Frisco Depot Museum (74)

HUGO

I've always had a fascination with trains. Well, that's not true. When I was four years old, my family moved to the small town of Drummond, Oklahoma. Living there was a whole world away from western Kansas. I saw my first frog, my first turtle, and met kids my age. It was also when I heard my first train whistle. At 2 a.m. Much to the terror of my parents and my brother, it scared the crap out of me and I screamed like the train had run over my foot. They had to wait for a train to come by during the day and they showed me what it was that was honking in the middle of the night. THEN I was fascinated by trains. Sometimes things are okay when you learn what the monster is.

I had the opportunity to go to Hugo. It was on my list of places to go, but it was further down the list since it was pretty far away from OKC. But, since my wife had business there, I tagged along and hit the Frisco Depot Museum and the Showman's Rest section of the Olivet Cemetery. See my other post about the Showman's Rest.

I made it to the old train station a little before they opened so I poked around outside for awhile taking pictures of the trains in the yard and exploring the grounds. I always try to envision myself being there at the height of activity. Some people want time machines to change the past. I just want one to view how things used to be at a time when they were new. And talking to my tour guide Norm, wanting to see this place in its heyday only became more desirous. This depot was the start of what would become a restaurant empire of sorts. Harvey House restaurants began popping up in every Frisco train depot because the visionary, Fred Harvey, hated the dirty restaurant with bad food that occupied the space in the depot. He took it over, had massive success, and was tapped by the owners of Frisco to replicate his ideas in all of their depots. The Fred Harvey Company is still in operation today although most of the depot restaurants are only memories now.

Upstairs from the restaurant was the residence of the women that worked downstairs. When Fred started his business, much of the Frisco lines were part of the wild west. Not a particularly safe place for women to walk great distances to and from work. So he built dorms or small apartments either in or near his restaruants. His thought was safety equals a happier work environment. But the ladies were never forced to stay there. It was merely an option of convenience.

The bottom floor of the Frisco Depot Museum was full of amazing local history including paintings by local artists, circus memorabilia, school yearbooks and photos, and even a moonshine still with a great story to go along with it. Basically, the guy got away with bootlegging to Dallas and Fort Worth for years without anyone finding out until after he died in a winter boating accident. His family was the most shocked! They had no idea. HA! As you can see from the photos below, the range of memories and artifacts is pretty wide. They even have a working pipe organ that was salvaged from a local church. Norm cranked it up and played a few notes with the sly idea of playing it when people went upstairs hoping they thought the place was haunted. HAHA! Love it!

As with everything from that era, there is always a feature that feels so foriegn to me in this day and age even though it was commonplace back then. In one of the photos below, you can see a picture I took of the floor of the depot. One half is concrete and the other half is wood planks. This was the separating line for the "White" and "Colored" waiting areas. White folks on the concrete and non-whites on the wood floor. There aren't any signs showing this was the case, but it was a tidbit of trivia that Norm let me know about. As with every instance of segregation and racism that I see on my journeys through these history museums, I take comfort that millions of us have moved on from the idea that skin color is a reason to not like, or be afraid of someone. I choose to not like someone based on if they're an a$$h0le! HA! And, man, are there still a lot of those running around.

If you ever have a chance to make it down to Hugo, be sure to stop in and see both floors of the Frisco Depot Museum. I'm really glad I got to meet Norman and have him show me around and share some of his favorite stories and displays.

307 N B Street, Hugo

580-326-6630

Entry Fee: Free

Hours: Thurs - Sat: 10:00-4:00