|
Missouri ~ Kansas ~ Texas Railroad 
Denison Depot 1950s 
In
1865 the Union Pacific Railway, Southern Branch (not a corporate
relation of today's Union Pacific) began operation. Construction began
in 1869 for the planned run from Junction City, Kansas to New Orleans.
In 1870, the company named changed to the Missouri-Kansas-Texas
Railroad, reflecting the company goals. The Missouri-Kansas-Texas
Railroad acquired the Union Pacific Railway, Southern Branch plus its
182 miles of track.
At this time consolidations and acquisitions with the MKT included:
Congress
passed acts which promised land grants to the first railroad to reach
the Kansas border. On June 6, 1870, the Katy workers laid the
first rails across the Kansas border, winning the race. The
courts overturned the land grants promised because the land was in
Indian Territory which was the property of the Indian Tribes.
The MKT reached the state of Texas (Denison) on Christmas, December 1872, linking the states of Missouri and Kansas with the state of Texas. It was the first train to ever enter the borders of Texas from the North, crossing Red River on the newly completed Red River bridge. At the throttle of the wood-burning locomotive was P.H. "Pat" Tobin. On Sunday morning Pat Tobin, guest engineer, pulling the Special Edition into Denison. A small crowd stood alongside the tracks to meet the train The Katy and the St. Louis-San Francisco Railroad operated a join venture in the operation of the Texas Special from 1915 to 1959. The Texas Special was a luxury passenger liner that ran from St. Louis to Dallas, Ft. Worth and San Antonio. The Depression Years began a decline of the MKT. During World War II, the MKT prospered. After the war, the Katy returned to its state of decline. In 1986 the Union Pacific offered a buy-out which MKT management accepted. The "Katy" 
In
its earlier days, the Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad's reporting mark
was MKT. "The"K-T" was the company's stock exchange symbol which
evolved into "the Katy."
source: "The Katy Depot"
MKT History 
Denison Was Home to the Katy Railroad Katy Railroad Historical Society Katy Trail Cycling Tours Katy Trail State Park Missouri - Kansas - Texas Railroad Historical Marker North - South Railway Connection Historical Marker Railroad Museum in Denison, Grayson County Texas Transportation Musuem ~ Missouri Kansas Texas "Journey on Abandoned Rails" ~ Denison, Texas Red River Historian 
The Iron Machine Copyright © 2024, TXGenWeb. If you find any of Grayson County, TXGenWeb links inoperable, please send me a message. |