Brian Bray - The nacogdoches train depot - Depot documentary - Part 1
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The Nacogdoches Train Depot served as the primary means
of mass transportation in and out of the piney woods
for over forty years,
sending men off to two World Wars
bringing students in to study at the new Stephen F. Austin State Teacher's College,
and later, the Women's Army Auxillary Corps School.
However, just as it had in the rest of the country, rail travel in Nacogdoches
was on the decline, and in 1956, the last passenger train
stopped at the Nacogdoches depot.
The train office, the Southern Pacific and Union Pacific,
they switched back and forth and used it as office space.
They divided it up, infact you can still see some
of the marks on the floor where they put in small new walls.
Unfortunately they tore out the seating in the large waiting room.
So they used it as employee office space
and then when they decided they didn't want to keep up with the repairs,
the roof started leaking, they moved offices out, and just used it for storage.
And then for a number of years it sat neglected with holes in the roof,
broken windows, and they didn't really care.
The Center for Regional Heritage Research occupies the structure and keeps it open to the public,
and they are working on exhibits that will talk about the transportation history of Nacogdoches,
not just the railroad depot itself. Going into the future, whether the Center continues to operate out of there,
or whether it's another center, or whether the city operates staff out of there, the role
of the structure will always be a museum discussing the roles
of transportation in Nacogdoches.
