Grayson County TXGenWeb

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Katy Entry, 60 Years Ago, Is Celebrated
December 25, 1932
Contributed by Jean Caddel

Denison, Texas, Dec. 24 - Christmas 1872 was a red letter day for Denison, for it was then that the first railroad train ever to enter the State from the North came to a noisy stop here after having crossed the newly completed bridge over the Red River, the northern boundary of this Stat and what was then Indian Territory.

(Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railway)
The Great South: A Record of Journeys in Louisiana, Texas, the Indian Territory, Missouri, Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia,
Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, and Maryland (c1875)

At the throttle of the panting and puffing wood-burning locomotive was P. H. (Pat) Tobin, whose energetic work in helping to construct the M-K-T Railroad into Texas had won form him the distinction of being engineer of the train that inaugurated regular services between Texas and points north. Sunday morning, when the Texas Special steams into Denison, the same Pat Tobin will be in the locomotive cab, serving as 'guest engineer' as a result of his desire recently expressed to President M. H. Cahill of the Katy lines to thus observe the sixtieth anniversary of an event which, he points out, marked the beginning of the real growth and development of Texas.

Two others who were present sixty years ago were Dr. A. W. Acheson, a young physician and still practicing his profession at 91, and A. H. Coffin, 82, a young surveyor who helped to plot the Denison town site.

P.H. Tobin, left, who was at the throttle of the first train from the North into Texas 60 years ago,
will be guest engineer on the Katy's Texas Sepcial Christmas morning. A.H. Coffin, above, and
Dr. A.W. Acheson, right, who welcomed the first rain, will be guests of honor on the 60th anniversary Special

Dallas Morning News
December 24, 1932

KATY'S ENTRY 60 YEARS AGO IS CELEBRATED
Man Who Brought First Train Into Texas From North to be Honored

Special to The News
Denison, Texas, December 24 - Christmas 1872 was a red letter day for Denison, for it was then that the first railroad train ever to enter the State from the North came to a noisy stop here after having crossed the newly completed bridge over the Red River, the northern boundary of this state and what was then Indian Territory.
At the throttle of the panting and puffing wood-burning locomotive was P.H. "Pat" Tobin, whose energetic work in helping to construct the M.K.-T. Raildoad into Texas had won for him the distinction of being engineer of the train that inaugurated regular service between Texas and points north. Sunday morning, when the Texas Special steams into Denison, the same Pat Tobin will be in the locomotive cab, serving as "guest engineer" as a result of his desire, recently expressed to President M.H. Cahill of the Katy lines, to thus observe the 60th anniversary of an event which he points out, marked the beginning of the real growth and development of Texas.
Hale and hearty at 85, Mr. Tobin, for years a city commissioner and voted "Denison's most useful citizen," is looking forward to his trip Sunday with even greater interest than he did the one 60 years ago, because as he explained to President Cahill, he did not realize at that time the opening of rail communication would prove such an eventful point in the history of the southwest.
In the small crowd of early Denisonians who stood along side the tracks and gave vent to lusty Texas cheers when the first train hove into sight, but 3 are now living. Two of them will join Mr. Tobin Sunday in observing the anniversary. They will drive to Durant, Oklahoma to board the special there and return to Denison as guest of the Katy. They are Dr. A.W. Acheson, then a young physician of 30 years, and A.H. Coffin, 82, then a young surveyor engaged in helping to plot the Denison townsite preparatory to its incorporation. Larry Bohen, 80, also remembeers the arrival of the first train but ill health will prevent him from joining the others.

