History of Texas Railroads before 1900

The first railroads in Texas were built in the 1830s to connect small towns and cities, as well as to ports along the Gulf of Mexico. These early railroads were short in length and primarily used for transporting goods and passengers.

In the 1850s and 1860s, the railroad industry in Texas began to grow rapidly, and grow rapidly. The state government invested heavily in railroads, and private companies also began to invest in their construction. By the end of the Civil War, Texas had a network of railroads that connected Houston, San Antonio, and Galveston.

During the 1870s and 1880s, the railroad industry in Texas continued to expand. New railroads were built, and existing railroads were expanded and modernized. In the 1890s, the railroad industry in Texas reached its peak with over 8,000 miles of track - making Texas the state with the largest railroad mileage in the country. By facilitating the efficient movement of goods and people, the railroads began to play a major role in the economic development of Texas and the growth of industries such as agriculture (cotton, corn and wheat) and mining (gold, silver, lead, zinc, copper, salt and coal).

One of the earliest railroads in Texas was the Buffalo Bayou, Brazos and Colorado Railway, which was chartered in 1853. It was the first railroad to be built in Texas, and it connected Harrisburg (now within Houston) and Stafford’s Point (near present-day Galveston).

The railroad was primarily used for transporting cotton and other goods to the port of Galveston, and from there to New York City, Boston and Liverpool, England.

Another important early railroad was the Galveston, Harrisburg and San Antonio Railway, chartered in 1875, and connecting Galveston and San Antonio and further strengthening the transportation network connecting Texas with the rest of the country. The company was later merged with the Southern Pacific Railroad in 1883.

The International-Great Northern Railroad was chartered in 1873 and is one of the most important railroads in Texas history. It was built to connect Longview, Texas with Texarkana, and it was later extended to connect Houston. The Great Northern opened up the East Texas timber country and spurred the growth of the East Texas lumber industry.

Yet another important railroad was the Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad, commonly known as the “Katy” chartered in 1865 and built to connect Kansas City, Missouri with Texas. It was later extended to Houston, and it played a major role in the economic development of Texas, facilitating the growth of the cotton industry and the oil industry.

But it was the cattle industry where the Katy really made a huge impact. The Katy had several key features that made it well suited for the cattle industry. It had a large network of tracks that stretched from Texas to the major cattle markets of Kansas City and St. Louis. Large stockyards, feedlots and cattle pens popped up along its route at key locations, facilitating the movement of more cattle to a market destination with greater efficiency, and for more profit. The Katy was also one of the first railroads to use refrigerated rail cars, which made it possible to transport perishable beef to market. And when the Katy expanded west, additional grazing lands opened up for Texas ranchers.

Other early Texas railroads included the Texas and Pacific Railway (chartered in 1871) and the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railway (chartered in 1873). Each of these strengthened the interconnection of Texas towns and cities with each other and the rest of the world.

The turn of the century would bring new challenges for the railroad industry. The advent of automobiles and trucks, as well as the expansion of the highway system, began to cut into the railroads market share. Additionally, the discovery of oil in Texas in 1901 had a significant impact on the economy, and the railroads were no longer unchallenged as the primary means of transportation for people and goods. Despite these challenges, the railroads adapted to the changing economy, invested in new technologies and branched out into other industries including real estate and tourism.

If you drive around Texas and make a habit of pulling up histories of towns as you pass through them, you will find that the majority of Texas towns began because of a railroad. Towns situated along a railroad continually attracted new residents and businesses, and some grew into cities. But sometimes you will find that some small towns had railroad access for a time, but then the railroad passed them by or perhaps citizens of that town rebelled against railroad presence or expansion. Inevitably the loss of railroad access led to a decline of a town. Such is the intertwined history of early Texas towns and cities and railroads.