Meadow Depot

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. The town of Meadow, out here in Terry County, has got a story that starts the way a lot of West Texas stories do: open land, cattle, and somebody deciding to put down roots. Meadow was founded in 1904, on public land that had been grazed by L-7 Ranch herds.

Wide open country, the kind that makes you feel small in the best possible way. But the original village didn't stay put. In 1917, the whole thing picked up and moved to a new site, right on the Santa Fe Railway line.

And once that railroad connection was in place, the settlers started coming. Now picture this: families rolling in with everything they owned stuffed into a single boxcar, livestock on one end, furniture on the other. That is not a metaphor.

That is just the honest truth of how people got here. And when those first settlers stepped off the train and looked around for a proper station, well, what they had was another boxcar. That was the station.

A boxcar. West Texas improvisation at its finest. But here's where the story gets a little peculiar, a little Texas.

There was a depot up in White Deer, about two hundred miles to the northeast. Built in 1911. A proper building, the kind a growing town could be proud of.

And in 1923, that depot made the long trip south and west to Meadow, and it went to work. It served this community all the way until 1965. Then, rather than let it disappear, the town was given the depot, and in 1967 they relocated it right here in the park, as a relic of the town's early development.

That old building has traveled farther than most people ever will, carried a whole community's history on its frame, and here it still stands. Some things are worth moving twice.

What the marker says

Meadow was founded in 1904 on public land grazed by L-7 Ranch herds; village moved to this site on the Santa Fe Railway line in 1917. Soon settlers were arriving with livestock in one end of a boxcar, furniture in the other. A boxcar was used as a station. This depot was built in 1911 at White Deer (200 mi. NE), moved here in 1923, used until 1965, then given to the community and relocated in the park (1967) as a relic of the town's early development. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1975