B-RI Railroad Museum

The museum occupies the Trinity and Brazos Valley Railroad Depot and Office Building at 208 South 3rd Avenue, raised in 1907 to designs by Austin architect Charles Henry Page in a blend of Renaissance and Mission/Spanish Revival styles. It was among the first brick buildings in town and served as the main office of the Trinity and Brazos Valley, a railroad founded in 1902 whose arrival transformed the settlement once called Brewer: the company placed its machine and car shops here, and rail magnate Benjamin Franklin Yoakum renamed the booming town Teague in honor of his mother, Narcissa Teague. Per the building's National Register nomination, its design and durability signaled the new company's confidence and the importance it placed on passenger business. Passengers used the depot from 1907 until service ended in 1966, the railroad's offices moved away in 1968, and the building began its second life as the Burlington-Rock Island railroad museum in 1970, with the city of Teague acquiring it in 1979 — the same year it joined the National Register of Historic Places. It is also a Texas State Antiquities Landmark.