St. Louis and San Francisco (Frisco) Railway Depot

Duane's take

The way the marker tells it, here's the story of the old Frisco depot standing in Comanche County. The Fort Worth and Rio Grande Railway pushed its tracks all the way to Comanche in 1890, and when they arrived, they didn't just drop off passengers and keep moving. They built depots and a section house, planting roots right there in the soil of Comanche County.

Then, in 1901, the St. Louis and San Francisco Railway came along and acquired the line, and that outfit, known to just about everybody as the Frisco, had its own ideas about what a proper depot ought to look like. Because in 1909, they tore out that earlier frame structure and put up something worth remembering.

One story of brick and limestone, prairie school style, with a rectangular floor plan and wide overhanging eaves and a hipped terra cotta tile roof. Now that's a building that knows what it is. It doesn't apologize for taking up space.

From the day it opened in 1909 all the way through to 1969, that depot was the local passenger train station. Generations of Comanche County folks walked through those doors, hauling trunks and hatboxes, saying their goodbyes, watching somebody they loved disappear down the tracks. When passenger service ended, the depot didn't quit.

It kept on working freight traffic for another dozen years after that. And when the rail line was finally abandoned, when the last reason to call it a railroad depot had come and gone, the building was rehabilitated for community use. Some buildings outlast their first purpose.

This one made sure of it.

What the marker says

The Fort Worth and Rio Grande Railway extended tracks to Comanche in 1890 and built depots and a section house. The St. Louis and San Francisco Railway acquired the line in 1901, and in 1909 built this depot to replace an earlier frame structure. The one-story brick and limestone prairie school style building has a rectangular floor plan, wide overhanging eaves, and a hipped terra cotta tile roof. It operated as the local passenger train station from the time of its construction until 1969. The depot served freight traffic for another dozen years before the rail line was abandoned. The building was then rehabilitated for community use.