Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad

In 1865 the Union Pacific Railway southern branch was incorporated to build a railroad from the St. Louis-Kansas City area to the Gulf of Mexico. In 1870, with construction completed to the border of Indian Territory, the line was renamed the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railroad. This title was often shortened to M-K-T, which led to the familiar nickname by with the line is best known -- "The Katy." Following the route of an old cattle trail, the Katy became the first railroad to cross Indian Territory, now the state of Oklahoma, and enter Texas from the north. On Christmas Day 1872, over 100 passengers rode the first Katy train into Denison, a new townsite named for M-K-T Vice President George Denison. The construction and acquisition of branch lines soon extended the Katy east to Greenville, west to Rotan and Wichita Falls, and south to Galveston and San Antonio. By 1904, the system had over 1,000 miles of track in Texas. The railroad transported cattle, cotton, and other crops to market. It also carried passengers on such trains as the "Texas Special" and the "Katy Flyer" before passenger service ended in 1965. Today (1975) Denison is a division headquarters on the M-K-T and the home of about 600 railroad employees.

Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad is a historical marker in Denison, Grayson County, dedicated in 1975. It is one of 144 historical markers documented in Grayson County in the Texas Historical Commission Atlas, among 208 historic sites cataloged across the county.

The site sits at 33.7555, -96.5351 near Denison. The nearest cataloged historic site is Red River Railroad Museum (museum), about under a tenth of a mile away. Others within a short drive include North-South Railway Connection, E. M. Kohl Building, and Kohl, Ernst Martin, Building.

This record corresponds to Texas Historical Commission Atlas #5181007409. Use the map below for its exact position and turn-by-turn directions.