Visitor Center

Visitor Center. . The Fort Stockton Visitor Center is located in the original Kansas City, Mexico and Orient Railroad Depot constructed in 1911. The city secured the depot in 1991 and rehabbed the building to become the community’s official “Tourism Center.” The Visitor Center Depot houses information regarding Fort Stockton and other tourism destinations. The center is currently home to the Fort Stockton Chamber of Commerce, the Fort Stockton Economic Development Corporation and the Fort Stockton Convention and Visitor's Bureau. The first train arrived in Fort Stockton in 1912 and the rail proved to be successful for many years. The rail changed hands several times before Texas became involved in the preservation and operation of the rail line. In 1989 the Commission provided a $3 million secured grant to the South Orient Rural Rail Transportation District towards the purchase from the Atchinson, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railroad. In return for the grant, TxDOT received the existing right-of-way for the rail line and a security interest in the installed rails and ties. By 1998 the operators of the rail, the South Orient Railroad Company, filed an abandonment application with the STB. In 1999 the Texas legislature appropriated $6 million towards the $9.5 million purchase price of the rail line from SORC. The South Orient line is one of only seven rail gateways between the United States and Mexico and has the potential to relieve some of the congestion at other border crossings through the diversion of rail traffic to the gateway at Presidio/Ojinaga. The 391-mile long line is the only significant amount of rail owned by the state of Texas., Captions (top to bottom): , . Train Depot prior to second story removal, 1912 , . Train arriving in Fort Stockton, October 26, 1912 , . Train Depot plans, 1910