CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — The Rockport Railroad Depot Museum will be adding a new exhibit across from the 1888 building.
The Rockport Cultural Arts District will soon be purchasing a piece of land from the Rockport Little Theatre to create a special park in the area where the city's first railroad track was built.
Jennifer Day is the executive director of the Rockport Cultural Arts District, and said this project will be a tribute to the impact that the railroad industry had on the community of Rockport.
"We realized the value of retaining that property and restoring the visual of the railroad and the heritage that was so important to Rockport," Day said.
Jerry Dorcz with the Gulf Coast Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society said the former Houston Railroad Museum will be donating three restored vintage rail cars: a rare 1949 Texas Mexico Diesel Locomotive, a 1928 Santa Fe Express Car, and a 1979 Southern Pacific Bay Window Caboose.
"An exhibit like a caboose that you don't see anymore, very very rarely do you see it behind a freight train. In most cases it's probably rolling exhibit that's going some place like Rockport," Dorcz said.
Day said the new area will be named Rockport Railway Park and will be the home of two of the rail cars, which visitors can tour.
"When you look at this depot, you know it's over 104 years old and to be able to step back into those shoes is something that you can't purchase, I mean it's something you have to experience," Day said.
Dorcz said not many people seem to be interested in railroad history, but museums like the one in Rockport continue to preserve it because it's part of Texas history.
"Bring some excitement hopefully to a younger generation, helps expand the knowledge of how did Rockport get developed, you know, or any other city in the state," Dorcz said. "We are hoping the cars can be used as part of an exhibit to kind of showcase that."
Day said the museum will be receiving the rail cars during the first quarter of 2025 and hope to have the Rockport Railroad Park open to the public later in the year.