Texas & Pacific Railroad Hospital - revisited

Two months after I started writing this blog in 2013 I posted about the Texas & Pacific Railroad Hospital I had discovered on a visit to Marshall, Texas the previous summer in July, 2012. Over the years I've received comment notifications from time to time, but did not ealize until today it is the most viewed blog post I've ever written with 2,435 views.  Click on the link above to read that post.

While I'm surprised I'm also pleased that so many people have read this post about a building that has been left to decay. From the comments I'm sure it is a place filled with many memories for the people of the Marshall area who were so closely connected to the railroad.

I tried to pull up more current information and found pictures, but no news items or related stories.  There were several pictures with comments that those who ventured into the building experienced paranormal type experiences and heard mysterious noises! Now I'm anxious to go back to Marshall and try to find some local sources that will tell me more about this intriguing building.

Dallas Heritage Village

My last post featured the Dallas Heritage Village and its history.   Each building on the grounds was moved there from a location either in Dallas or North Texas. The visitors guide and information plaques by each one gave me a feel for that building's (or a similar building's) contribution to the history of the area.  Since there are 21 buildings featured on the property I can only feature a few here.  But do visit their web site to read about all of them and the service that the Village provides to the Dallas community.  Just to note, the Village is closed during August so they can do upkeep and other projects.

I had posted about the Renner School on Small Simple Things of Life, so click here to read about it.
I wrote about the Millermore house on the first post.  So, that covers two of the buildings.

As soon as I walked into the Village the depot caught my eye; I'm always drawn to depots and trains.

The first train rolled into Dallas in July 1872 and a year later the Texas & Pacific arrived in town.  Dallas became the first major railroad crossing in the southwest, linked to Kansas City, St. Louis and Chicago.  The population of Dallas soared and business boomed!

This depot was built in 1886 and served the Missouri, Kansas, and Texas (MKT or KATY) line. Each railroad used standardized colors and most buildings followed a similar plan with a gabled roof and hipped ends. The depot is painted in the MKT's colors.  Prior to its relocation it had been cut in half and one half was being used for hay storage. All aboard!

 

 

 

The Worth Hotel was built in Carrollton in 1904.  Hotels were vital to the railroads.  Often space was limited and guests not only had to share rooms they often had to share beds!

The Sullivan house was built a few blocks away from the Village in 1885.  Mr. Sullivan was a plumbing and gas fitting contractor and the house featured an indoor bath and gas fixtures. I found it interesting that the picture of the house in its original location showed it to be painted white. Isn't this color scheme much more pleasing?

 

The Gano house was built in the dog-trot style in 1846 near Grapevine.  This practical plan of joining two rooms with a breezeway offered cross-ventilation.  The dog-trot house was very common in Texas.  In 1852 two rooms were added to the back as well as the loft above making it very roomy.  The house was covered with hand planed siding for extra insulation.

Like most parks of this time City Park had a gazebo (bandstand) similar to this one. 

The Main Street features buildings that would have been typical of Dallas in the late 1800's.  A saloon, a bank, a general store, and a law office comprise this street.  The murky day and small camera kept me from capturing the Dallas skyline just behind the trees, but it was a vivid contrast.

The Blum House, built in 1901, is currently closed.  This poor lady needs another makeover and the Village is currently soliciting funds.  The DHV is a non-profit 503(c) organization and gladly accepts donations and other forms of support.  At this time they do not plan to add any other structures unless they come with their own endowment.  Upkeep is costly!

 

 







Texas & Pacific Hospital

Last summer I took one of my dogs to a dog show in Longview, Texas.  He had a mid-day show time so we had Saturday morning free. I made a trip over to Marshall Pottery and found an intriguing old building on the way (imagine that!).

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

When Bentley and I were on our way to Marshall Pottery I spotted an old building as we were going into Marshall.  On our way back I circled around the block to get a better look and some pictures.  There really wasn't much place to park and it was clearly posted "no trespassing" so I had to take what I could get picture wise.  There were no signs or anything, really to identify the building.

It appeared to be a school.  There was a building to the side that was connected by a covered walkway on a lower level and an enclosed walkway on the upper level.  What puzzled me was that this side building had what appeared to be a carport that was under part of the back side of the building.  The area was big enough that several vehicles could have easily parked under the carport.  It seemed odd for a school but I thought maybe it was a Catholic school and that was where the nuns or priests lived.

Here's a full view from across the street, obviously this building has been abamdonded for a while.

Here's the view from the back,  you can see the covered walkway.

When I started searching on the internet for this building I first thought it was one of the old high school buildings but I couldn't get the address to line up with the historical information.  I looked at it on Google satellite and could see a circular drive in front of the building, very interesting.  And, this building is adjacent to some of the current day school buildings.

Some more searching and I had the correct identification.  This is the T & P Hospital and it served all employees of the Texas & Pacific Railroad. Knowing that it was hospital explains the building to the side; that was the emergency room where the ambulances or emergency transports could pull under the carport covering.

As usual I found myself picturing this building as it was when new and in use, although I had envisioned students coming and going and not patients and ambulances.   There was a roof fire about a year ago and the owner commented that he would love to sell the building.  The article in the Marshall paper stated that the building was inspected after the fire and was deteriorating.  It also has asbestos so it will probably continue to decline until it is torn down and a little piece of history is lost.