Marshall and the Texas Pacific Railway

Marshall (named after Chief Justice John Marshall) began on January 30, 1841, when the Congress of the Republic of Texas authorized its creation as the seat of Harrison county. By virtue of its location on the eastern edge of the state, Marshall benefited from the influx of settlers from the east seeking access to the vast regions of Texas. The area surrounding Marshall was also fertile and ripe for development, so that by 1850 Marshall was the 6th largest city in the state. The fact that in 1850 Marshall had 1,189 residents, versus 11,822 residents total in Harrison county (the most populous in Texas), illustrates the agrarian nature of the area. For a number of years Marshall was the wealthiest, most advanced and civilized place in Texas, boasting among other things, the first telegraph office in Texas. But Marshall's greatest growth and prosperity were still in the future, and would be linked directly to the railroads and their fortunes.

The first railroad to Marshall was the Texas Western, which was chartered in 1852, and in 1856 changed its name to the Southern Pacific (SP) Railroad Company. (Nothing to do with the later, larger and more famous Southern Pacific railroad which spanned from California to Louisiana.) The "local" SP built a line from Swanson's Landing on Caddo Lake to Marshall in 1858. The SP, faced with the loss of their charter if they could not begin service to Marshall by 1858, but not having yet received the steam locomotive they had ordered, began rail service using oxen to pull the train. The oxen pulled the cars up the grades and rode them down. When the locomotive called "Ben" finally did arrive, it quickly became known as the "Bull of the Woods," due to its penchant for "boldly leaving the rails and charging off into the woods like an enraged bull."

Railroading was a primitive and hazardous means of travel in those early years, as illustrated by the recollections of a German traveler, Theodor Kirchoff, on a harrowing ride from Marshall to Shreveport. The 40 mile journey took 40 hours to complete, and in a blinding snow storm "Ben" ran out of water and wood, and the train broke apart. At a stop to load cotton, the drunken engineer got into a tooth-and-nail brawl with the cotton teamster as the passengers, with pistols drawn, formed a circle around them.

Although the SP was the first railroad, Marshall's true destiny as a railroad town would be linked to the later Texas & Pacific Railway Company.

The Texas Pacific Railroad Company was established by a federal charter in 1871, to build a line from Marshall to San Diego, California. In 1872 Congress changed the name to its later form, the Texas & Pacific Railway Company. The T&P was one of only a handful of railroads in the country with a federal charter, and the only one in Texas.

Realizing the importance and economic benefits to be derived from the T&P, in 1871 Marshall and Harrision County donated land and $300,000 worth of bonds in a successful effort to persuade the railroad to center their operations in Marshall. The subsequent impact of the T&P on Marshall and its development is apparent in the following excerpt from an 1879 City of Marshall promotional brochure:

The most important enterprise in which Marshall is interested --the immediate source of its present prosperity and its perspective growth and advancement-- is the Texas and Pacific Railroad. For several years this place has been the headquarters of the company. The main offices and the machine and workshops of the company are located here. The benefits derived from this source can only be approximately estimated. The monthly disbursements to resident employees has averaged about $20,000. This forms but a single aggregate item. The company for the last five years has been constantly building and repairing. The attractive houses and grounds, the fences and walks, exhibit large expenditures. All orders emanate from headquarters; business of every kind and character effecting the interests of the company are transacted here, including land matters, contracts, settlements, and negotiations of various kinds; visitors are attracted to the city, and employees find it a place of rendezvous. All these are so many sources of prosperity to Marshall. Thousands of dollars find their way here, attributable alone to the railroad.

It is a noted fact that Marshall is nearly three times as large now as it was before the headquarters and machine shops were established here. The character of the buildings is also better; they are larger and finer, and there there is evidence of improved taste in their construction.

The T&P grew quickly, building a through-line from Texarkana to Dallas by the end of 1873. The terminus at Texarkana was significant because earlier in that year the St. Louis, Iron Mountain & Southern Railway had also reached Texarkana. This gave the T&P a connection back to St. Louis, which greatly facilitated its growth and profitability. The T&P also extended eastward into Louisiana with the acquisition of the (local) SP railroad in 1872 and reached New Orleans in 1882.

By 1876 the T&P had reached Ft. Worth and also completed another line between Sherman and Texarkana. The largest single expansion of the T&P system occurred between 1880-1881 with construction of 522 miles of track between Ft. Worth and Sierra Blanca. This would mark the westward limit of the T&P, and the end of major expansions of the system.. In 1881, Jay Gould, who controlled the T&P, made an agreement with C. P. Huntington, who controlled the Southern Pacific, so that both railroads would use SP's line from Sierra Blanca to El Paso. Thus, the T&P and SP were connected into one continuous line to the west coast.

Thus, most of the T&P was built between 1871 and 1882, and it remained more or less in that configuration, with only minor additions and subtractions, until it was merged with the Missouri Pacific Railroad Company (MP) in 1976. The MP, in turn, was merged with the Union Pacific (UP) in 1982. Today, most of the T&P's mainlines continue in operation as part of the UP, including through Marshall.

