STTM site
Texas Transportation Museum
11731 Wetmore Road, San Antonio, TX 78247
(210)490-3554
The Missouri Pacific / International & Great Northern Railroad in San Antonio
by Hugh Hemphill
Author of "The Railroads of San Antonio and South Central Texas"
and "San Antonio on Wheels"
We wish to thank to the Generations Federal Credit Union, formerly known as
"San Antonio City Employees Federal Credit Union" and in
particular, it's president, Mr. Tim Haegelin. They were most gracious and allowed almost
unlimited access to their treasure trove of material about the former depot and their
restoration effort.
We are further obligated to both the Institute of Texan Cultures and the San
Antonio Conservation Society. Both of this incredible organizations perform a fantastic job maintaining
unsurpassed archives of the life and times of this glorious and multi-faceted city.
CLICK ON THUMB NAIL PICTURES TO ENLARGE
San Antonio gained a second railroad connection in 1881 with the arrival of the International
and Great Northern. This line provided two very important links. It ran north to Longview,
Texas, where it connected with other elements of the Missouri Pacific, providing the city with
a vital link to the rest of the country. It ran south west
to Laredo, and the lucrative trade with Mexico. With the Southern Pacific running east to
Houston and west to California, San Antonio became a central point for trade in all directions and
the city grew as a result of it being at the crossroads of these two great railroads. The
I & G.N. would become one of the oldest and most important parts of the eventual Missouri Pacific
system, spanning a total of 1,106 miles.
1890's I & GN rolling stock
The International & Great Northern Railroad began service to San Antonio on 1/1/1881. The company
line began as the International Railway Company in 1870. It was planned to build to Arkansas near a
point on the red river and make connections to a railroad under construction from St. Louis. Construction began in Hearne and
Palestine was reached in 1872. Longview, which would become the company's most northern point, was
reached the following year. In 1873, the company joined forces with the slightly older Houston
and Great Northern. The H & GN had built to Palestine from Houston. The new company began
its southward trek and reached Austin in 1876. The I & G.N.
went into receivership on 4/1/1878 and came out on 11/1/1879. It went into receivership again in
1881 and permission from the creditors had to be sought in order for the additional 153.7 miles
from San Antonio to Laredo could be completed, which they were on 12/31/1881. Also in 1881, Jay Gould gained control of the I & G.N.
when it was leased to the Missouri Kansas Texas, which was itself leased to the Missouri Pacific.
For all intents and purposes the three were run as if they were one company, despite a lack of
legal formalities.
Two very rare pictures of the FIRST I & GN depot in San Antonio, 1893, from TTM's own collection.
Click here for pictures and text about the I & GN and the MKT in •New Braunfels•
Click here for pictures and text about the I & GN and the MKT in •San Marcos•
Click •Lytle, Devine & Pearsall• for
information about the I & GN in Lytle, Devine & Pearsall.
The first I & GN depot in San Antonio was nowhere near as impressive as the one that would replace it and which
still survives today. Nevertheless, it indicated a serious commitment on behalf of the
railroad to providing service to the rapidly growing city which, with the help of the railroads,
would become the largest in Texas from 1900 to 1930. The depot was a frame building with a
lunch room, waiting room, ticket office and an express baggage room. The city extended mule
drawn street car service to the depot almost immediately. The first electric traffic light
erected in San Antonio was put in on Commerce Street opposite from this older depot in 1900, so
business was obviously good.
Original depot architect, Harvey L. Page, plus modern renovation
architectural drawings, showing the original layout
The "replacement" depot was begun in 1906, opened in 1907 and completed in 1908. It was
significantly grander in every respect and, as a cathedral of commerce, it reflected the
optimism of the era and the central role of the railroad within the economy. It was designed by Harvey L. Page (1859-1934), and built by
the James Stewart & Co. Building company, whose main office was conveniently located
immediately opposite the depot on Medina
Street. Mr. Page moved to San Antonio in 1900 with his second wife, in part to escape the scandal which was a divorce back in
those days. The depot is one of the remaining Page buildings. Two other significant ones are Temple Bethel and the Masonic Temple,
in San Antonio. The depot is square, 110 X 110 feet, and the dome is 88 feet high. The Indian, of course, adds a few more.
Mr. Page was justifiably proud of the depot and described it as his "Taj Mahal."
