General History of Railroads in Austin 1871 – 1970

I&GN locomotive in Round Rock, 1904. Portal to Texas History.

 

On Christmas Day in 1871, Austin got its first train.  It was a work train, and it entered the city from east Austin across Waller Creek on the Pine Street bridge (now 5^th Street) and stopped at the public square located between Neches and Trinity Streets.[1]  The Houston & Texas Central (H&TC) Railway had arrived.

To commemorate the occasion, Austin’s leaders organized a ceremonial driving of the last spike.  Austin businessman Colonel John H. Swisher was given the honors of swinging the mallet to tap in the spike.[2]  The Austin Democratic Statesman reported that “thousands of spectators gathered around to be present at this closing scene, and when the hammer had driven the last spike home, a yell arose from the multitude, and the joyous news flew to every part of the city, that the first railroad to Austin was complete.”[3] 

Three days later, the H&TC brought in Austin’s first passenger train – two trains actually – that carried a throng of excursionists from Houston and Galveston who made the trip to help the citizens of Austin celebrate their new railroad.  A cannon was fired, bands played, and cheers went up all around.  That night, the halls of the Texas Legislature were thrown open for a festive ball and great dining tables were set up in the Capitol to feed the multitudes of enthusiastic partygoers.[4]

            The arrival of the railroad brought with it a new prosperity.  By becoming the westernmost railroad terminus in the state and the only railroad town for miles around, Austin was transformed into a prominent trading hub for a vast area of central Texas.[5]  Construction boomed, people moved in, businesses spilled off Congress Avenue onto adjoining streets, and commerce bustled on every corner.

Typical of the way railroads were bought and sold or merged into other systems, the H&TC was sold to shipping tycoon and railroad magnate Charles Morgan in 1877.  The last vestiges of the H&TC disappeared from railroading when it was subsumed in the mid-1930s into components of the Southern Pacific (SP) Railroad system.  The final passenger train flying the SP flag left Austin in 1956.[6]

In a few short years after the arrival of the H&TC, Austin’s new-found economic vitality took a turn for the worse and the city’s robust system of commerce grounded to a halt.  The arrival of Austin’s second railroad turned things around when the International & Great Northern (I&GN) Railroad steamed into town on December 28, 1876.[7]  The I&GN rolled in from the north down the western side of town and eastward into downtown along Cypress Street (now 3^rd Street) up to Congress Avenue.

Although the I&GN was not the first railroad to serve Austin, it was the city’s major rail line for many years.[8]  Its depot was one of the busiest places in town.[9]  For sixty years, the I&GN, and its successor the Missouri Pacific (MP) Railroad, better known by railroaders as the “MoPac,” operated trains through Austin, the most renowned of which was the luxurious Texas Eagle.  The MP’s last passenger train, Train #2, pulled out of Austin on September 21, 1970.[10]

            Austin’s third railroad was the Missouri-Kansas-Texas (M-K-T) Railroad (the “Katy”), which entered Texas with regular train service on December 25, 1872.[11]  It began operations in Austin twenty years later.  The Katy had been working its way south from Dallas when a group of Austin’s leading citizens joined together to create an incentive sufficient enough to attract the railroad to Austin.  The Katy entered the city from the east side of town and stopped at Congress Avenue and Cypress Street where it served passengers at the H&TC depot.  The Texas Special was a famous train that helped the M-K-T emphasize luxurious passenger service in Austin more than any other railroad. 

            Once the age of railroads began to fade in the 1950s, the Katy survived longer than most other railroads mainly because its trains were subsidized by the federal government.  A mail contract allowed regular, but sparsely populated, passenger trains to come and go in Austin.  But tough times eventually caught up with the railroad.  When the U.S. government gave its mail business to the trucking industry, the lost revenue forced the M-K-T to give up its route through Austin.  The Katy’s last train left town on July 26, 1964.[12] 

            The arrival of the H&TC, I&GN, and the Katy set Austin on a path to become a one of the South’s most cosmopolitan communities.  The history of railroading is interwoven with the development of Austin.  The railroads aroused a sleepy town and transformed it into an urbanized city where its sights and sounds were made by people on the move.

End Notes

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[1] Kerr, Jeffrey.  Austin, Texas – Then and Now.  Austin: Promised Land Books, 2004.  p. 68-69.

[2] Brown, Frank.  Annals of Travis County and the City of Austin.  Chapter XXX.  p. 65.

[3] Austin Democratic Statesman (Austin).  “The Railroad.”  28 December 1871.  p.2.

[4] Pease, Graham, and Niles Families papers.  Letter from Governor Elisha Pease to his daughter Julie.  31 December 1871.  Box 36, folder 1.  Call #AR.A.001.  Austin History Center collection.

[5] Handbook of Texas Online, David C. Humphrey, "AUSTIN, TX (TRAVIS COUNTY)," accessed October 07, 2019, http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/hda03.

[6] Interview with Ben Sargent.  27 July 2009.  Notes available in the files of Larry McGinnis.

[7] Handbook of Texas Online, George C. Werner, "INTERNATIONAL-GREAT NORTHERN RAILROAD," accessed October 07, 2019, http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/eqi04.

[8] Willoughby, Larry.  Austin, a Historical Portrait.  Norfolk, Virginia: The Donning Company.  1981.  p. 57.

[9] Kerr.  p. 24.

[10] Kuempel, George.  Austin American-Statesman (Austin, Texas).  “Eagle Makes Last Run.”  22 September 1970.

[11] Handbook of Texas Online, Donovan L. Hofsommer, "MISSOURI-KANSAS-TEXAS RAILROAD," accessed October 07, 2019, http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/eqm08.

[12] Statesman.  “Today, Sunday Last Katy Run.”  25 July 1964.