In 1899, Belton’s red train depot was a stop on a 7.14-mile branch of the Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad (the Katy, for short). It bustled with train passengers and goods coming and going from as near as Waco and as far away as St. Louis. As the 19th century turned to the 20th, the depot became a stop on the Belton Railroad, hauling freight to and from Temple—and then it eventually shuttered.
For decades, the depot stood empty. But by 2022, it caught the eyes of four longtime friends and real estate investors who learned that the old train station was only being used as a warehouse for a furniture store called The Bargain Barn. “When we bought it, it was rough inside and had not been used in years,” says Matthew Gunter, who along with Terry D. Potts, his nephew, Luke Potts, and Ryan Hodge had a vision for the then 123-year-old train station. As Gunter explains, “We really wanted to make this the center of the community for Belton and bring it back to life.”
Lead by Terry, an architect and builder with Daybreak Construction Inc., the renovation took a year to complete. Original ticket counters, weight scales, and wood from the depot were reused in the design, and a boxcar and caboose from the MK&T train line were brought in and placed on rebuilt train tracks. Finally in 2023, the depot reopened as the Belton MK&T, a commercial destination with five food and beverage spots, making it the “perfect place for locals to hang out as well as travelers passing along I-35 and I-40,” Gunter says.
The Belton MK&T is not the only historical train depot in Texas to be revived. During railroad’s heyday, over a thousand depots were built in Texas, most of which have now been torn down. But today, a number of old train depots still standing have undergone renovations. Where some, like The Ashton Depot in Fort Worth, are being used as special event venues, most have been transformed into museums including the Buddy Holly Center located in Lubbock’s former Worth & Denver Depot.
Arguably some of the state’s most architecturally beautiful historical train stations can be found housing the Texas & Pacific Railway Museum and Gift Shop in Marshall and the Historic Brownsville Museum, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Where the latter features a Spanish Colonial Revival design, the former’s influences are Prairie School, Abstracted Renaissance, and Mediterranean.
Coffee shops and restaurants have also settled into old train depots throughout the state. The Coffee Depot sits in a train depot built in 1917 in Roaring Springs in the Panhandle, while the Rails Café serves homemade soups, creme brulee, grilled bison burgers, and artichoke chicken alfredo out of the 1915 Kerrville Train Depot.
Some historical train stations have been moved from their original location to new places. The Pecos Depot, an 1886 train depot built by the Panhandle Santa Fe Railway in Pecos, is now the bar area for The Legendary Barn Door Steakhouse in Odessa, having been moved 75 miles away to its current location in 1972.
The Muldoon Train Depot was similarly moved 120 miles in 1999 to be used as a gift shop, then a guest room on the property of The Antlers Inn, itself a hotel built by a railroad in 1901 in Kingsland. While many visit The Antlers Inn to eat at the restaurant, located in the home where the Texas Chainsaw Massacre was filmed, others book a stay inside the Muldoon Train Depot. Not only does it still have the original rollback doors and wood on the inside, but the old ticket booths can be seen in the kitchen and living area.
Boutiques are not typical businesses in renovated historical train depots, but that’s the case with Traditions at the Depot in Boerne. Since 1996, the store has sold designer women’s apparel out of a 120-year-old train depot which still has the original doors, windows, ticket counter, and paneling. (The original floors are protected under modern flooring.)
“We really think the building is its own character in our story,” says store owner Heather Thomas.
It required some ingenuity on the part of the depot’s owners, Margaret and Jim Bond, to maintain the integrity of the historical property, according to Thomas. “We can’t run cables and wires in the walls for lighting or computers, so we have to get creative and work around it,” she says, adding that the same had to be done with the central air-conditioning unit as the depot has no attic or crawl spaces. “We make it work because we think the charm of the building is worth the extra hassle.”
Although many of the old train depots throughout the state don’t have historical marker status, it seems that most of the property owners have worked diligently to maintain as much of their original structure as possible, often collaborating with local historical preservation commissions.
“Absolutely anyone can build a new building, but we felt the need to preserve these types of buildings so generations can enjoy them,” Gunter says, adding that they worked with the city of Belton’s Historical Preservation Commission to preserve the integrity of the building.
Of the train depots with historical landmark status, they must follow architectural preservation guidelines by the Texas Historical Commission, such as getting approval on exterior excavation work. This was the case for the 23,413-square-foot Katy Depot in downtown Denison, which underwent a thorough renovation process in 2020 when Marcus and Lesly Patrinicola bought it to turn it into a multiuse complex. They made sure to hire Hub City productions in Dallas, a full design studio that knew how to handle big renovation projects like that of a train station built in 1911.
“We had to maintain historically compliant interior and exterior, while simultaneously updating the building to meet modern codes. We [also] applied for historic tax credits which means that any renovations must be vetted and approved by the National Park Service,” Marcus says. “The goal for the renovation was to transform the Katy Depot into a destination for entertainment, food, shopping, and loft living, all wrapped up in a grand historic venue.”
The team filled 40 dumpsters during the renovation of the three floors and dealt with floods and “logistical complexities of working during a pandemic.” The first floor was made into retail hallway spaces and a grand ballroom with new chandeliers, while the second floor was transformed into lofts, and the third floor became office and commercial spaces.
“Although the interior of the building had undergone two renovations, we obtained the original blueprints and the end result is more accurate with the original layout than before the renovation,” Marcus says. In fact, they custom-made all the windows and the trim to match the originals. You can see some of the original ticket counters and interior doors with transoms in the building today.
Katy Depot currently has 18 businesses including a yarn shop, a vintage clothing boutique, and a coffee shop, and 13 residential lofts. Tenants living in the lofts can enjoy the sound of trains that still run on the rail line by the building.
“The community that has formed around the Katy Depot has been remarkable,” Marcus says. “For the most part, people love living in historic lofts and the tenants have formed an unusual close bond.”
While these historical train stations are no longer being used for their original purpose, even today as businesses, restaurants, shops, or museums, they still maintain the same tradition of being a gathering place for those traveling across the state.
“This train depot has a soul, and we actually think there’s a vortex of happiness under it,” says Thomas, whose shop in Boerne receives a visitor at least once a week wanting to talk about how the old depot was transformed. “It’s really a magical place to work and meet new friends.”
