keepers, turnpike stockholders, and canal operators, teamsters often turned violent in attempting to stop the railroads. Legislative influence also tried to impose provisions making the carrying of freight illegal, but the railroads thundered on.

Despite the problems, railroads laid over 3,000 miles of track by 1840 and 9,000 by 1850. "Mankind was on the move, impelled unconsciously by the Industrial revolution and political events both near and far away."³ Large immigrations from Europe combined with the gold strike in California and the need for more land made railroads a major factor in a race for the west.

Texas caught the fever and awarded a charter for the first railroad in 1836 to the Texas Railroad Navigation and Banking Co. Because of the financial panic of 1837, stock was never sold. The first railroad was actually built in 1853 to move freight only and was rechartered as the Buffalo, Bayou, Brazos and Colorado Railway.

Parlor cars made their debut in 1840. The idea of carrying passengers came as an afterthought to the invention of railroads. The first passenger cars resembled stagecoaches on different wheels.

By the beginning of the Civil War, the north had a two to one predominance of rail lines compared to the south. Texas had eleven separate railroads built prior to the Civil War, mostly in East Texas. By 1860, Texas completed 460.91 miles of track with Southern Pacific completing 333.5 miles of that. Railroad centers became population centers.⁴

During the Civil War the use of railroads to move men, equipment and supplies became of strategic importance. This made railroads a prime target. The railroads in Texas decayed during the 1860-1870 decade, but only one had been completely destroyed. The Texas and New Orleans track was ripped up and used in the building of Fort Sabine.

On 1 July 1862, with southerners out of the way, congress passed and President Abraham Lincoln signed the Pacific Railroad Act. This provided for two companies to build the great project. The Union Pacific would lay track westward from Omaha, Nebraska, and the Central Pacific would start eastward from Sacramento, California. The original meeting point of the California-Nevada border changed to Promontory, Utah as the railroads neared completion. Starting construction in early 1863, east finally met west at Promontory on 10 May 1869.

Following the Civil War, thousands of immigrants from war ravaged areas flooded into Texas. From 1860 to 1870, Houston and Texas Central Railway was the only Texas railroad that did any building. By 1868, it had rebuilt its damaged and broken down tracks and lines. By 1870, Texas boasted 511 miles of railroad.⁵

During the next two decades railroad building in Texas reached climactic proportions. From 511 miles of track in 1870 to 8,710 miles in 1890, Texas’ economy and population also boomed. Railroads became a matter of life or death to towns. Towns disappeared when railroads bypassed them. Towns emerged when railroads stopped there. Towns already existing doubled, tripled or even increased 1000% as a result of the arrival of the railroad.⁶

The first decade of the twentieth century saw Texas return to prosperity following the panic of 1893 and the subsequent depression. A new industry spurted up, oil, and railroad building again boomed with over 5,000 new miles constructed. By 1910 Texas had 12,901 miles of track and a population of 3,896,542. From 1910-1920 an additional 3,000 miles were added and the population increased by another 3-4 million due to the oil industry and the burgeoning citrus business. After 1920 construction came to a standstill.⁷

Promontory marked the true beginning of the settlement of the Great West. Due to the great railroad builders, within 50 years by 1912, the last of the 48 continental states had been admitted to the Union and the 12,000 miles of railroad in the trans-Mississippi area in 1870 multiplied tenfold.⁸

The Railroad Comes to East Waco

The locomotive chugged into the little depot in East Waco amidst 3,000 cheering citizens on 18 September 1872. The Waco and Northwestern Railroad, a branch of the Houston and Texas Central Railway Company (H&TCR) arrived at the depot at 8:30 p.m. bringing the first railroad of the county to Waco. George Barnard, the oldest citizen of Waco, drove the final gold spike into the tracks for the train's arrival. Citizens of all colors and occupations witnessed the ceremony and celebrated the coming of the railroad with speeches, bands and BBQ. The railroad now linked Waco with cities, small and large, to the north and south, from the Gulf of Mexico to Dallas. "Waco was on her way . . .the best bridge on the Brazos and one of the best railroad connections in the Southwest. Waco became the hub of trade for a great semi-circle of Central and West Texas 250 miles out."⁹

Following the Civil War, Waco pioneers including J. W. Speight and John Flint began the six year struggle to bring the railroad into Waco. On 5 November 1866, the Texas Legislature granted a charter for formation of the Waco Tap Railroad Company. The Houston and Texas Central Railway planned to lay tracks to Bremond with no intention of crossing the Brazos into Waco and crossing it again to go north.¹⁰ The Tap originally intended only to tap into the Houston and Central Texas Railway line. Following the granting of the charter, the company organized with Speight as the first president. Progress stood still and Flint took over as president in 1869, but also found the venture too costly without outside funding.