The magnificent depot was completed in 1908. It is a most impressive structure, which was exactly the intent
of it's architect and the railroad It is made of compressed brick and stone and cost, even back then,
some $142,000.00. Hardly chump change. The amazing thing is how often the railroad was
foreclosed on and put into receivership, and yet the trains ran, buildings like this one were
constructed, locomotives and rolling stock were bought, then replaced by larger, stronger, faster
types. Great railroad empires are made from and comprised of, a national system, regional feeder
systems and any number of smaller district lines that connect to them. In 1881 the rather famous,
indeed notorious, Jay Gould gained control of the I & G.N. while it was in
receivership. Mr. Gould's management of the I.& G.N., The Missouri Kansas Texas and the Texas
Pacific led to the rise of James Hogg to the governorship of Texas in 1890 on a platform of
bringing the railroads under control. The I & G.N. was singled out as being particularly unsafe.
As a result, Gould's monopoly was broken and the various companies regained independence.
Gould died in 1892. His family and supporters did retain control of the I & GN. This hold was
not broken until around 1917. The company remained closely allied with the Missouri Pacific, but
the relationship was one of ownership and was not legally set out in any other way.
The I & G.N. was foreclosed upon on 7/28/22 and re-chartered on 8/17/22, under more
or less the same name. Regardless of the foreclosure, many improvements had been made and profits
were rising at this time. The Frisco & Rock Island contracted with the receivers to buy the line
but the Missouri Pacific successfully fought the purchase at the Interstate Commerce Commission on the basis
that I & G.N has been used preferentially for Missouri Pacific traffic to Laredo for forty years.
Acting for Missouri Pacific, the railroad was bought on 6/20/24 by the New Orleans, Texas &
Mexican Railway Company, which was then bought outright by Missouri Pacific in 1925.
'MOPAC' then went into receivership itself in 1933, for 23 years! It was re-organized as the
Missouri Pacific in 1956. It is worth noting that the final Missouri Pacific system in Texas comprised of
thirteen lines. None were chartered or originally controlled by MOPAC. It participated in the
construction of only two lines. And five, including The Gulf Coast Lines were at one time
controlled by another system.
Two smaller local railroads were absorbed by the Missouri Pacific; the San Antonio
Uvalde & Gulf Railroad in 1925 and the San Antonio Southern, formerly known as the Artesian
Belt in 1927. Both already used IGN lines and its station within San Antonio. The SAU & G line to
Corpus Christi became the main line serving that city and San Antonio. (When the Southern Pacific
acquired the San Antonio & Aransas Pass, also in 1925, it downgraded the SAAP line to secondary
status and leased use of the "Sausage," as the SAU & G was affectionately known. The San Antonio
Southern was purchased in 1927. It ran due south from the south west tip of Bexar County to
a town called Christine, crossing the SAU & G at Jourdanton. Neither became part of the IGN,
however. They were officially part of the MP's "Gulf Coast Lines," which, along with the
Texas & Pacific, was another "division" of the Missouri Pacific operations in Texas.
Click •S.A.U. & G.• for
a full history of the S.A.U. & G.
Click •S.A.S.• for a full
history of the S.A.S.
The IGN stretched from Laredo through San Antonio to Longview. There, via other parts of the
Missouri Pacific passengers could continue through Texarkana, on into Arkansas and eventually reached St. Louis,
Missouri. You could get to Dallas by switching at Longview. You could get to Fort Worth by
switching at Valley Junction, outside of Hearne. However, the MKT ran directly to Fort Worth and
Dallas and was, therefore, the more popular carrier to those cities. In 1930, there were three MOPAC "name"
trains in both directions daily in San Antonio. "The Sunshine Special" arrived in San Antonio
at 8:30 PM, twenty-six hours after leaving St. Louis. There was a connection in Texarkana for
passengers traveling from Memphis, Tennessee. The train reached Laredo at 6:30 PM the following
day. "The Texan" arrived in San Antonio at 4:50 PM, and also took 26 hours from St. Louis. "The
Southerner" began in Chicago. It left at 6:50 PM daily. It ran through St. Louis, and arrived
at its terminus in San Antonio at 8:45 AM, 40 hours, 15 minutes later. If you set off on a Sunday,
you arrived on a Tuesday. There were a few other trains as well, including one to Houston but,
again, this was by an indirect route and another carrier, the Southern Pacific, offered faster and
more frequent service. There were two trains a day in each direction to Corpus Christi, the
211 / 212 and the 215 / 216. 215 left San Antonio at 10:15 PM and reached Corpus Christi at
4:30 AM. 215 left at 10:40 AM and arrived at the coast at 3:45 PM. Both took more or less six
hours to travel the 150 miles. (Both trains had a parlor buffet.) There was one train a day
each way from North Pleasanton to Carrizo Springs, departing at 7:00 AM, not very convenient for
either of the trains leaving San Antonio. In addition, there was one mixed train every day except
Sunday to Christine. Train 257 left at 8:00 AM and arrived in Christine, 54.6 miles away, at
11:15 AM, three hours and fifteen minutes. The departed on the return leg at 11:30 AM and was back
at the IGN depot at 3:45 PM.