Surveyed Right of Way
Like Mr. Tobin, Mr. Coffin is a former Katy employe, having been a member of the location engineering party that surveyed the right of way of the railroad through Indian Territory. Both Mr. Tobin and Mr. Coffin left the employ of the Katy many years ago to engage successfully in business.
According to them, the first Katy train, gauged by present day equipment standards was not imposing in appearance or size. Pulled by old No. 15, a Grant straight back type of locomotive, there were but 3 coaches and a combination baggage-express car and a single Pullman, instead of the 15 or 20-car passenger trains of later days with their giant locomotives, but this first train, for all that, heralded a new day for Texas.
To Mr. Tobin the events of that Christmas day, 60 years ago, are crystal clear, but the growth and development that came in the wake of the Katy's entrance into Texas seems, he says, "almost like magic." One has only to visualize North Texas of 1872, he declares, then an almost entirely undeveloped and utterly isolated section, and to view its teeming cities of today to appreciate what railroad service has meant to the Southwest. According to Mr. Tobin, every hope of Texas of those early days for the future was based upon the completion "some day" of a railroad between Texas and the North. It was the one thing most wanted and needed, and while there were many small stretched of railroad in the southern and eastern parts of the state, it was felt that Texas could not hope to grow and expand in a manner that its natural resources seemed to justify until an outlet to the North was provided. "The Katy provided that outlet," said Mr. Tobin, "and in so doing, set the stage for the development that has since taken place."
When the Katy was built into Denison there were a few widely separated communities in North Texas, among them Sherman, which was an ambitious and growing town, but for the most part the country to the South and southwest was open range. The site of Denison was a wooded tract, with here and there small areas of grass-covered land. Less than 3 months after the first Katy train arrived, the city of Denison was incorporated with Major L.S. Owings, formerly of San Antonio as Mayor and Charles E. Maurice as City Recorder, and started out on a career of considerable growth and expansion, only to be halted temporarily by the financial panic that swept the Nation and brough depression to the Southwest, as to other parts of the country for several years thereafter.

Boom Followed Panic
Commenting recently here upon the Katy's entry into the State and the fact that the develoment early Texas had expected as a result of the opening of a rail line north was delayed because of the depression of 1873, President Cahill said that that halt in Southwestern progress should serve as an inspiration for the Southwest of today.
"Historians of those pioneering times tell us," he said, "that the boom the opening of our railroad was expected to cause, did not gain momentum until after the so-called panice of 1873. Business men of that time was plunged into deepest gloom and commerce was said to have been almost...

Pat Tobin, Denison city commissioner and engineer of the first Katy train to come
into Denison 60 years ago, is shown above at the rear of a large wreath presented
him by Mrs. Clarence Scott Sunday morning when the arrival of the first train was reenacted.
WIth him in the photograph are Dr. Alex W. Acheson, M.M. Scholl, John Anderson, A.K. Coffin and Mrs. Nettie Allen

Dallas Morning News
December 27, 1932

Donning overalls and the familiar long bill cap worn by locomotive engineers, P.H. "Pat" Tobin Sunday morning reenacted his first trip of 60 years ago, driving a locomotive into Denison over the Katy from the north. Mr. Tobin was engineer of the first train to Denison as rails were laid into the then infant city. He boarded the Texas Special at Colbert, Oklahoma, where he sat beside O.E. Thoman, regular engineer, and eased down on the throttle of the large oil burning locomotive and handled the air brakes with a touch indicating he was familiar with the new style of things, although on his first locomotive air brakes were unknown. He had as passengers on the train Dr. Alex W. Acheson and A.H. Coffin. Dr. Acheson in pioneer days was railroad physician for the Katy and Mr. Coffin was a civil engineer who assisted in laying out the Denison townsite.
Arriving in Denison the guests of the Katy for Christmas Day took part in acting over again the arrival of the first train into Texas from the north. They were met at the Union Station by a large crowd and their cheers were unlike those of pioneers 60 years ago but just as enthusiastic.
As Mr. Tobin left the cab he was greeted by Dr. Acheson and Mr....another Christmas day 60 years ago
Just to make the scene more realistic, an old "hack," formerly used in the Davis livery stable and still in good condition, was halted by the train and a reception committee of "townsmen" dressed in old time costumes met the 3 pioneers, loading them into the hack and driving from the station in old style. In this reception committee of old style dress were Miss Helen Kelly, Miss Ellen Scott Thompson, Miss Imogene Coonrod, Jack Moore, Winfield Branham and Roscoe Badget. Following their reception, Mr. Tobin was presnted with a large emblem of the Katy railroad by Mrs. Clarence Scott, wife of Mayor Scott. On the Katy emblem were the words, "Continuous service for 60 years" and the dates of 1872 and 1932.
Some real old timers who joined the reception committee were John Anderson, an early day merchant, M.M. Scholl, now justice of the peace and "Snake editor" of a weekly paper in Denison in the 1870s and Miss Nettie Allen.
The reenactment of this even drw a large crowd of onlookers for an early Christmas morning party, many persons coming to Denison from distant cities, to witness the....