YESTERDAY Back on Track

IN 1873, TRACKS WERE LAID DOWN BURLESON Street in downtown Dallas and the name of the street was changed to Pacific to honor the Texas and Pacific Railroad. A fine passenger depot was built at the northwest corner of Market and Pacific by the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railroad in 1892. By the 1920s, all passenger traffic had been moved to the new Union Terminal on Houston Street; the tracks were removed and the depot was torn down to build the Interstate Trinity Warehouse, now part of the West End Historic District and home of station KTXA-TV Channel 21. The building behind the depot was the headquarters of the Briggs-Weaver Machinery Company until 1949. Now, instead of machine tools and engine lathes, visitors to this building can enjoy fagioli soup at 311 Lombardi’s and Jack Daniels pie at Hoffbrau Steaks. The tracks, not such a bad idea after all, have been re-laid to accommodate the new DART line.