Like other railroads, the Missouri Pacific could not directly operate a railroad within Texas until the 1950s. It had to have a subsidiary company
that was headquartered and operated in Texas. Created during the Gould years, the Missouri
Pacific system within Texas was largely operated independently by the
International & Great Northern, Gulf Coast Lines and the Texas & Pacific. The T & P was formed with the original intent of reaching California. The
Southern Pacific beat them to it using the surveyed land the Missouri Pacific had a claim to. The final result became The T & P stretched
almost to El Paso and then had trackage rights on the S.P.'s line. The I & G.N. remained an independent unit of the Missouri Pacific
system until 1956 when it was folded into the parent company following its emergence from
receivership, which had been entered into in 1933.
Passenger travel by train began to decline long before WW II. As roads improved, and cars became more affordable and reliable, people relished the
independence that automobiles gave them. Modern airliners after the war were simply the nail in
the coffin. Railroads evolved into being exclusively freight carriers, and long distance passenger service,
despite the introduction of new streamliners like the "Texas Eagle," which replaced the "Sunshine Special,"
really became a thing of the past. One by one, railroads abandoned passenger service, except for
higher density commuter services in the north east of the country. Soon, once independent companies
began to consolidate into huge conglomerates. Long gone are competing lines to the same destinations, and huge freight trains whistle past boarded up depots, those that have not been
demolished, that is. The Missouri Pacific was eventually bought by the Union Pacific on December 22, 1982. Only shadows of a once glorious past
exist, because in our haste, so much was allowed to be destroyed.
But, for over sixty years, travel by rail was the only common sense way to go. Rails united the country. The first Texas legislatures after the civil war did everything
they could to connect Texas to the rest of the country. Politics and greed impeded progress, of course, and certainly that has not changed much, except now its the airlines
begging for money to keep going. Governor Hogg made sure no line could be chartered in Texas that was not controlled in Texas and created the Railroad commission to ensure Texans
were served equally and fairly. Well, up to a point. Racial discrimination persisted, as you can see from the floor plans of the original depot. San Antonio can be proud of
the fact it was the first city in the south to desegregate public services. Eleanor Roosevelt, who after WW II would perform almost heroic feats of diplomacy with regards
to the Declaration of Human Rights by the United Nations - try arguing about that with a representative of Josef Stalin - is seen here arriving at the MOPAC depot in 1937.
A variety of Missouri Pacific locomotives
The most profitable time for passenger service was during the year's of WW II. Prior to the war,
the Missouri-Kansas-Texas line was the most popular, but after the war Missouri Pacific and
Southern Pacific dominated trade. But business was diminishing and once proud trains, such as
the "Eagle," which began in Laredo and ran all the way to St. Louis, became pale shadows of
their former selves. By 1965, only one train a day left from San Antonio, a far cry from the
dozens of departures and arrivals the depot once handled. 'Eagle' service was unceremoniously
discontinued on 9/22/1970. The train had two passenger cars, carrying ten people from Laredo. Ironically, no passengers boarded
in San Antonio. And that was it. The local papers reported the end of the line for the Eagle a day or so later, with a sense of
awe, that something everyone had taken for granted for so long was no more. Train enthusiasts were shocked that there had been no announcement
ahead of time, which, at the very least, would have afforded them one last ride. They could not have saved it. According to Missouri-Pacific,
the train was losing $50,000 a year.
When AMTRAK took over passenger service, the Eagle did continue to stop at the depot, for a while. But,
because the building was boarded up, you had to get your ticket at the old Southern Pacific depot,
thirteen blocks to the east on Commerce Street. The "Eagle" name is still in use by AMTRAK.
An interesting T.T.M. postscript to Missouri Pacific passenger service is that the museum's owned
observation car, the "Clover Glade," former MKT #1511, was regularly used for trips down to Laredo.
This was a time when there were loads of surplus, unwanted, passenger cars literally hanging around.
