Depot History

		The Santa Fe depot as it appeared in 1999. The origins of this building can be found in an announcement by the Gulf Colorado and Santa Fe on January 31, 1911. A copy of an article from the Dallas Morning News is shown below. An August 26, 1911 edition of the Eagle Lake Headlight states that the Santa Fe expected to handle trains at the new depot on September 1. An article in the September 2, 1911 issue mentions a social event - an American Women's Club supper - being held inside the building. The Wells Fargo & Co. Express agency was transferred to the Santa Fe depot in October of 1911. C. S. Durham is listed as the station agent. Prior to the construction of this building, the Gulf Colorado & Santa Fe Railway may have used the Galveston, Harrisburg & San Antonio (Southern Pacific) depot in Eagle Lake as a joint station. The station number assigned by the Santa Fe for Eagle Lake was 8918. W. H. Rather is shown as the agent in the Official List of Santa Fe Stations from 1906 - 1911, but a GC&SF payroll report for the year 1908 lists only a maintenance foreman in Eagle Lake proper. This may be because Rather was a Southern Pacific employee and was paid by his company, and a contract between the SP and the GC&SF took care of any payment between the two companies for the service provided by Southern Pacific. Additionally, the San Antonio & Aransas Pass Railway had a depot in downtown Eagle Lake, just north of the present day Dairy Queen. Along about 1909, a small series of articles in the Eagle Lake Headlight (local newspaper) mention the increasing desire for a new "union station" for passenger service in Eagle Lake. Citizens thought they deserved better facilities than the railroads were providing at the time. It is unclear from the newspaper articles exactly who proposed the site for this new depot, but the building would have been located where Gulf Colorado & Santa Fe crossed the Galveston Harrisburg & San Antonio (milepost 112.0 on the GC&SF) - about 1/2 mile east of downtown. An article in the August 27, 1910 edition of the Headlight states: "There has been much talk in Eagle Lake concerning the building of a union depot here by the three railroads, but the Headlight does not believe that a union depot will be erected here at any near date. The Headlight bases its belief upon the fact that the San Antonio & Aransas Pass is contemplating a change in its line coming into town from the east. This road is considering making a change in the course of its line so as to cross the Sunset [GH&SA] at a point close to where the Santa Fe crosses the same road, the crossing of the three roads to be operated jointly by an interlocking system. Until this is done, it is reasonably assured that there will be no union depot in Eagle Lake, and even then should one be built, it will undoubtedly be erected where the Santa Fe now crosses the Sunset, near the old Beakes place, and being so far out of town, a depot here would be very inconvenient to the citizens of Eagle Lake." [See the bottom image on the MAPS page to see the possible location of the proposed "union depot".] The article continues: "The Headlight for one would prefer to see the Santa Fe erect its own depot on its lot near Mr. Stoermer's grist mill and the other two roads maintain their present depots as they are now than to have a union station so far out of town." After this, the "union depot" subject seems to have disappeared (at least from the Headlight), but a July 30, 1910 article mentions a new Santa Fe depot to be constructed "near Townley's Machine Shop". An article in the Dec. 24, 1910 edition of the Headlight states: "The foundation work on the long talked of Santa Fe depot was begun last week and this road has also commenced work on a large cotton platform. We understand that a telegram was received this week ordering the depot material removed to Duke, Texas. As this paper understands it, in order for this division to hold the apportionment made for the erection of the depot here, work to the amount of at least $50 had to be made before January first or, according to railroad rules, this apportionment would be revoked and another could not be gotten before next June..." The article goes on to state that the Headlight had been censured many times the previous week for not having reported on the depot under construction, but the Headlight opined that the depot would not be completed any time soon. Nothing else is written in the Headlight regarding the Santa Fe depot until the August 28, 1911 article. The nice modern brick depot certainly put the Santa Fe in a good position by providing the local citizens with facilities more to their liking.
		Title block for Sheet #2 of the depot blueprints. Note the February 1911 date.

		Above: Floor plan L to R - Freight Room, Baggage, Colored Waiting Room, Agent's Office, White Waiting Room. At the time this depot was built, Texas law required segregated waiting rooms and the railroads operating in the state had to comply. For reference, I refer to these waiting rooms as East and West. The building plans show no restrooms. A 1923 valuation submitted to the Interstate Commerce Commission lists a 5'x10' outhouse. This would have been a 2 compartment outhouse - one for men the other for women. Above: Side elevation showing the north face of the depot - toward the tracks.
		While renovating the agent's office, I found some agent's copies of transfer ticket stubs from 1912 through 1916 for the Galveston Harrisburg & San Antonio, Houston & Texas Central, International & Great Northern, St. Louis, Brownsville & Mexico, and other railroads all stamped with the ticket dater from the Santa Fe building - which means they were sold there. [Check the ITEMS FOUND page for a sample of these].
		End elevation showing East side of building. Note the long platform and loading ramp.
		A downtown fire in 1903 caused the city to prohibit new wood frame construction in downtown Eagle Lake, so the Santa Fe deviated from their usual stucco building architecture for South Texas. Bay City, Rosenberg, Wallis, and Wharton were all provided with new Gulf Colorado & Santa Fe depots in the 1916 - 1922 time period, and they all had stucco exterior. The Eagle Lake depot is solid brick construction - not brick veneer - with walls over 1 foot thick. This type was more common in central and northern parts of Texas on the Santa Fe, but the Eagle Lake example is unique for our area.
		Above: Detail of the Santa Fe Cross Trade-mark. Right: 1901 Introduction of that logo to the public.
		As you can see in the photo at the top of this page, the Santa Fe Cross Trade-mark was applied to the ends of the depot using blue tile on a white tile background. This is a rare architectural feature not normally found on Santa Fe depots. I believe this may be the only example that exists today, and perhaps was the only one ever made this way.
		The Santa Fe closed the agency in Eagle Lake in the 1970. However, an agent is listed in "Eagle Lake" and the station number remains 8918 in the Official Lists through 1982. Retired employees have stated the railroad stopped using the Eagle Lake Santa Fe depot, and instead used a small building at Lakeside. The Santa Fe depot was eventually sold by the railroad and been in private hands ever since. It has been variously a dentist's office, beauty parlor, internet service, and apartment complex until the summer of 2000, when I purchased the building. It has been under periodic restoration ever since. I hope to have restoration completed for the centennial of the depot's opening in 2011.

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