Wichita Falls nearly missed the railroad that helped turn it into a regional center. The Wichita Falls Railroad Museum’s history recounts how the early route survey passed about seven miles from the settlement. Town founder J. H. Barwise offered land, and local residents pressed for a connection. Tracks reached Wichita Falls in September 1882. The museum dates the first passenger train to September 27, when a crowd gathered to watch a locomotive bring a work train and coach into town.
For the next twenty months, Wichita Falls was the end of the Fort Worth & Denver City line. That temporary position had lasting consequences. For travelers and merchants, the end of a line was the point where a railroad journey met the roads, wagons and services needed to go farther. The station and the businesses around it gained traffic from people who might have been bound elsewhere. When tracks continued beyond town, Wichita Falls already had a place in the regional network.
The museum is in Depot Square, where the surviving railroad landscape gives that story a setting. The district’s documented history includes a union terminal built in 1910 to serve several lines. A shared station gave passengers a common point of arrival even though different companies ran the trains. In the museum’s collection, the railroad names and numbers on engines and cars are a way to follow that variety. Look at how each type of car uses its length, doors and windows to accommodate passengers, freight or the work of the crew.
The museum reopened in June 2026 after a four-year closure, following work on the site and exhibits. Its president, Jan Saville, described the reopening as one stage in a longer effort to rebuild and improve the collection. The museum’s own site lists Saturday opening and provides a phone contact. The return of public access lets visitors connect the outdoor equipment with the story of a town whose leaders once had to persuade a railroad to come through at all.
Visitor information
Researched November 2026.
Sources
More railroad museums in Texas
- Cleburne Railroad Museum — Cleburne: Railroad and community history museum
- Cotton Belt Depot Museum — Tyler: Depot and railroad artifact museum
- Galveston Railroad Museum — Galveston: Depot museum and railroad collection
- Martin & Frances Lehnis Railroad Museum — Brownwood: Railroad history museum
- Museum of the American Railroad — Frisco: Major railroad museum and rolling-stock collection
- Railway Museum of San Angelo — San Angelo: Depot and railroad history museum
- Rosenberg Railroad Museum — Rosenberg: Railroad museum and historic equipment collection
- Temple Railroad and Heritage Museum — Temple: Depot museum and railroad equipment collection
- All 11 railroad museums and sites in Texas
Keep exploring
- All heritage sites — museums, stations and landmarks
- Southwest — the trains you can ride in the region