The current Texas & Pacific Station building was built by the
Texas and Pacific Railway. It opened on October 25, 1931, as a replacement for an earlier station. It was originally listed at the address, 221 W. Lancaster Avenue. It was designed in the
Zigzag Moderne Art Deco style popular at the time. The opulent lobby features marble floors, metal-inlaid panel ceilings, and nickel and brass fixtures, incorporating the zigzags and chevrons distinctive of the style. The terminal facilities also included the larger Texas & Pacific Warehouse one block to the west, built in the same style as the station. The T&P Warehouse remains vacant despite significant civic support and third-party developer interest. During the heyday of American passenger railroading, the station was also served by trains of the
CB&Q (through the subsidiary
Colorado and Southern Railroad and the
Fort Worth and Denver Railway),
Missouri Pacific,
Katy, and
Frisco Lines. Other railroads, such as the
Santa Fe and
Rock Island Lines, stopped at the nearby
Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railroad Passenger Station. The Texas & Pacific ran the
Louisiana Eagle from
New Orleans to Fort Worth, until 1963. A successor night train and a successor day train ran on the route to New Orleans as late as 1968. Up to the station's waning years, the Texas & Pacific ran the
West Texas Eagle section of the
Texas Eagle from St. Louis to the station, after breaking off at
Longview. The station declined along with the rest of the Lancaster Avenue area when the elevated portion of
Interstate 30 was built in 1958, effectively separating the area from downtown. The railroad vacated the terminal in 1967 when passenger service in Fort Worth ended, dispatching offices remained on the third floor until November 1, 1981, and the
Department of Housing and Urban Development became the exclusive tenant from the early 1980s until the late 1990s. The passenger area of the station, which had not been occupied by HUD and was virtually untouched since 1967, was restored to its former beauty in 1999 at a cost of $1.4 million. Passenger service resumed at Texas & Pacific station on December 3, 2001, with the TRE's extension into Fort Worth. ==Future plans==