DUANE
Get the App
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railroad Depot in Carson County. Now, when the oil boom came roaring through in the 1920s, this railroad town didn't just sit back and watch the money flow. Business picked up, and when business picks up, a town starts thinking bigger.
So in 1928, they built a new depot. And not just any depot. This was a building that couldn't quite make up its mind which style it wanted to be, and honestly, that's part of the charm.
You've got Prairie School in there. You've got Mission. You've got Tudor.
Three distinct architectural traditions, all pulled together into one brick structure sitting out on the Texas plain. Look up and you'll notice the bracketed overhangs. Look at the walls and you'll find those stepped parapets.
Look at the windows and you'll see the cast stone surrounds framing every one of them. Somebody was proud of this building, and they built it to show. Here's something worth sitting with.
This depot was one of the last brick depots built on the company's entire western lines. One of the last. By 1971, passenger service had come and gone, the trains no longer stopping to let travelers step onto that platform.
The depot went quiet. But quiet isn't the same as finished. In 1985, the building became City Hall.
A place that once welcomed travelers passing through is now where the business of the town itself gets done. Some buildings, it turns out, are just too well built to walk away from.
What the marker says
The 1920s oil boom brought increased business to this railroad town,and a new depot was built here in 1928. The structure exhibits elements of the Prairie School, Mission, and Tudor styles of architecture. Prominent features include bracketed overhangs, stepped parapets, and cast stone window surrounds. One of the last brick depots built on the company's western lines, it was last used for passenger service in 1971. It became City Hall in 1985.