Dublin Citizen
Birdsong gave control to the City in March with the donation official in early June.
Birdsong is trying to place such facilities in good hands by donating them to government non-profits. The DeLeon Depot was recently donated to Comanche County, who gave it to the City of DeLeon. Plans are to turn it into a museum and an office for Developing DeLeon Today.
It is hoped something similar can be done with the Dublin depot as plans have been discussed to turn the front into a welcome center and the former loading area into a meeting space. “I think there is a lot of potential in there,” said Mayor David Leatherwood, who referenced the recent restoration of the Comanche Depot, which was converted into the Comanche Chamber of Commerce office.
As a member of the Fort Worth and Western Railroad board, Leatherwood understands and values the history and aesthetics of the depot built by the Katy railroad in 1928. “There’s a lot of really neat woodworking I’d like to keep,” Leatherwood said. “This could be something that is really good for Dublin.” Leatherwood was quick to stress that the city needs to deal with more vital projects, such as reopening City Hall before it can turn major attention on the depot’s restoration and purpose.
The first part of the restoration will have to include a new roof, since a tornado ripped portions of it off shortly after the building was given to the City. Fortunately, there is insurance money available for the repairs and the depot is eligible for other funds for improvements. “I’m excited we’ve got it,” Leatherwood said, assuring that it will be turned into something positive for Dublin. “Where there’s a will, there’s a way.”
With its unique history and architecture, the building has a lot to offer. The Missouri-Kansas-Texas Depot was one of four spotlight depots that the Katy railroad decided to build in the late 1920s. When describing the Dublin depot, the Katy Flyer published by the Katy Railroad Historical Society said it was “perhaps the most well-designed combination station ever built on the Katy system.”
Time has been kind to the depot. There are no large cracks in the brickwork, signs and outlines of lettering are still visible and the colored signals are even intact. The only major changes came from the conversion when city employees used the building for offices in the 1970s.
The front of the building facing Patrick Street had been walled up, benches were removed and new drop-ceilings were installed. As part of an Eagle Scout project in the 1990s, Dublin Boy Scouts restored some of the building to its original condition by returning the front to the open-air waiting area it once was.
The view inside is equally impressive as fire-glazed brick still shines on the walls with a well-laid red brick floor in the seating area. Inside the ticket counter, windows face into the segregated waiting areas. More windows face outside so they could signal to incoming trains if the line was clear via a lever and signals mounted high outside. Walking further back, more offices can be seen, as well as the loading platforms for baggage and the freight area.
This depot actually sprang from the tragic destruction of another. The railroad came to Dublin in the 1880s with the Texas Central Railroad, which was acquired by the M-K-T Katy Railroad in 1910. The original Katy Depot was destroyed in a fire in 1917, which made the way for another. In 1928, the railroad decided Dublin was a prime location for one of their spotlight depots.
The 25- by 158-foot facility was announced in the June 8, 1928, Dublin Progress and was completed on Oct. 12 of that year. The Dublin station was part of a line that went from Waco to Rotan with a 40.6-mile spur from DeLeon to Cross Plains.
The Great Depression hit Texas Central Railroad hard with less freight and much less passenger transportation recorded. In 1950, passenger services were discontinued from Waco to DeLeon, and Katy completely left the line in 1967 when they sold it.
The Texas Central Railroad found rejuvenation in 1973 when it was bought for Birdsong Peanuts. Birdsong bought the lines and began making small runs along DeLeon and into Gorman, where they would drop empty boxcars, which would be filled with locally-grown peanuts and transported back for connection with Santa Fe Railroad. Although there were only five employees when the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported on Texas Central in the late 1980s, it was still reported to be aiding in the transportation of 70,000 tons of peanuts annually, which translated to $40 to 50 million of product.
It was so prosperous that many remember Texas Central as the Texas Peanut Line these days and it was dubbed the “Route of the Golden Goober.”
The most recent trek from the historic depot was in 2005 as Dublin, DeLeon and Gorman joined together for the Doodle Bug excursion train. Events were held at each stop and some prominent locals even donned bandanas and staged a great train robbery around Gorman.