Additional Information and Photos Page

Missouri Pacific Station in San Antonio, 1971

In 2006, an intriguing folder was located at the Texas Transportation Museum, detailing an abortive effort on the part of the museum to acquire in 1971 the recently shuttered Missouri Pacific station at the corner of Commerce and Medina Streets. Included in the copious but ultimately fruitless correspondence, which includes letters to and from MOPAC, the San Antonio mayor, the San Antonio Conservation Society and even US Representative Henry B. Gonzalez, were a number of tiny photographs and an undated area map detail showing the location of many forgotten aspects of MOPAC's operations in down town San Antonio.

Modern technology has allowed for a generous enlargement of the photographs. Included are some extremely rare images of the baggage room and REA offices located immediately behind the station. More searching just might reveal images of the freight house and the turntable on the other side of the tracks, now we know what to look for.

As well as its main station downtown, the Missouri Pacific had two other stations in San Antonio. The first was built very early, around 1881, just north of the intersection of Thousand Oaks and Wetmore Road, which was named for a vice president of the International & Great Northern Railroad, the MOPAC-owned company that arrived in San Antonio in 1881. At this time, the location was absolutely in the middle of nowhere, and it was hoped the depot would be a boon to development and serve several dairy farms in the area. The Texas Transportation Museum nearby at this location was created on such land. The second station opened on January 5, 1926, in the then-very swanky new suburb of Monte Vista, a few miles north of downtown. Serving new, wealthy suburbs was all the rage at that time. The suburban station was considered the first of its kind in Texas. Folks could arrange to have their luggage picked up by the REA (the Railway Express Agency) and put on board the train downtown, or they could simply arrive at the uncrowded suburban depot when the train was due. The Wetmore depot was closed in the 1950s. The last passenger train to stop at the Monte Vista depot was on July 31, 1961.

Missouri Pacific freight operations in San Antonio

In the beginning, the Missouri Pacific handed most of its freight business from a small yard called San Fernando, adjacent to the passenger station but increasing demand and larger trains required the construction of a dedicated freight yard further south. Known as the SoSan yard, it first opened in 1917. Greatly expanded, it still in service today, though itself eclipsed by an even newer facility called Southon near Von Ormy. SoSan remains a major repair facility and multiple storage tracks. As train operations changed in the 1960s to encompass ever larger trains, the San Fernando yard adjacent to the old passenger station was eclipsed and closed down. The turntable was removed around 1964. The original fright depot across Commerce Street from the passenger station was demolished to make way for a major bridge to carry road traffic high over the tracks, getting rid of a major traffic bottleneck on this important route in and out of downtown.

Missouri Pacific locomotives assigned to the San Antonio area were given numbers in the 1000 range. Many were previously owned by smaller companies acquired by MOPAC. Often an identifier of its origin would be maintained on the locomotive, although exactly what purpose this served in unclear other than nostalgia. The round house at Commerce and Comal was once a bustling place, as was the whole area. High school students were employed to take train orders by bicycle from the signal tower near the old freight house to crews waiting in the often stifling locomotive cabs. One such young man in the early 1940s was Chuck Hustler who soon enlisted in the navy. We are grateful to Keith Jordan, a recently retired MOPAC engineer, for some of the above these pictures and information.

Missouri Pacific in San Antonio Timeline

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1851

The Missouri Pacific (MOPAC) RR is formed

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1866

The Houston & Great Northern RR (H & GN) is formed

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1870

The International Railway Company (IRC) is formed

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1873

The International & Great Northern (I & GN) is formed by the merger of the IRC and the H &GN

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1881

January. The I & GN builds into San Antonio, goes into receivership yet manages to reach Laredo by December under the control of Jay Gould's MOPAC, which leases the I & GN to another of his subsidiary companies, the Missouri, Kansas & Texas (MK & T)

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1891

In a a wave of anti-railroad sentiment where Gould is singed out as the worst kind of operator, he loses control of the MK & T but manages to keep the I & GN

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1900

San Antonio's first traffic control device, a stop sign, is erected near the original I & GN passenger depot

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1907

A new, grand, passenger station is opened by the I & GN at the corner of Commerce and Medina. A freight depot operates on the other side of Commerce Street. A small yard complete with round house and turntable is nearby. The I & GN also operates a much bigger freight facility called the East Yard accessed from Quintana Road on the south east of the city.

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1915

MOPAC begins operating the "Sunshine Special" from Laredo through Arkansas and points north. Other passenger trains include "The Texan" and "The Southerner."

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1922

The I & GN is purchased at a foreclosure sale by the St. Louis - San Francisco, (SLSF), often referred to as the Frisco. MOPAC challenges the purchase in court, and wins.

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1924

The I & GN is formally by MOPAC's New Orleans, Texas & Mexican (NOTM) division

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1925

The NOTM division is formally acquired by MOPAC and folded into its Gulf Coast Lines (GCL) division

MOPAC acquires the San Antonio, Uvalde & Gulf (SAU & G) and folds into its Gulf Coast Lines (GCL) division

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1926

MOPAC acquires the Asherton & Gulf and folds into its Gulf Coast Lines (GCL) division

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1927

MOPAC acquires the San Antonio Southern (S A S) and folds into its Gulf Coast Lines (GCL) division

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1933

MOPAC goes into receivership from which it will not emerge for 23 years.

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1948

MOPAC introduces the diesel-electric powered, stream-lined "Texas Eagle" between Laredo and St. Louis. Complete with air-conditioning, the train is very popular in the immediate post WW2 era.

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1952

The "Sunshine Special" is pulled by a steam locomotive for the last time, signifying the end of MOPAC steam power

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1956

MOPAC exits receivership

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1958

MOPAC abandons the old A & G line to Asherton

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1959

MOPAC abandons the old SAU & G line between Pleasanton and Gardendale

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1963

MOPAC abandons the old S.A.S. line to Jordanton

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1965

Passenger service from the MOPAC railroad station in San Antonio is down to just one train a day, the "Texas Eagle."

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1970

MOPAC ends "Texas Eagle" service and shutters its passenger station. The old freight station is lost when a bridge to carry Commerce Street traffic over the railroad tracks is built. The nearby yard is closed. The Bexar County Jail occupies some of the land once used by the yard.

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1975

The once magnificent MOPAC station in San Antonio, now in serious disrepair which will continue for another ten years, is placed on the national register of historic places

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1980

MOPAC announces its merger with the Union Pacific. MOPAC is actually the larger of the two in terms of track miles but, when the deal is finally given federal approval two years later, it is the Missouri Pacific which loses its identity

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1981

AMTRAK reintroduces the "Texas Eagle" between San Antonio and Chicago

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1985

The San Antonio City Employees Federal Credit Union (now called Generations FCU) restores the old depot and begins using it as its main office

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1988

The SACEFCU wins San Antonio's first ever National Trust for Historic Preservation award for its sensitive restoration of the former Missouri Pacific railroad station.

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1990

The UP abandons the old SAU & G line between Gardendale and Crystal City. A short lived independent company tried to keep it going but fails within two years.

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2011

Generations FCU sells the old MOPAC station to VIA Metropolitan Transport, the local bus company, which intends to make it an inter modal terminal that integrate its soon to be built street car service with buses