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The Interurban Railway Museum at 901 E. 15th Street held a 100th Anniversary Celebration of the arrival of interurban electric rail service to Plano and North Texas. The interurban building, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, is also 100 years old. The museum is located in the original Plano station where passengers had purchased tickets. It was also a sub-station that provided power for the railway cars.
The event took place on Saturday, June 14, 2008 from 10:00 AM to 2:00PM.
Celebration festivities included guided tours of Texas Electric Railway Car 360, museum tours, Radio Disney live broadcast, children’s face painting, sack races, live music, and pole fishing in the Haggard Park pond. Clowns helped to make it a festive occasion and Elsie the Cow delighted the children.
The Texas Electric Railway, as it came to be known, stretched from Denison to Dallas, then on to Waco and Corsicana. Car 360 served as a combination passenger car and Railway Post Office where mail was sorted as the train went from town to town.
The arrival of interurban railway service provided an economic boost to the area with frequent, high-speed (up to 60MPH) service. This allowed isolated farm families the opportunity to connect to extended family members living in the next little town, as well as business people the chance to make more contacts in a given week. The Texas Electric Railway trains delivered newspapers to the stations, such as Plano, so people could get timely news of events and business happenings.
The Plano Parks and Recreation Dept. sponsored the event in partnership with The Plano Conservancy for Historic Preservation, Inc. The generous help from multiple Conservancy volunteers and docents as well as city staff were key to the success of the event.
