Photo from the book, "The Quanah Route", by Don L. Hofsommer (1991, Texas A&M University Press).
Crossing of the St. Louis - San Francisco Railway and the Fort Worth and Denver City Railroad
Quanah was surveyed by the Ft. Worth & Denver City (FW&DC) Railroad in 1884, three years before the tracks reached the town. Named for the famous Comanche Chief, Quanah Parker, the town became the seat of Hardeman County in 1890. Deposits of natural cement and gypsum were discovered near the town, leading to the development of a significant local industry in gypsum mining and related products. In 1903, the St. Louis San Francisco ("Frisco") Railway wanted to capture a share of the gypsum freight business for its rail network at Oklahoma City and points east. With this objective, the Oklahoma City & Texas Railroad, part of the Frisco system, crossed the Red River from Oklahoma and built nine miles of track into Quanah, making a connection with the FW&DC. Tower 27 was established at this junction near downtown Quanah in October, 1903.
But the Frisco had a problem... Gypsum production was actually centered at Acme, a few miles west of Quanah, and the two major plants there were served exclusively by the FW&DC which had no interest in sharing freight business with the Frisco. Word of the Frisco's planned construction into Texas preceded its arrival, helping to motivate Samuel Lazarus, owner of the Acme Plaster Co., to charter his own railroad in 1902 as a means of bypassing the FW&DC. The new Acme, Red River & Northern Railroad (ARR&N) proposed to build a line from Acme to Quanah which would enable Lazarus to move his gypsum products via the Frisco, providing competition for the FW&D. Instead of building the new line, an agreement was reached with the FW&DC to grant rights to the ARR&N to switch both plaster companies, including trackage rights into Quanah on the FW&DC and the ability to exchange traffic with the Frisco.
The ARR&N operated this way for several years. In 1909, it was re-chartered as the Quanah, Acme & Pacific (QA&P) Railway and announced plans to expand west to serve growing agricultural regions near Paducah, Roaring Springs and Floydada. Within a few years, the QA&P came under Frisco ownership, but continued to operate as a separate entity, eventually completing the line to Floydada and establishing a connection there with the Santa Fe railroad. In 1928, as a result of a dispute with the FW&D, the QA&P proceeded to build its own line into Quanah from Acme. In 1930, a rail bypass was constructed around the north side of Quanah to provide for faster transit of through trains on the Frisco between Floydada and Oklahoma.
Both the Frisco and the FW&D were eventually absorbed into
the Burlington system, now BNSF. The FW&DC tracks are a BNSF
main line but the QA&P tracks were mostly abandoned in the
late 70s and early 80s. The QA&P rail line between Acme and
Quanah was retained to provide a long siding for the ex-FW&D
main line, and the Frisco tracks to Oklahoma remain in place,
mostly serving agricultural freight. Tower 27 is no longer standing
and its fate is unknown.
