A late evening rock train crosses the Austin Western interlocking and rumbles by the 1903 depot in downtown Elgin. The segregated depot was built with a ticket office opening to mirror image waiting rooms on the principal "seperate but equal". Otherwise known as the Jim Crow policy, the building was constructed compliant to the first Texas law regarding segregation on the railways. It ceased being a passenger station in the 1950's. The building was later used to house the Elgin Police Department, the waiting rooms became the offices and the baggage room the jail. The structure was later restored and now is a museum.
Oh the stories these special buildings could tell. Originally the brains of the rails they monitored, working to insure effecient rail service for our nation! A tribute!
