Tulia Depot serves as a community center - Tulia, TX
Posted by: 
WalksfarTX
N 34° 32.230 W 101° 46.659
14S E 245079 N 3825223
For 100 years the Tulia Depot has stood tall next to the rail line that goes through Tulia.
Waymark Code: WM135YW
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 09/23/2020
Views: 0
Channel 7 ABC News"The Swisher County Historical Commission is credited with saving the depot. In 1987 crews were scheduled to demo the depot when the commission along with folks from the community stepped in and stopped the demolition efforts. They also raised money and applied for community grants to restore and refurbish it. The Tulia Depot now has a new purpose.
“The depot is used for Swisher County Historical Commission meetings which are held every other month,” said Sally Murrell, Swisher Co. Historical Commission vice chairman. “It is also rented out to parties and for showers and different things like that. Recently it is being rented for family and school reunions.”
Caring citizens in Tulia helped raise and donate more than $30,000 to have the depot restored and refurbished. The depot is rich with history according to local residents who have lived in Tulia for decades and remember when it was used by trains transporting passengers. The last time the depot was used by a train carrying people was in 1965.
“It was real active back in the day like the 30’s, 40’s and 50’s, really, up to the mid 1960’s,” said Joe Murrell, a Swisher county commissioner. “I can remember it was quite a deal to ride the train whether you were going out of town far away or just on a school field trip.”
The depot sits next to the rail lines that are used by mixed cargo freight trains.
“When we’re having meetings, many times we have to stop and let the train go by,” said Murrell. “Sometimes you can’t hear the presenter who is talking, so you get the full effect of the train and the depot and how it felt in the early days."
Looking to the future, the Tulia Depot remains a vital part of the community. Tulia has three depots. One of the other two is now a restaurant. The third is being prepared for a planned move to Happy. The Tulia Depot is built in prairie style brick and stucco with red tile roof. Donations from the community helped pay for having the tile roof repaired. Until 1965, the passenger train ran twice a day in and out of Tulia. Passenger service was discontinued in 1965.
The first train to stop in Tulia was in December of 1906. The original Tulia depot was built of wood and was destroyed from a fire in 1915.