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St. Louis, Brownsville and Mexico Railway

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St. Louis, Brownsville & Mexico
Overview
HeadquartersCorpus Christi, Texas
LocaleTexas
Dates of operation6 June 1903–1 March 1956
SuccessorMissouri Pacific

The St. Louis, Brownsville & Mexico Railway was an 200-mile (321 km) railroad that ran from Brownsville, Texas to Gulf Coast Junction in Houston. It passed through small southeast Texas communities such as Robstown, Corpus Christi, Bay City, and Harlingen as well as the Rio Grande Valley.

History

Benjamin Franklin Yoakum envisioned a plan of using the two railroads of which he was president (the Chicago, Rock Island, & Pacific and the St. Louis - San Francisco -- commonly known as 'the Frisco') to create several railroads within Texas and Louisiana as a system (the 'Gulf Coast Lines') reaching Chicago in the north and Mexico City in the south. The first stage of this project, the St. Louis, Brownsville, & Mexico Railway, was chartered on 6 June 1903. Its first segment of track was completed on 4 July 1904, running from Brownsville, Texas, to Robstown, Texas. A second major segment, running from Robstown to Sinton to Houston segment was completed on 31 December 1907. Yoakum's second project began in October 1903 when the Beaumont, Sour Lake, & Western was chartered to serve the Beaumont area after discoveries of oil prompted revenue. Yoakum's third and final project was the New Orleans, Texas, & Mexico Railway. The N.O.T.&M. created a line from Anchorage, Louisiana to DeQuincy, Louisiana on 1 September 1909. To connect with the Beaumont, Sour Lake, & Western trackage rights were issued from the Kansas City Southern between DeQuincy and Beaumont.

Yoakum's dream came to an end when the Frisco entered receivership in 1913. Upon hearings of the ICC, the court ordered the receivers to sell off the Yoakum's projects. Once the receivership ended in 1916, the N.O.T.&M. assumed control of the Gulf Coast Lines.

The Missouri Pacific declared bankruptcy in 1933, during the Great Depression, and entered into trusteeship. The company was reorganized and on 1 March 1956 the subsidiaries of Missouri Pacific (including the St. Louis, Brownsville & Mexico) were merged away under the presidency of Paul J. Neff as well as the United States District Court of St. Louis officially terminating the trusteeship. Only the Missouri-Illinois and the Texas & Pacific Railway continued to exist as separate subsidiaries.

References

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