Blasterz have visited Fort Stockton many times, and we always stop into the Fort Stockton Visitor Center at the old passenger depot to get our Pasiano Pete pin.
The Kansas City, Mexico, and Orient railroad as a fascinating history in this part of West Texas. Chartered in 1900 with a grand idea to connect West Texas cities that were far from the state's main trunk-line railroads, the KCM&O operated as an independent railway until it was acquired in 1928 by the Atchison Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad.
Today, the rails are operated by the South Orient Railway Company between San Angelo and Presidio, while the passenger depot, built by the KCM&O in 1911, is owned and operated by the Fort Stockton Chamber of Commerce.
It was a common practice during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries for railroads to build two depots: one to serve the passenger-rail service customers and one to serve the freight customers. While some depots had their freight and passenger area separated only by a few feet or maybe a small railing, in many cases, especially where freight was the primary driver for the railroad, the freight depot would often be located some distance away from the passenger depot. Passenger depots then became almost show places, made of beautiful materials with comfortable seating areas, sometimes even separate waiting areas for men and women, or whites and blacks. These elegant passenger depots served as the welcoming front door of the community, a way to show off a community's prosperity and vibrancy to visitors.
Freight depots, on the other hand, were all about business. These depots were frequently utilitarian, very hard used structures with minimal amenities but lots of opportunity to move freight in and out of the depot quickly. There were often several spurs leading to and from the freight depot so that freight delivery and pickup operations did not unduly interfere with the passenger service, either by creating lots of noise, or congestion that would delay, inconvenience, or annoy passengers.
The Fort Stockton freight depot is located about 200 yards southwest down the tracks from the passenger depot. It would've been built about the same time, perhaps a little earlier, so maybe 1909-10.
Where the 1911 passenger depot is an elegant one-story structure built the in Spanish Mission Revival style, the freight depot is a plain two-story structure with 12 large freight compartments built out of native stone. This clearly is a building that is just about moving the cargo in and out with efficiency.
In 2016, the old freight depot building, while mostly boarded up, is open in a few places to the elements. Blaster saw evidence of homeless habitation here in the freight bays.
The triangle of land the freight depot sits on between the 3-4 railroad track spurs, West Railroad Avenue, the I-10 Business Loop and Main Street is owned by several placeholder companies. It's clear that there are no immediate plans to do anything with this old freight depot, even though it's in a highly traveled corridor to the visitor center and across from the famous Fort Stockton photo-op attraction, Paisano Pete.
With some imagination, ingenuity, and a bucket-load of cash, this could be another historic amenity adding to the story of historic Fort Stockton.
From the Historic Fort Stockton website, some history of the KCM&O RR, and the PASSENGER depot: (
visit link)
"Fort Stockton Visitor Center
Experience our special heritage!
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The Fort Stockton Visitor’s Center is located in the original Kansas City, Mexico and Orient Railroad Depot constructed in 1911. The city secured the depot in 1991 and rehabbed the building to become the community’s official “Tourism Center.” The Visitor Center Depot houses information regarding Fort Stockton and other tourism destinations. The center is currently home to the Fort Stockton Chamber of Commerce, the Fort Stockton Economic Development Corporation and the Fort Stockton Convention and Visitor’s Bureau.
The first train arrived in Fort Stockton in 1912 and the rail proved to be successful for many years. The rail changed hands several times before Texas became involved in the preservation and operation of the rail line. In 1989 the Commission provided a $3 million secured grant to the South Orient Rural Rail Transportation District towards the purchase from the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railroad. In return for the grant, TxDOT received the existing right- of-way for the rail line and a security interest in the installed rails and ties. By 1998 the operators of the rail, the South Orient Railroad Company, filed an abandonment application with the STB. In 1999 the Texas legislature appropriated $6 million towards the $9.5 million purchase price of the rail line from SO RC.
The South Orient line is one of only seven rail gateways between the United States and Mexico and has the potential to relieve some of the congestion at other border crossings through the diversion of rail traffic to the gateway at Presidio/Ojinaga. The 391-mile long line is the only significant amount of rail owned by the state of Texas.
In 2008 the City of Fort Stockton undertook the rehabilitation and transformation of the grounds surrounding the Depot. Terraced gardens, interpretive sculptures, a water feature and new lighting and signage highlight the communities past and its roots in the energy industry. The new grounds highlight five important pieces of Fort Stockton’s History; The Comanche War Trail and the Comanche People, The Buffalo Soldiers, Comanche Springs, Early Settlers and Vaqueros.
