THE DEPOT

When the train came thru town, they would bring the mail from Laredo or from San Antonio.  Shelley’s Uncle Pedro, carried the mail from the train to the Post Office.  I remember when the train would get there; we would hear it and we’d say “here comes the mail.”  We would give him about an hour so he could take it to the Post Office and sort it out and put it in the mail boxes. 

 


   Girls walking from the Post Office  in 1967
Reprinted from the Encinal News, produced by Mayor John Harvey

He had his back bent over probably from carry the heavy mail bag.  He would get the bag and toss it over his back.  He’d be walking real slow over to the Post Office next to the Mercantile.  He would put the bag there and get another bag.  He would take back to the train whatever bag was left from the day before.  On the platform there were two old carts on wheels for carrying suitcases.  

People would get off the train from Laredo or San Antonio.  They’d get off, whole families, father, mother and three kids. When the train came thru town, there was always something going on.


      The Encinal Depot now is a     restaurant, they kept one of the old carts.

When I was younger, the boys would hang around the train depot during the day and at night we would lie back on the depot floor and look up at the stars.  We’d walk around the town because the streets were safe to walk in.  They had lights on the corners.  We’d say, let’s go to the depot.  There would be a bunch of guys there, older guys and younger ones.  Eight to ten guys in little groups.  I would lean on the side of the depot platform. 

Sige, a friend of mine and I would lay back and look at the sky.  There was a real dark sky so we would see lots of stars. The little town didn’t have a lot of lights.  You could hear the music coming from cafe jukeboxes around town.   Music from Reyes Café, across the tracks, Aurora’s place over here.  “Well, what time is it, oh 10:00. I guess I’ll go home.  I’m going to go home boys, see you all tomorrow.”  We’d all start walking to the different parts of town to go home and go to bed. 

Back to LIFE IN ENCINAL