Laredo station

The International & Great Northern Railroad (I&GN) reached Laredo in 1881{{cite web |last1=Cuéllar |first1=Carlos E. |title=Laredo, TX |url=https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/laredo-tx |website=www.tshaonline.org |publisher=TSHA |access-date=30 May 2023}} and constructed a lumber-frame depot.

By 1910 the original building was deteriorating, with locals calling it a "barn full of bats", and the I&GN promised a modern replacement. The railroad considered making it a union depot in partnership with the city's other three railroads, but that proposal did not materialize.{{cite news |title=New Depot Is Needed|work=Laredo Weekly Times |date=18 September 1910 |page=8}}{{cite news |title=New Depot For Laredo |access-date=31 May 2023 |work=Laredo Weekly Times |date=13 November 1910 |page=3 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/laredo-weekly-times/11014698/}}{{cite news |title=Where is Depot? |work=Laredo Weekly Times |date=1 January 1911 |page=8}} Plans called for a large, two-story brick depot with passenger services and a restaurant on the first floor and offices on the second.{{cite news |title=Depot Plans Received |work=Laredo Weekly Times |date=5 March 1911 |page=4}} By August 1912, the walls of the new building had been constructed.{{cite news |title=Trip Was To Learn Situation In Mexico |work=The Houston Post |page=8 |date=2 August 1912}} The depot opened in spring 1913 at a cost of about $35,000. It was the first depot in Texas to feature a wrap-around covered platform on all sides of the building. This is the structure that still stands today. The station was originally designed to be racially segregated, with separate facilities for black and white passengers.{{cite news |title=Handsome New I. & G. N. Depot In Laredo |work=Laredo Weekly Times |date=2 March 1913 |page=5}}

The I&GN became part of the Missouri Pacific Railroad on March 1, 1956.{{cite book | title = Annual report for the year ended December 31, 1956 | date = 1957 | publisher = Missouri Pacific Railroad Company | location = St. Louis, Missouri | oclc = 15159994 | page = 2}} Under the Missouri Pacific, Laredo station was served by the South Texas Eagle, a section of the Texas Eagle, with direct service to San Antonio, Austin, and St. Louis.{{Schafer-More-Classic|pages=87-88}} Through-service on the Aztec Eagle was available to Nuevo Laredo and Mexico City, Mexico, operated by the Ferrocarriles Nacionales de México (N de M) across the Texas Mexican Railway International Bridge.Official Guide of the Railways, June 1968, Missouri Pacific section

Service to Mexico ended in January 1969.{{cite web |last1=Pollard |first1=Bill |title=Missouri Pacific's Texas Eagle |url=http://www.arkansasrailroadhistory.com/TxEgle/TxEgle.htm |website=www.arkansasrailroadhistory.com |access-date=30 May 2023 |date=2011}} The Texas Eagle was truncated at San Antonio on May 31, 1969, ending all passenger rail to Laredo.

Service to Laredo station resumed on January 27, 1973, when Amtrak established the Inter-American between Laredo and Fort Worth. The route was extended north to St. Louis in 1974, and further to Chicago in 1976. The train never provided direct service to Mexico, but passengers could self-transfer to N de M by crossing the border to Nuevo Laredo.{{cite book | title=Amtrak: The First Decade | first=Bruce | last=Goldberg | year=1981 | publisher=Alan Books | location=Silver Spring, MD}}{{rp|60}}

On October 1, 1981, Amtrak truncated the Inter-American to San Antonio and renamed it the Eagle (later the Texas Eagle). The move severed Laredo from the Amtrak network and ended service to the Missouri Pacific depot for the second and final time.{{cite news | title=Amtrak alters routes, cut services to meet budget | newspaper=New York Times | date=August 21, 1981 | page=A17}}{{Sanders-Heartland}}{{rp|114}}

Passenger rail service briefly returned to Laredo from 1986 to 1989 with the Tex-Mex Express to Corpus Christi, which stopped at a different station. The train only ran on summer weekends and did not connect to the national rail network.{{cite news |last1=Ehrlich |first1=Allison |title=#TBT: In 1980s, the Tex-Mex Express train took passengers from Corpus Christi to Laredo |url=https://www.caller.com/story/news/special-reports/building-our-future/throwback/2021/05/27/tex-mex-express-train-ran-corpus-christi-laredo-1980-s/7431597002/ |access-date=16 May 2023 |work=Corpus Christi Caller-Times |date=27 May 2021}}

When built, the current two-story depot building measured {{convert|345|ft}} long, {{convert|75|ft}}, wide, and {{convert|59|ft}} tall, including a central tower rising {{convert|22|ft}} above the roof. Described as "compromised mission design", it was built with buff brick and reinforced concrete, and with a Spanish tile roof. Supported by colonnades, the roof's eaves extended far beyond the building on all sides to shelter waiting passengers.{{cite web |title=[International and Great Northern Railway Depot] |url=https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth13225/ |website=The Portal to Texas History |publisher=Joe A. Guerra Laredo Public Library |access-date=30 May 2023 |language=English |date=15 July 1920}}

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• [http://www.trainweb.org/usarail/laredo.htm Train Web, USA Rail Guide: Laredo, TX]

{{Amtrak Texas stations}}

Category:Former Amtrak stations in Texas

Category:Former Missouri Pacific Railroad stations

Category:Buildings and structures in Laredo, Texas

Category:Transportation in Laredo, Texas

Category:1981 disestablishments in Texas

Category:Mission Revival architecture in Texas

Category:Railway stations in the United States closed in 1981

Category:Railway stations in the United States opened in 1913