The second in a periodic series of posts about the things we love about Dallas/Ft. Worth.
1. The Katy Trail
In May of 1870, the Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad Company, or MKT, was incorporated, with the New York Stock Exchange symbol KT. The name soon evolved into Katy and the railroad was commonly referred to by than moniker henceforth.
After a number of acquisitions and building projects, the Katy became the first railway to enter Texas from the North, in 1885. The following year, it reached Dallas. Expansions to Waco (1888), Houston (1893) and San Antonio (1901) followed.
As with any turn of the (20th) century railroad, the Katy had a number of interesting events occur in the small towns that popped up during its construction.
In 1896, the Katy's owners staged a publicity stunt, wherein they intentionally collided two locomotives (inexplicably pulling fully loaded cars in their wake) into one another. The resulting crash and conflagration killed three of the over 40,000 spectators and send scores of others to the hospital. The incident served as the inspiration for Scott Joplin's, "The Great Crush Collision March".
In 1889, a young man named David Eisenhower, of Hope, Kansas, having lost his store to an economic downturn, got a job building the Katy and moved his wife Ida and two young sons to Denison, Texas. The following year, Ida gave birth to the third of an eventual seven Eisenhower boys and named him David Dwight. Since the oldest son was already named David Edgar Eisenhower, they changed the baby's name to Dwight David and gave him the nickname Ike.
The Houston suburb of Katy, Texas was renamed for the railroad when it came through town in 1893, leaving behind the original name of Cane Island which probably makes sense, since the town is a good 45 miles from water. The expanded Katy Freeway (Interstate 10 between the city of Katy and Houston) also lies in the former right-of-way of the MKT.
The railway reached its peak in 1944, recording revenue freight and passenger traffic of 7,256,000,000 miles. The number dropped to under a billion by the early 1980's. Passenger service, once thriving on the line, had ceased in 1959 and the writing was on the wall. The Katy was cannibalized and absorbed into the Missouri Pacific and Union Pacific railroads and by 1989 was virtually unused. Abandoned and decaying, it eventually went the way of many of the nation's railways that have outlived their usefulness.
That is, until folks rediscovered the National Trails System Act of 1968, which set aside money for, among other things, the conversion of unused rail beds into hiking and cycling trails (commonly known as Rails to Trails). The longest such trail in the US, the Katy Trail State Park, runs 237.7 miles, from Machens to Clinton, Missouri. Another trail to arise from the ashes of the Katy is Houston's 4.62-mile Heights Bike Trail.
The one we use though, and one of the Top 50 things we love about Dallas/Ft. Worth, is the Katy Trail, which currently runs from downtown Dallas, north for 3.5 miles, to the intersection of US 75 and Airline Dr. With the American Airlines Center at one end, Highland Park and Mockingbird Station at the other and the Knox-Henderson restaurant and bar scene in the middle, the trail is perfectly situated for access to many of the best things Dallas has to offer. There's even a bar along the way now, with the opening of the Katy Trail Ice House.
Tree-lined and perfectly paved, with a slight South to North incline, this is an oasis in a city that can get pretty hot in the summer. With connections to two major city parks and Turtle Creek via plentiful entryways, runners, walkers, roller bladers and cyclists alike use the Katy heavily. While this can cause occasional congestion and, on one occasion, a tragedy, the addition of separate jogging-only trails and better signage has helped alleviate many of the issues.
We use the Katy as a component of almost all of our long-distance rides, either as a nice warm up into an urban ride or a leisurely cool off as we head home at the end of one. Proximity to the SMU campus also provides a whole other kind of scenery we enjoy on our trips. With Victory Station at the terminus of the trail, we also used it as part of our daily commute for four years, prior to taking a job working from home. Truth be told, we miss that daily commute into the office. A morning ride can be done but it's just not the same when it's exercise and one cannot delude one's self into thinking of it as transportation.
Alas, some of our best rides have taken place on the Katy Trail. And the best is yet to come.
Currently, an extension is being built that will connect the Katy Trail to the White Rock Trail System, allowing for travel to White Rock Lake, North Dallas and Frisco (some 25 miles away) possible, without ever touching a surface street. That connector will be done within the year and will literally mean we will be able to pick up the Trail from our parking lot.
Additionally, if the Trinity River Project ever really does get completed, there are plans for a spur to run from the Katy Trail, over Interstate 35E and the levees, into the Trinity river bed, where it will connect with the proposed trail system that is planned to stretch as far East as the Great Trinity Forest and as far west as Ft. Worth's fabulous Trinity Trails.
For cycling enthusiasts, this is great news. Still, even if you do not ride a bike, if you can walk, you need to take a stroll sometime on the Katy Trail. One trip and you'll see why it's one of our 50 favorite things about Dallas/Ft. Worth.
Until next time,
Keep the Faith.
For more information about Missouri's Katy Trail National Park, go here.
For more information about Dallas' Katy Trail, go here.
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