The T&P headquarters would be moved to Ft. Worth before the turn of the century. But, Marshall's fortunes would continue to rise and fall with those of the T&P and the shops through WW2. In particular, the "Lancaster" years, 1916-1945, when John L. Lancaster was president of the T&P, were a particularly prosperous period for the railroad (and Marshall). The golden age of the T & P Railway included W.W.II, the discovery of oil in Texas and culminated with record traffic movements during W.W.II.

The T&P's influence on the development and growth of Marshall has left an indelible mark on the city. Although nothing remains of the once vast Marshall shops except for the depot, the legacy of the T&P on Marshall's character is forever.

The Texas & Pacific (T&P) depot in Marshall, Texas, was built in 1912 as a passenger station and to house the general administrative offices of the railroad's eastern region. It was the focal point of a once vast 66 acre shop complex, totaling 57 structures including a roundhouse, car shops water tower and warehouse. Of the Marshall shops' buildings, the 7,500 square feet, three story depot is now the only survivor.

Marshall remained an important shop area for the T&P until after WW2 when dieselization of the railroad took place. The increased efficiency of the new motive power, versus the venerable steam locomotive, and other industry advances and improvements rendered the Marshall shops redundant and obsolete. The Depot, however, continued in use as a T&P passenger station until the cessation of T&P passenger trains in 1970. Amtrak service through Marshall replaced the T&P trains in 1974.

For 25 years it was a station in name only. The last railroad agent, Griff Hubbard, left the station empty sometime in 1974. This left the Amtrak passengers to fend for themselves, outside in the elements, in less than pristine surroundings. In the 60 plus years that the Depot truly functioned as a station and railroad office thousands of passengers came and went, including troop trains in WW1 and WW2. It once contained a telegraph office and housed an immigration office

The exterior of the station remained essentially constant over the years. However, after the T&P merged with the Missouri Pacific (MP) railroad in 1976, the elegant T&P logo and the word "Marshall" were chiseled off the exterior of the building, for unknown reasons. The interior of the Depot was significantly altered to suit railroad needs in the 1930s, and a pedestrian tunnel was built under the tracks 1940. The south entrance to the pedestrian tunnel is located next to the historic Ginocchio Hotel, just south of the Depot.

The MP railroad was merged into the Union Pacific (UP) railroad in 1982. In 1988 the UP applied for a permit to demolish the T&P depot, which by now had been empty for 14 years and was in deteriorating condition. UP's motivation was simply to eliminate a potential liability. Fortunately the community of Marshall had other ideas.

Two attempts by two separate groups had been made to save and restore the T&P depot. Both failed, but in 1988 a concerted community effort, organized through a chamber of commerce committee, prevented the demolition of the Depot. As a direct result of these events, a third group, called Marshall Depot, was incorporated as a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit in 1990 to lease the depot, and undertake its reuse and restoration. Marshall Depot Inc. (MDI), headed by the former mayor of Marshall, Audrey Kariel, successfully secured a long term lease for the Depot with UP in 1990

That same year MDI successfully completed the process of documenting the T&P depot as a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark. (The Depot had previously listed on the National Register of Historic places.) A three phase plan calling for stabilization of the depot, restoration and reuse was developed. In 1991 MDI began stabilization with funds raised from local individuals, businesses and the Union Pacific Foundation. The tile roof was refurbished, and wooden doors and window frames were repaired. The surrounding grounds were cleaned by volunteers and benches installed for Amtrak passengers.

In 1994 an Intermodal Surface Transportation Enhancement Act Enhancement (ISTEA) grant of $70K for architectural planning was awarded from the Texas Dept. of Transportation, with matching funds of $24K from MDI. This led to a follow-on ISTEA grant of $980K for the restoration itself, with MDI raising a required match of an additional $244K for the project. The Meadows Foundation of Dallas also contributed $84K, in the form of a challenge grant, to help MDI meet the local match.

The restoration resulted in an intermodal, multi-use facility. The multi-use of the Depot itself includes an indoor waiting area for Amtrak passengers, a snack shop, a railroad museum, giftshop, tourist information center, and office space for lease. The depot has been functioning as an Amtrak station since 1974, currently serving the twice-daily trains of the Amtrak Texas Eagle (trains 21 & 22 from Chicago to San Antonio).

The Depot is a centerpiece of the community's efforts to preserve its heritage while providing for its future. The Depot and the railroad museum anchor the north end of Washington Ave., the main street in downtown Marshall, and are important elements in an economic development effort of downtown Marshall. Anchoring the south end of Washington Ave., and within sight of the Depot, is the historically significant Harrison county courthouse.

The Depot is located in the Ginocchio Historic District, a National Register Historic District. The Ginocchio Hotel, constructed in 1896, once served as an important stop and restaurant facility on the Texas and Pacific main line. Guests at the Ginocchio include several U.S. Presidents. The Ginnocchio now is the home of the Harrision County Historical Museum.