Pensacola, FL, Pensacola Subdivision, MP 916.5

Is the Frisco Depot in Pensacola still around?

Or has it been torn down?

 

Sadly, the Frisco Depot has been gone since the 1960s.

It is a shame, too, since it was a very beautiful Spanish Mission style building.

The Louisville and Nashville (L&N) depot of course survives as part of the Pensacola Hilton.

 

Where may I find photographs of the Frisco depot in Pensacola?

When was passenger service discontinued?

 

David,

I know that Joe Collias' Frisco Power has a small color print in the very back of the book.

There is a picture of the yard facilities and roundhouse, too, but that may be of less interest.

Good luck!

 

Pensacola, FL depot.

 

Passenger service was discontinued February 1, 1955.

 

Pensacola, FL.

Another view of the passenger depot.

 

Would anyone have the street address or street location of the Pensacola passenger depot?

Thanks

 

Frisco's Pensacola FL depot.

FM

 

Pensacola, FL depot.

1923 Sanborn Map.

 

I am in Pensacola often and wondered where it was located.

I could not imagine it anywhere near existing tracks.

I am guessing the train tail hosed out of the depot?

 

I am a model railroader and ex-Missouri Pacific brakeman from Houston who has been researching the Missouri Pacific passenger depot in Brownsville, Texas.

I recently became aware of the Frisco passenger depot in Pensacola. The structures are so markedly similar that it cannot be by accident. Especially the stonework around the entryways of the two buildings, which are virtually identical right down to almost every nook and cranny.

The MP station was designed by noted San Antonio architect Robert Bertrum Kelly. His middle name sometimes is spelled Bertram. My research has disclosed he only designed one railroad depot and confined his designs to south Texas, but that could be in error. There has to be some kind of connection between the two depots.

The most likely to me is that Kelly did consulting work for the company that designed the Frisco Pensacola depot. I am interested in any information on the Frisco Passenger depot, particularly if it sheds a light on this similarity between the two depots.

Note the similarity in the accompanying photograph of the MP depot and a photograph of the Frisco depot already posted on your website.

 

The Frisco Pensacola passenger depot was a beautiful structure.

I have been researching the Missouri Pacific passenger depot in Brownsville, Texas, that was also torn down in the late 1960s. Check my new member thread post. Note the similarities between the two depots. It cannot be coincidental.

The stonework around the entryways is almost identical. The MP station was designed by Robert Bertrum Kelly, sometimes spelled Bertram.

Does anybody know who the architects were for the Frisco depot, and if they consulted Kelly's firm, The Kelwood Company?

There has to be some connection.

Any information would be appreciated.

Thanks.

 

The MoPac's line to Brownsville was originally built in 1903-04 by the St. Louis, Brownsville & Mexico (SLB&M), which was controlled by the Frisco.

After the Frisco ran into financial trouble in the teens, it lost control of this line, and the MoPac took control circa 1925.

Handbook of Texas entry.

http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/SS/eqs30.html

I do not know whether the depot in question was built during the period of Frisco control, but this does suggest one possible connection between the Brownsville and Pensacola depots.

 

Please see this Frisco Employee Magazine (FEM) article.

https://thelibrary.org/lochist/frisco/magazines/fem_1928_11/fem_1928_11.cfm

Since the architect is not mentioned, it is possible that the design came from the Frisco's own.

 

Thanks Bradley,

I had considered that the Frisco was in control of the StLB&M at the time, and had checked that out previously.

The MP Historical Society's history states that the Frisco sold the StLB&M to the New Orleans, Texas & Mexico Railway (Gulf Coast Lines) in 1916, well before the Mopac Brownsville depot was designed and built.

My research shows that the MP depot was completed in 1927 as part of a large project that included the El Jardin Hotel next door and a city government building--all designed by Robert B. Kelly. The design was not done inhouse, but was contracted out to the Kelwood Company. The depot was featured in a Railway Age article in October, 1927.

I have reconsidered this aspect of it, though, and think It is probable that some of the personnel involved in the MP and Frisco depot developments were there before 1916 and still around in 1925 or so when the MP and SLSF depots were probably designed. There has to have been a connection somehow.

I do not know how big the Frisco Pensacola depot was, but it seems to have been slightly larger than the MP Brownsville depot. The dome of the MP depot was light blue.

Was the Frisco depot similarly colored?

Most of my research has been geared towards drawing up plans of the MP depot in order to build a model.

I have included my front elevation here.

 

Thanks Karl.

The article was very illuminating.

I especially was interested in the statement that read "On either side are the two main entrances constructed of semi-glazed terra cotta product, the base being of polychrome effect with various ornament and decorative features in bright, attractive colors".

The "bright, attractive colors" part was intriguing.

The general construction of the depot as described seems similar to the MP station.​

 

Upon rereading the FEM article, one thing in particular struck me.

The article stated that the Frisco Pensacola depot had a raised baggage floor. I now think the Missouri Pacific Brownsville depot also had a raised baggage floor, as it has a door on the hotel side of the building where there was a driveway, and the bottom of the door is several feet above ground level.

Previously I had thought that the depot had only a small raised dock next to the raised door inside the building. I cannot think of any other all-passenger depots that had raised baggage room floors, though combination passenger-freight depots usually had a raised freight floor.

This peculiarity in design that both depots had seems to provide further evidence that there is some connection between the two depots.

These two depots had very attractive architecture, and to me are very unique and stand apart from all the other depots in the United States.

 

Pensacola, FL depot.

Sanborn Map.