Katy Depot

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm gonna do it justice. You're lookin' at the Katy Depot in Hill County, and this little building has got more history packed into it than you might expect from a train station. Let me set the scene.

The Missouri-Kansas-Texas Rail Line, the one everybody called the Katy, came rollin' into Hillsboro in 1881. Now that's a railroad arrivin' with purpose, and a growing town took notice. But the depot you're looking at right now, this one with all its architectural flair, that didn't come along until 1902.

Completed that year, it features elements of the Eastlake, Victorian, and Prairie styles all at once. Somebody wanted that station to make a statement, and friend, it did. Now here's where the story gets interesting.

The early MKT trains weren't just movin' freight and timber and supplies for the growing town, though they did all of that. They also brought people. Residents puttin' down roots.

And then, every so often, somebody a little more famous stepped off that train. We're talkin' presidents. Woodrow Wilson.

William Taft. Calvin Coolidge. Harry Truman.

Four presidents of these United States, passin' through Hillsboro on the Katy line. Think about that the next time you figure a small Texas town is off the beaten path. But here's the twist at the end of the tale.

The building you're standin' near today is not where it started. In 1978, the depot was moved here from its original site. Picked up and relocated, history and all.

Some things are worth the trouble of movin'. The Katy Depot is one of them.

What the marker says

This depot was built to serve the Missouri-Kansas-Texas (Katy) Rail Line, which reached Hillsboro in 1881. Completed in 1902, the station features elements of the Eastlake, Victorian, and Prairie styles. Early MKT trains carried materials for the growing town and brought early residents and such notables as presidents Woodrow Wilson, William Taft, Calvin Coolidge, and Harry Truman. The building was moved here from the original site in 1978. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1980