Marble Falls Depot

The tracks to the depot ran under a separate charter. The Granite Mountain and Marble Falls City Rail Road was chartered on October 30, 1888, to run three miles from the end of the Austin and Northwestern's grade at Granite Mountain into Marble Falls City, with $50,000 in capital and its office in the town. Its directors came from Travis and Burnet counties, W. H. Westfall among them. The Austin and Northwestern built the line in 1889 under that charter, and both companies passed to Southern Pacific interests about 1891.

What the plaque says

Marble Falls Depot The town of Marble Falls was laid out in 1887. Texas Mining & Improvement Co. deeded land for a depot to Austin & Northwestern Railroad. This building was erected in 1893 and then Southern Pacific Railroad bought the line and property. Area residents gathered at the depot to visit and watch for the train. Excursions were offered and passenger service provided. Hogs, horses, cattle, cedar posts, cotton, pecans, and hides were shipped to market from here. In 1937 passenger service was discontinued and the depot was closed in 1968. It was moved to this site in 1976. (1979)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Longhorn Cavern State Park — 8.7 mi
  A cave carved by an underground river in the Hill Country, cleared of mud by hand in the 1930s and reached down 52 stone steps on a guided tour.
• Inks Dam National Fish Hatchery — 12 mi
  A free federal hatchery below Inks Dam on the Colorado, with thirty production ponds that draw birds and a look at how fish are raised from egg to harvest.
• Balcones Canyonlands National Wildlife Refuge: Doeskin Ranch — 12 mi
  A free federal refuge north of Lake Travis kept for two songbirds that need old juniper and oak, with trails at the Doeskin Ranch unit near Bertram.
• Inks Lake State Park — 13 mi
  A state park on a constant-level lake of the Colorado, between Buchanan and Inks dams, with pink granite and gneiss at the water and CCC work along Park Road 4.

More markers nearby

• Michel's Drug Store — 0.4 mi
• St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church — 0.5 mi
• St. Frederick Baptist Church — 0.6 mi
• Marble Falls Factory Site — 0.6 mi