Experienced museum tour guides
were placed throughout the museum’s
outdoor learning area to explain the role
of railroads and train travel throughout
various periods of Texas history.
Transportation – by horse, car, train,
plane or space rocket – is a major part
of Texas history and every seventh-grade
student in Texas public schools must
study the state’s past, from before the
Alamo to today.
“This is a great fit for seventh-grade
history,” said Meredith Manis, secondary
social studies coordinator. “It was a really
good field trip and it showcases Texas
history in a very visual and tactile way for
students.”
The cattle drives that made Texas long-
horns famous were basically ended by the
railroad, docents explained to students.
But ranchers and farmers benefited from
being able to quickly get their goods to
major markets. This is why many Texas
towns were built along railroads, includ-
ing Frisco.
As the students of Frisco ISD live in an
area that was literally established on a rail
line, the topics the students learned about
on the field trip included the founding of
Texas towns and cities along rail lines,
the role that railroads played in the ear-
ly days of Texas, problems experienced
before Texas became a state, the issues
railroads faced after the Civil War and
the role that the Brotherhood of Sleeping
Car Porters played in African-American
history.
“If you were a freed slave after the Civil
War, you didn’t have many job options,”
the tour guide at the Santa Fe Caboose
expla