Former Freight Depot - Wagoner, OK
Posted by: hamquilter
N 35° 57.440 W 095° 22.634
15S E 285611 N 3981828
This abandoned freight depot stands at the intersection of two railroad lines.
Waymark Code: WMY6XB
Location: Oklahoma, United States
Date Posted: 05/02/2018
Views: 1
On the south side of the downtown area between S. Main and Railroad Blvd., this old frame freight depot was once a thriving place. Today it stands as a reminder of those former days. This is a one-story frame building with asbestos siding, and a wide overhanging eave on the east side. It is vacant and in poor condition with rotted wood, and many areas missing shingles. The railroad lines are still active, however, and run just west of the depot.
The Union Pacific website gives this write-up on Wagoner: "Wagoner was named for Henry "Bigfoot" Wagoner, a dispatcher with the Katy Railroad in Parsons, Kan., who saw the need for building a railroad switch a few miles north of Gibson Station. The request was granted and switch was built. When Roadmaster Perry telegraphed the message "Wagoner's Switch is ready," the town had its name.
The town sprang up in 1887 when William and Sallie McAnally opened a lunch counter and hotel at the crossroads of the M-K-T and MoPac. Other railroads came and went over the years, but Wagoner remains at the crossroads of the two lines, both now operated by the Union Pacific. Wagoner, from its very beginning, has been a Train Town US."