The triangular shape of the Southern Pacific’s Hearne, Texas depot sure to draw attention
The Hearne Railroad Depot was constructed in 1901 as a joint project of the Houston and Texas Central and the International and Great Northern Railroads. The Building is a single story frame structure on a concrete base. The two decorative towers, the “stick style” design, size and interior details all reflect the importance of this junction and of passenger traffic at this period. The building was designed with its two long walls parallel to the tracks, and an interlock signaling room facing north at the apex of the plan. There was a baggage room and a ticket office and, during the segregation era, separate waiting rooms for black and white passengers. The building no longer serves passenger traffic but us used for communications and signaling operations by the Southern Pacific Railroad.[1]
[1]The recording project for this site was done by the Department of Architecture at Texas A&M University, with the Robertson County Historic Commission and the Historic America Building Survey (HABS), now of the National Park Service. The project was completed over the summers of 1979 and 1980 under the direction of David G. Woodcock and the student team consisting of Hwi Hwa Chang, Rebekah Keithly, Paul Langlier, Jerry Larrumbide, Alice MacFarlane, Alberto Picarello, Shannon Seigler and Don Watts.