Railroads in Ennis

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker in Ennis has to say, and friend, this is one worth hearing. Railroads built this town, plain and simple, and railroads just about buried it too. Pull up a seat and let's walk through it.

The Houston and Texas Central Railroad laid tracks through Corsicana on its way to Dallas in 1871. The very next year, 1872, a town was platted along that line on 647 acres. The man who picked the land was Captain W.

G. Veale, and the town that rose up on it was named for a railroad official by the name of Colonel Cornelius Ennis. Named for a railroad man.

That tells you something about who held the cards around here. Now the Houston and Texas Central, the H&TC as folks called it, set up something substantial in Ennis. A roundhouse.

Machine shops. The northern division headquarters. And there was an agreement, a real agreement, that those shops would never be moved as long as Ennis could supply water for them.

The town took that seriously. Two lakes were built for exactly that purpose, one in 1891, another in 1895. The community was not going to let those shops walk out the door.

Then in 1882 the H&TC started extending a line from nearby Garrett all the way to Paris. Railroad magnate Hetty Green purchased that line in 1892. Two years later, in 1894, the extension reached Ennis, and the line got a new name: the Texas Midland Railroad.

So now Ennis had roots running in more than one direction. But wait, because there's another layer to this story, and it rides on electric wire instead of steam. The Southern Traction Company was chartered on March 12, 1912.

By October 20, 1913, it was running an interurban line from Dallas all the way to Corsicana, right through the middle of Ennis. You could trace the route if you knew the streets: down McKinney, a turn onto Baylor, one block east, then south on Dallas Street. And in Dallas that line connected to Southern Traction's route to Waco.

Ennis was sitting at a real crossroads. Southern Traction merged with Texas Traction in 1917, and the interurban kept running, kept connecting, kept humming along. Until it didn't.

The interurban railway was abandoned in February of 1941. The rail line to Paris was abandoned between Ennis and Kaufman in 1942. And the Texas Midland lines, all of them, were closed by 1975.

One by one the threads got cut. But here's where the story takes one more turn. At the dawn of the 21st century, that original Houston and Texas Central line, the one that started all of this back in 1871, was still there.

Still running. Owned and operated by the Union Pacific Railroad. The town that was platted on 647 acres because a railroad needed somewhere to go, well, a railroad was still going there.

Some roots go deeper than the tracks you can see.

What the marker says

The Houston and Texas Central Railroad built tracks through Corsicana en route to Dallas in 1871. In 1872 the town of Ennis was platted along this line on 647 acres selected by Captain W. G. Veale. The town was named for railroad official Colonel Cornelius Ennis. The Houston and Texas Central (H&TC) began an extension from nearby Garrett to the town of Paris in 1882. Railroad magnate Hetty Green purchased the line in 1892. The line was extended to Ennis in 1894, and the railroad was named the Texas Midland Railroad. As a result of high community involvement, Ennis became a division point. The H&TC established a roundhouse, machine shops and its northern division headquarters here with the agreement that the shops would never be moved while Ennis could supply water for them. Two lakes were built for this purpose in 1891 and 1895. The Southern Traction Company was chartered on March 12, 1912, and operated an interurban line from Dallas to Corsicana via Ennis beginning October 20, 1913. The interurban line in Ennis ran along McKinney Street, turned onto Baylor Street, continued east one block and then proceeded south on Dallas Street. In Dallas, the interurban connected to Southern Traction's line to Waco. Southern Traction merged with Texas Traction in 1917. The interurban railway was abandoned in February 1941. The rail line to Paris was abandoned between Ennis and Kaufman in 1942, and all Texas Midland lines were closed by 1975. At the dawn of the 21st century, the Houston and Texas Central Railroad line that established Ennis was owned and operated by the Union Pacific Railroad. (2000)