Flint convinced the H&TCR to subsidize the building of the small rail line and in August 1870 petitioned the legislature for an expansion of the original charter. The new charter granted the railroad full freedom to merge, consolidate and negotiate with other companies to expand its own routes and services. With the new charter came a new name, the Waco and Northwestern Railroad Company.¹¹

In 1871, the Town of Waco incorporated as the City of Waco and for the first time, the boundaries also included East Waco. The railroad purchased 20 acres of land just east of the new suspension bridge and built the new passenger depot. Before the railroad, East Waco contained a number of residences and a few businesses. Now for the first time the city laid out streets and lots for a good sized community. Brick commercial buildings soon emerged near the new railroad depot.¹²

In 1873, the Waco and Northwestern started to fulfill its charter by extending its line toward the Texas Panhandle. Dreams buckled under to financial reality with construction halting 11 miles north of Waco at Ross. On 31 March 1873 the H&TCR, after overseeing the small line's operations and construction, purchased the rail line outright. During 1873, the H&TCR’s service reached Hannibal and St. Louis, Missouri.Financier Charles Morgan, through his Morgan’s Louisiana & Texas Railroad and Steamship Co. (ML&T), purchased the H&TCR, including the Waco and Northwestern branch.

Both continued operations under their existing names. In order to extend into the Panhandle and connect with westward routes, the H&TCR chartered a new line named The Texas Central Railway Co. The line reached Albany, Terrell and Roberts in 1882 and 1884.

Until 1881 when the Texas and St. Louis entered Waco, the Waco and Northwestern branch of the H&TCR remained the only railroad in Waco. The railroads during the 1870s and 1880s contributed primarily to the shaping of Waco’s new image as a cosmopolitan center. Waco’s population grew from about 3,000 in 1870 to about 22,500 in 1890. Waco grew and prospered mainly due to her railroads. By 1890, Waco claimed the best school system in the state and three colleges within the city limits. The city also housed more than 50 manufacturers, 40 wholesale businesses and 300 retail and general businesses.¹³

Railroad mogul Collis P. Huntington bought part of the H&TCR in 1884; the purchase did not include the Waco and Northwestern branch. Within a year of the purchase, Huntington’s acquisition went into receivership. The Waco and Northwestern also experienced financial problems and entered receivership in 1885. The same receiver handled both railroads.

Huntington first leased, and then sold the main line to the Southern Pacific on 8 September 1888. The sale did not include the Texas Central or Waco and Northwestern. The Texas Central was sold in 1892 and reorganized under a slightly new name of Texas Central Railroad Co., instead of Railway.

The Waco and Northwestern went up for sale in 1892 and Texas Midland Railway's E. H. R. Greene outbid Huntington for the line. The sale was never completed however, due to a three year fight over whether 421,280 acres of land were included. Acrimonious court battles kept the railroad under receivership until the original sale was voided and the railroad again auctioned off three years later. This time an agent for Huntington, Wilbur F. Boyle, presented the winning bid of $1,505,000.

Southern Pacific organized under the laws of Texas a new company with the name, Houston & Texas Central Railroad Co.. The new company took control of the main line, the Western Division and the Waco and Northwestern Division in 1898.¹⁴

Railway passenger travel peaked about 1900, but declined during the 1920’s due to the Great Depression. Travel again increased during World War II for movement of troops. Freight traffic in Texas remained good into the late 1900s. Cotton and Cattle represented the primary freight carried from Texas. The H&TCR abandoned the seven and one half miles of trace from Waco to Ross in 1929.

The railroad depot in East Waco represented a major hub of business on that side of the river. The railroad remains in the directories from 1886 until 1929, under all three operating names that used the depot, the Houston and Texas Central Railway, the Waco and Northwestern Railway, the Texas Central Railway Co., as well as the reorganized name Houston & Texas Central Railroad Co. As East Waco grew, other businesses sprouted up around the depot.

The early years show brickyards, coal yards, saloons, grocers, and hotels. The main building across from the depot, 200-210 Bridge Street has been there since 1886. The building is divided into six addresses with the occupancies changing over the years. The location at 202 Bridge remained a hotel serving railroad passengers from 1886 until 1910. The other occupants of the building, which also have addresses on Elm Street, have gone from grocers, saloons, and blacksmiths, to mattress factories and auto garages. Changing occupancies of businesses in the area reflect the eras of history, as blacksmiths give way to garages, cotton gives way to oil, saloons disappear with prohibition, and buildings change ownership yearly or remain vacant during the Great Depression. Looking at the history of the Houston and Texas Central Railway Depot and the surrounding neighborhood of East Waco paints a picture of the history of Waco during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.