Editing Gainesville, Texas (section)

===Railroad===

Railroads across Texas changed the nature and reach of commerce when they were built through and into areas. When the first railroad arrived in Gainesville, it improved the city's economics. For the first time, reliable, timely transportation meant goods and people could go vast distances. Gainesville was connected to the outside world in a whole new way with the coming of the railroads. For example, when the GC&SF arrived in 1887, goods could travel directly to or from Gainesville, directly to Chicago and Galveston, on the same railroad. Both were major transportation hubs during that age, and still are today.

Original companies and dates of arrival in Gainesville:
* The Denison and Pacific Railway (1879) (now a part of UP via the MKT) – route: [[Denison, TX]] to Gainesville via [[Whitesboro, TX]]
* [[Gainesville, Henrietta and Western Railway]] (1886) (now a part of UP via the MKT) – route: Gainesville to [[Wichita Falls, TX]]
* Gulf Colorado & Santa Fe Railway (1887) (now a part of BNSF) – route: Fort Worth to Oklahoma City

These turned into  major railroads:
* [[Missouri–Kansas–Texas Railroad]] (MKT) is now the [[Union Pacific]], but the lines owned in Gainesville were abandoned long before the UP bought the MKT in 1988. The MKT through town was abandoned around 1969 after having providing service for 90 years.
* [[Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway]] (ATSF) is now the [[BNSF Railway]].