Most of these cars did not survive due to neglect and vandalism, and most were scrapped, although some
were used by AMTRAK, which ran just about whatever was available in its early days. T.T.M.s trips lasted
from 1967 to 1971. The "Clover Glade," which was restored by the museum, still survives but not
at TTM. It is now at railroad museum in Temple.
On January 8, 1980, to a stunned reception, it was announced that the 11,469 mile Missouri Pacific was to be sold to the 9,420 mile Union Pacific. The takeover had been kept
very secret up till that point. It would also include Western Pacific, which the Union Pacific already owned, more or less. According to the 4,300 page document
presented to the Interstate Commerce Commission, the resulting system would have 22,800 miles of track, 54,000 employees and be run by a new company, Pacific Rail Systems,
Inc. Ten other railroads, particularly the Southern Pacific, and also the Santa Fe, lodged furious legal campaigns to thwart the merger, which, along with many hearings,
took two years to resolve. With the granting of trackage rights to a few competitors, the merger was approved on 9/13/1982 and, final legal appeals to the Supreme Court
having been denied, was put into effect at 2:55 PM on December 22, 1982.
In May of 1984, the Missouri Pacific announced it was adopting the Union Pacific's yellow and
gray color scheme and that it's locomotives and other rolling stock was to be renumbered to avoid
conflict with Union Pacific equipment. As the merger progressed, Missouri Pacific identity
began to fade completely. The last MOPAC locomotive acquisitions were made in 1987. By 1992,
the name was gone. However, it is commonly believed that it was Missouri Pacific management
who were really in charge of the new conglomerate. In subsequent take overs and "mergers"
acquired companies would be integrated into the UP empire much faster. The MKT is totally
invisible now. It is hard to find anything but a faint trace of its existence. You still
see a lot of Missouri Pacific rolling stock in its original paint even after all this time.
Like wise Southern Pacific locomotives and rolling stock, as that merger is less than ten years
old. It is worth noting that many railroad historians consider that it was the take over of
the Missouri Pacific by the Union Pacific that led to the eventual down fall of the Southern Pacific.
The massive new company would prove to be impossible either to emulate or compete with alone. The
Southern Pacific also end up being "merged" with the UP in 1996.
The magnificent depot was vacated by the Missouri Pacific around 1970 and lay desolate and abandoned for over fifteen years. This author
has been able to see (and is now able to present here) some pictures of the building just before the San Antonio City
Employees Federal Credit Union, now called Generations FCU, began a full
restoration. The dome was in tatters, and most of the windows were smashed, including the large I & GN stained glass windows. Plaster had fallen from the
walls, and interior column plinths were decayed and cracked. Detritus of every imaginable kind was strewn everywhere. Though the building
was listed on the Register of Historic Places in 1975, that in itself failed to halt the decline in the building's structural integrity.
We really should appreciate the phenomenal bravery of the credit union. No one else dared to attempt to rescue this
building, which was right on the edge of being too far gone to save.
The recent discovery of a long lost file at the Texas Transportation Museum brings to
light an abortive attempt on the part of the museum to buy the station in 1971. Included in the
file were some rare photographs of the station and its surroundings, including the baggage room
and REA building located immediately behind the main building. The file also contained an undated
map showing the many buildings, including a large freight depot, that were on Commerce Street
before the bridge elevating traffic high over the tracks was completed some time in the 1960s.
Click •MOPAC station in 1971•for more details.
A stair case with a history. From 1907, to the 1980s and the present.
Missouri Pacific sold the building in 1972 to a private owner, who himself sold it three years later, having failed to find a use for it. A
Jerusalem native, Efraim Abramoff, president of Orah Walls Construction bought it in 1975. Mr. Abramoff, only resident in San Antonio for six years at the time, bought the building out of a desire to see it maintained for the future, and also because it reminded
him of buildings in his old home town. During the buildings abandoned years, some twenty different proposals were put forward. The first owner tried to make the place
into a heritage center, with an upscale restaurant upstairs. Another very serious proposal was from the Veteran's
Administration, who considered using the place as an outpatient and benefit center. All those plans fell through, while time, theft and vandalism continued to take its toll on the
structure.
Of particular interest to intrepid thieves was the brass on the dome. And, of course, once this was gone, the roof was no longer water tight and decay was
accelerated even further. A fire on 6/4/82, probably started accidentally by vagrants, hardly helped matters.
Two more pictures of the Indian are coming soon.
