Laredo station
former train station in Laredo, Texas, US
Laredo station is a former Amtrak and Missouri Pacific passenger train depot in Laredo, Texas. The station was the southern terminus of the Inter-American, the last Amtrak train to serve Laredo, which ran from 1973 to 1981.
History
The International & Great Northern Railroad (I&GN) reached Laredo in 1881 and constructed a lumber-frame depot.
By 1910 the original building was deteriorating, with locals calling it a "barn full of bats", and the I&GN promised a modern replacement. The railroad considered making it a union depot in partnership with the city's other three railroads, but that proposal did not materialize. Plans called for a large, two-story brick depot with passenger services and a restaurant on the first floor and offices on the second. By August 1912, the walls of the new building had been constructed. The depot opened in spring 1913 at a cost of about $35,000. It was the first depot in Texas to feature a wrap-around covered platform on all sides of the building. This is the structure that still stands today.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Laredo station” is former train station in Laredo, Texas, US. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Laredo, station and former, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “former train station in Laredo, Texas, US” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Maps, plans, fabric surveys and administrative records can establish how the site’s name, extent and function changed over time. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 25, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q105635756. Authority coordinates are 27.506, -99.516. None of the 1 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1973, 1981, 1881 and 1910.
A single description cannot reconcile every naming convention, rebuilding phase or administrative transfer associated with a place. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Laredo station”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Laredo station primary sources, Laredo station archive and Laredo research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Laredo station”?
- Which authority defined the place, boundary or structure at the relevant date?
- What physical evidence or contemporary plan supports the description?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Laredo station” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.