Next stop , Marietta, OK

A few weeks ago I traversed old US 77 from Thackerville to Marietta, which lies in Love County, Oklahoma. At which point, I skirted onto State Highway 32 and pulled up in front of a Santa Fe Depot!

 

According to the National Park Service, the depot was built in 1913, replacing a circa 1887 wooden depot located on the east side of the railroad tracks. It is sited at the intersection of SW Front Avenue and Main Street (OK 32) and is located to the west of the railroad tracks on the eastern edge of the downtown area. (Marietta Depot Location)The depot is a single-story combination passenger and freight county seat depot built in a Mission/Spanish Colonial Revival style with a red brick and stucco exterior. A low brick wall surrounds the depot on the west, north and south. The Marietta Santa Fe Depot is an outstanding example of Mission/Spanish Colonial Revival architecture and is the only depot in Marietta that remains. The 1897 frame depot was destroyed at some unknown date after the construction of the present depot.

 

In 1881, the area was surveyed to determine the best placement for a rail line linking cattle grazing areas in Texas with markets in Kansas. The most favorable route for the rail company ran through what would become the city of Marietta on its path from Arkansas City, Kansas to Gainesville, Texas. Prior to the arrival of the railroad, the community consisted only of a gin, a mill, and five scattered homes.

Six years later, the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railroad began to lay track in the Marietta area and the first train passed through on July 28,1887. A depot was built on the east side of the railroad track shortly thereafter and the community began to grow up to the east and the west, parallel to the tracks. In December 20,1887, the community's first post office opened for business and by the end of 1887, Marietta had approximately 3,000 residents.

Source:
NPS document - Marietta Depot