Also in 1982, the year that Missouri Pacific was bought by Union Pacific, the Indian which had stood atop the dome for so many years, mysteriously vanished. A concerned local business owner had been warning the authorities
for some time that the statue did not seem to be stable and might come crashing down. When it did indeed go missing, she rallied quite a hue and cry, which drew in
not only the police but the city council and even the FBI. The statue, which by this time was being speculated to weigh two tons and be of solid brass, was discovered
in an abandoned lot only blocks from the depot. Badly damaged, even shot twice, the poor old relic was retrieved and put into long term storage. It was a banner day for
the building and a feather in the headband of City Employees credit union on the day the statue, fully refurbished at considerable expense by the credit union, was restored
to its lofty vantage point.
San Antonio City Employees Federal Credit Union spent a phenomenal amount to restore the building. They have maintained both its exterior and interior integrity
and have created for themselves and their members a fantastic main office while helping to ensure the future of this outstanding
building for future generations. Their efforts, made with the guidance of several civic organizations, particularly the very effective
San Antonio Conservation Society, a group which has done so much to save the soul of San Antonio, attracted a lot of attention and won the
credit union a good many awards. A wonderful building has been saved and put back into public service. Trains still use the adjacent tracks.
With only a modicum of imagination, you could be back in the old days. San Antonians should count themselves lucky.
As you have seen in previous pictures, the three main stained glass windows were destroyed. Once the credit union decided to take over the building, they had to decide
what to put in these gaping holes. Of course, it would have been entirely legitimate to put in something that indicated their own institution. Even the Missouri Pacific
railroad covered one of them up with their own logo. But, in keeping with the credit union's decision to
maintain the integrity of the original structure, they decided to restore the originals as closely as possible. Blacks Art Glass was
commissioned. They recreated the windows from old photographs and used shards of the original glass,
scattered around the interior for color matching. The price? A mere $50,000!
The full story of the credit union's decision to acquire and restore this building could easily be the subject of a good sized book. They were only ten days away from signing
on some land several blocks away from the depot on which the were going to build a brand new building. They were asked to give the old depot a look over by city officials. This
author cannot imagine the process by which it was decided to give up the new building and take this instead. In case you think they were offered financial incentives, grants or
tax abatements, be aware neither were they offered nor were they requested. For a variety of reasons
almost beyond the imagination, they opted to bring the building back to
public use. Furthermore, although they were at liberty to do what ever they pleased with what was essentially a wrecked structure, they decided to take the high road and do it
right. The restoration cost $3.1 million. This was less than they would have paid for their new building. The project came in under budget and ahead of schedule. James Resnick
was the project architect.
Of the original structure's 19,000 square feet, only 7,000 was usable office space. The credit union decided to add an extension to the track side of the building. Though
the new wing is not an exact copy of the old building in every detail, most people, including, I admit, this author, would be fooled into thinking it was. It is located where
once the old track shades and sheds once stood. From the front, the windows match and even on the track side, the various openings match those on the old exterior wall, which is still there, only
now as an inner wall. Justifiably, the restoration has received much praise and many, many awards. The National Trust for Historic Preservation named them in their list of fifteen best projects
in 1988. It was the only project in Texas to make the list and the first time ever for San Antonio since the awards were begun in 1946. The Texas
Historical Commission followed suit, as did the San Antonio Conservation Society.
Images of the main San Antonio MOPAC station while abandoned and also of the Wetmore depot
San Antonio is a city that cares deeply about its past. To this day you can take a very good replica of an old street car for just a few cents to the old depot, among other places.
The San Antonio City Employees Credit Union embody this spirit remarkably well. With no one standing over their shoulders telling them what they had to do, they set about saving this
wonderful old building in such a way both city residents and visitors can be very proud.
Images of the MOPAC Monte Vista depot in San Antonio
Click here for pictures and text about the I & GN and the MKT in •New Braunfels•
Click here for pictures and text about the I & GN and the MKT in •San Marcos•
For more information . . .
BOOKS
ROUTE OF THE EAGLES, Greg Stout, Whiteriver Productions
MISSOURI PACIFIC DIESEL POWER, Kevin Eudaly, Whiteriver Productions
WEB SITES
Missouri Pacific Historical Society – http://mopac.org/
A wonderful place to get further acquainted with Mopac.
Screaming Eagles Over the Prairie – www.trainweb.org/screamingeagle/
Another excellent site with tons of MOPAC information.
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