Each area has interpretive signage to give visitors a brief history of the period and the subjects on display. It is the community’s hope, through the experience of the Visitor Center Grounds that each guest will come away with a unique experience and appreciation of our special heritage.
The grounds offer a great opportunity for photo shoots with friends and family. You may even be lucky enough to catch the Monarch Butterfly migration."
More on the history of the Kansas City, Mexico & Orient railroad can be found in the Handbook of Texas online: (
visit link)
"KANSAS CITY, MEXICO AND ORIENT RAILWAY. The Kansas City, Mexico and Orient Railway Company of Texas (Orient of Texas) was one of three connecting railroads promoted by Arthur E. Stilwell to run from Kansas City, Missouri, to Topolobampo, Mexico, a distance of 1,600 miles. Topolobampo was, according to Stilwell, 400 miles closer to Kansas City than any other Pacific port. The Orient of Texas was a subsidiary of the Kansas City, Mexico and Orient Railway Company, which was chartered on May 1, 1900, to build across Kansas and Oklahoma. Stilwell also received a concession and subsidy in April 1900 from President Porfirio Díaz of Mexico for the Ferrocarril Kansas City, Mexico y Oriente. The Orient in Texas was originally chartered as the Colorado Valley Railway Company on May 14, 1897. This company planned a line from Colorado City to San Angelo, but soon changed its route to run from Sweetwater to San Angelo. The Colorado Valley built a few miles before being acquired by the Panhandle and Gulf Railway Company, which was chartered on July 15, 1899. Stilwell acquired the Panhandle and Gulf and was named president of the company by May 1900. In a series of charter amendments filed during 1900, the Colorado Valley was authorized to build from San Angelo to the Rio Grande in Presidio or Brewster counties and from Sweetwater to the Red River on the north line of Hardeman County, a distance of 550 miles. Branch lines to Laredo and Brownsville were also projected. On September 16, 1905, the name of the company was changed to the Kansas City, Mexico and Orient Railway Company of Texas. Members of the first board of directors of the Orient of Texas were Stilwell, W. W. Sylvester, J. R. Daugherty, W. T. Trammell, Thomas Trammell, H. C. Hoard, R. A. Ragland, J. W. Gibson, and R. L. McCaulley.
Construction began at Sweetwater in 1904 and in 1909 reached the Red River, where the line connected with the parent company and its line to Wichita, Kansas. The line between Sweetwater and San Angelo was completed in September 1909 and extended to Girvin in February 1912. This gave the company 370 miles of track in Texas and the system a total of 630 miles in the United States in addition to several unconnected segments in Mexico. However, the incomplete railroad could not generate enough local traffic, and the Orient of Texas entered receivership on March 9, 1912. The receivers completed an additional ninety-five miles from Girvin to Alpine and a connection with the Galveston, Harrisburg and San Antonio Railway in 1913. Although the receivership was terminated on July 8, 1914, and the property returned to its owners, the Orient of Texas continued to be an unprofitable railroad. By 1919, during the period the railroads were operated by the federal government, the operating ratio of the Texas line stood at 176 percent. This meant that operating expenses were $1.76 for every $1.00 in operating revenues. The parent Kansas City, Mexico and Orient entered receivership for the second time on April 16, 1917.
Following the end of World War I, the receivers were able to obtain governmental loans to keep the system operating, but by 1922 were threatening to abandon the entire railroad. On May 28, 1923, Santa Rita No. 1 blew in at Big Lake. Subsequent oil discoveries in Regan, Crane, and Upton counties brought a flood of traffic to the Orient of Texas. In 1923 the line experienced its first significant income of $117,500, as compared to a deficit of $143,000 the prior year. With the increase in earnings, the property was improved, making it attractive to another railroad. On October 19, 1928, the company was bought by the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway Company (Santa Fe).
The Santa Fe quickly sold the Mexican segments, while the Orient of Texas was leased to the Panhandle and Santa Fe Railway Company for operation. In 1930 the Santa Fe completed the Orient of Texas to the Mexican border at Presidio through trackage rights over the Texas and New Orleans Railroad from Alpine to Paisano and the construction of seventy-two miles from that point to Presidio. In the same year sixty-five miles were completed between San Angelo and Sonora. The 603 miles of the Orient of Texas was merged into the Santa Fe on August 1, 1965. The Santa Fe has subsequently disposed of all of the former Orient trackage in Texas, beginning with the abandonment of the Sonora line in 1976. On June 1, 1991, the trackage between Maryneal and the Red River was sold to the Texas and Oklahoma Railroad Company, while the South Orient Railroad Company, Ltd., acquired the mileage between San Angelo and Presidio on January 2, 1992.
by George C. Werner"