Historians as a rule, have overlooked the fact that the North, South, East and West were first joined by the union of the Katy and the old Houston and Texas Central here March 10, 1873.

Only four years before, on May 10, 1869, the Union Pacific had met the Central Pacific at Promonitory Point, Utah, linking the East and West for the first time by rail.  But the entire nation had never been joined by the steel bands of the railroad until the H. and T.C. met the Katy here.

KATY WON RACE

On Dec. 25, 1872, the Katy had sent its first passenger train wheezing across the Red River and into the new town in Texas.  It had been a race between the Katy, building down from the north and the H. & T.C., building up from the Gulf, to see which road reached the Red River first.  But the fact the Katy won the race, did not slow the Texas Central builders and they continued on.

It was 7 0'clock in the evening when the first H. & T.C. train rolled into Denison and stopped at the little wooden station at the foot of Main street.  But it was a big occasion for Denison and fully 100 citizens were on hand to see the historic joining of the two railroads.

GREETINGS TO NATION

L. S. Owings, former governor of Arizona and now the first mayor of the new town, (Denison), promptly sent the following telegram to the mayors of Galveston, Houston, New York, Boston, Chicago, St. Louis and San Francisco:

"Denison, to her sister cities from the Atlantic to the Pacific, sends greetings:

It has remained for Denison to become the great connecting link uniting the South with the East, North and West.  May the union be one of lasting peace and prosperity."

After remaining here a few minutes, the train tooted its weak little whistle and moved on toward Red River City, the terminal the H.& T.C. had build on Red River.  The crowd went home, most of them unaware that they had seen history in the joining of all a nation by rail for the first time.

Denison Herald  June 10, 1945  -- submitted by Ann Baughman