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 Allen Water Station
N 33° 07.020 W 096° 39.895
14S E 717869 N 3666684
The Allen Water Station is a district of structures representing different items built in the 1870s by the Houston and Texas Central Railroad at the city of Allen stop
Waymark Code: WM11DWT
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 10/04/2019
Views: 6
The site includes six contributing structures: the Water Station site, the 1874 Dam, a section of railroad tracks and bed, a 1910 railroad bridge, and the ruins of the water tank and pumping facility.
Marker Number: 18112
Marker Text:
On March 11, 1848, Ebenezer Allen, former Republic of Texas Attorney General, obtained a charter for the Galveston and Red River Railway. Track construction began in early 1856, and the company was renamed Houston & Texas Central (H&TC) Railway Company in September of that same year. Construction on the line began in Houston and reached Corsicana in 1871, Dallas in 1872 and Denison in 1873 where the connection was made with the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railroad to form the first all-rail route from Texas to St. Louis and the east, allowing grain, cotton and cattle to reach its destination overnight.
In 1874, the H&TC Railway acquired land from J.W. Franklin in Collin County to construct a stone dam across Cottonwood Creek and a water station to provide water for its steam locomotives. The water station included a pump house, an elevated water storage tank, a privy for the railroad workers who operated the water station and other facilities. The workers were Americans and immigrants from Ireland, Germany, and Switzerland. H&TC Railway Company surveyor Theodore Kosse created the town of Allen in 1876 by platting the James Reed Survey. The station and town established a center for commerce for local farmers and provided better equipment and broader markets for agricultural production. The Allen Water Station remained in operation until diesel engines replaced steam engines in the late 1940s and early 1950s. The station is recorded as a State Antiquities Landmark and is listed in the National Register of Historic Places. The 1874 stone dam and foundations for the water tower and pump house, still visible today, highlight the important role that the H&TC Railroad played in late 19th century commerce, transportation and settlement. (2015)
Marker is Property of the State of Texas
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