Austin man to purchase, move Santa Fe Depot

Snyder’s 1911 Santa Fe Depot will enjoy a second life, but in a new home.
According to Paula Hatfield, vice-chairperson of the Scurry County Historical Commission, William Osborn of Austin has agreed to purchase the building and plans to move it to the Texas Compound, which is located west of Austin.
Osborn wrote a letter to BNSF officials in October asking them to give the Snyder community time to come up with a plan, Hatfield said.
“But to come up with a plan, we need to be able to work with the railroad,” she said.
Hatfield said member of the commission made multiple attempts to contact BNSF to save the building — or at least get a six-month reprieve on its demolition to give them time to develop a plan. She said they couldn’t get a commitment from BNSF and commission members could not even receive permission to get inside the building.
But the group did have allies in their effort, Hatfield said.
State Rep. Dustin Burrow, R-Lubbock, was instrumental in the group’s effort, writing and speaking to BNSF officials on its behalf, and Preservation Texas also helped.
She also thanked the community for its support, attendance at a rally that helped delay a planned demolition and petition signatures.
“There were a lot of people working on it, not just in Snyder,” she said.
Although she was appreciative that the depot won’t end up in the landfill, Hatfield was distraught that Snyder was losing the building.
“We keep letting this stuff get away and once it’s gone, it’s gone,” she said.
Joseph Faust, a public affairs official with BNSF, said that the outcome was positive for both the railroad and Snyder.
“We care about communities where we operate,” he said. “Thank you to the historic commission. They are very concerned and dedicated citizens of Snyder. We understand what that structure has meant to generations of Snyderites. But it just wasn’t safe anymore in its present state. We think this is a very good alternative.”
According to its website, the Texas Compound project is a commercial real estate development “commenced in 1984 with the acquisition of a Santa Fe Railroad Depot at San Saba, which was set for retirement and demolition. This building was purchased from the Atchinson, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railway Company for $1 per square foot and moved to 9120 Highway 290 West, Austin,Texas in the summer of 1986. Later acquisitions included smaller Santa Fe outbuildings from Coleman, Cleburne, Sanger and Barnhart along with boxcars obtained from Cameron and Miami. These railroad structures have been leased continuously since 1986 to a Purina Feed dealer.”
The Louis Curtiss-designed Santa Fe Depot will not be Snyder’s first building to be relocated to the Texas Compound. Several years ago, Osborn purchased and moved the United Oilfield Supply building — which had housed A-1 Air Conditioning.  
Over the past several months, commission members have been collecting photos and stories for a planned book about Snyder’s depot.