H. & T. C. Railroad

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm gonna do it justice. Back in 1866, a group of Waco men got a charter. That charter was for the Waco and Northwestern Railroad, a subsidiary of the Houston and Texas Central, and it set something in motion that this part of Texas had been waiting on.

The tracks crept closer, mile by mile, until September 18, 1872, when they finally reached Waco. And when they did, somebody decided the moment deserved a little ceremony. John T.

Flint, president of the Waco and Northwestern, took charge as master of ceremonies. Now, for the honor of driving the last spike, they didn't pick just anybody. They picked George Barnard, the area's first merchant, a man who had been doing business here since the 1840s.

And the spike he drove wasn't iron. It was gold. Driven right into the last rail.

Then came the first train. Cotton moved out. Goods moved in.

Waco was open for business on a scale that the region hadn't seen before. The railroad drew from a wide area, and it could do that in part because of something else Flint and other civic-minded men had already put in place, the Brazos River suspension bridge, built between 1868 and 1870. That bridge pulled traffic in, and the railroad carried it forward.

One man, two landmarks, one town finding its footing. George Barnard swung the hammer. The gold spike went in.

And Waco hasn't been the same since.

What the marker says

Waco & Northwestern Railroad (a subsidary of Houston & Texas Central) was built under charter given Waco group in 1866. When tracks reached Waco, Sept. 18, 1872, W. & N.W. president John T. Flint was master of ceremonies as the area's first merchant of the 1840's, George Barnard, drove a gold spike into the last rail. Then came the first train. The railroad moved cotton and other goods out and in, enabling Waco to serve great volumes of traffic drawn from area by the Brazos River suspension bridge, built 1868-1870, also by Flint and other civic-minded men.