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Nacogdoches was a dwindling town after the Civil War.
I believe in 1870, the population of Nacogdoches was somewhere around three hundred and fifty people.
But in 1883, the Houston East and West Texas
Railroad (HE&WT) came through,
which finally gave Nacogdoches a transportation
tie to the outside world.
With transportation available, people could now not only import goods from the outside world,
but also harvest the large stands of *** pines.
What was considered a liability only a few years before, was now an asset.
The tall pines, grain, and other agricultural products could be shipped via rail anywhere in the country.
Many times, instead of being sent across the country, the pine logs would be
sent via short line to a local lumber mill, where the logs would be turned into boards.
A business that still thrives in Nacogdoches county today.
One thing that Nacogdoches didn't have at the end of the Civil War and Reconstruction was money,
and people start to relocate in Nacogdoches for that very reason;
it has raw materials that can be manufactured into finished goods, it has a lot of agricultural products which can be exported.
So people begin to come in to Nacogdoches, settle here, largely because the railroad gives them the transportation link they need.
The HE&WT, when it comes through, basically is the start of our connections with Shreveport and Houston.
When the Texas and New Orleans goes through, then we can go to Dallas and New Orleans. But because of that,
it will encourage other people to build short line railroads which will connect them all together.
The Nacogdoches and Southeastern will run from the middle out of Hayward, Texas, into town, but it will also run all the way over to the far side
of San Augustine county, where it will connect with Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe.
So you have basically connected three major rail systems together with one little tiny short line.
The A&NR will actually come out of Angelina County, cross over the Nacogdoches and Southeastern for a small amount of time,
and eventually will allow the Southern Pacific system to have a connection out towards southeastern Nacogdoches county as well.
So it sort of brings all this stuff together.
The Nacogdoches passenger depot served the City of Nacogdoches for 45 years,
seeing the height and decline of passenger travel. By 1956, due to buses, personal automobiles, and airplanes,
there was simply no longer a need for passenger service to Nacogdoches.