Texas Central Railroad

Railroad construction in Texas, interrupted by the Civil War and by the national economic depression of the early 1870s, began a period of recovery in the late 1870s and early 1880s. Chartered on May 31, 1879, the Texas Central Railway was owned by the Houston & Texas Central Railway and was in competition with the Texas Pacific to build a line westward through North Central Texas. Extending from Ross Station near Waco in 1879, the Texas Central reached the Erath-Comanche County line in 1880. The Texas Central laid out the town of De Leon on April 10, 1881, and railroad official Robert M. Elgin conducted the sale of town lots from the back of a flatcar on July 7. Although the initial sale of lots was slow, the town soon developed and attracted new settlers from the Southeastern United States. Railroad offices, shops, and a roundhouse were built here, and De Leon became the area's primary shipping point for cotton and, later, peanuts and other products. Acquired by the Missouri-Kansas-Texas (Katy) Railroad in 1910, the line continued to operate until 1967, when local backers purchased part of the line and continued to provide shipping service to customers along "The Peanut Line" connecting Dublin, De Leon, and Gorman. (1994)

Texas Central Railroad is a historical marker in De Leon, Comanche County, dedicated in 1994. It is one of 47 historical markers documented in Comanche County in the Texas Historical Commission Atlas, among 62 historic sites cataloged across the county.

The site sits at 32.1127, -98.5385 near De Leon. The nearest cataloged historic site is De Leon Peanut Company (historical marker), about under a tenth of a mile away. Others within a short drive include Campbell, Cyrus, Old De Leon Cemetery, and Frances Marie Sparks Brown.

This record corresponds to Texas Historical Commission Atlas #5093005251. Use the map below for its exact position and turn-by-turn directions.