The Camp Wallace Railroad

They say the best way to cook a frog, is to put the frog in a pot of cool water and put a fire under him. By the time the frog knows he’s being cooked, it’s too late. Now there are two sides to this story, there is the side of the frog, which is a sad story indeed, for he is an eaten frog. But then there’s the story of the one with the pot, the water, the fire and the frog, he is eating tonight, this of course, is a happy story.  This is also the story of someone with a vision, a plan, resources, and control, while the frog just saw a nice warm pond.

Have you looked at Bay Colony lately? Been over behind Mainland Mall? Been out Highland Drive over behind Alta Loma? How about Blimp Base road? Been out Delany or coming down farm to market 2004. Been over to main street and Fairwood. Have you looked at Flamingo Isle or should I say Harbor walk, Hitchcock is in the frog soup and is going to disappear into the greater Houston area.

Do you know your history?  Do you know who the town was named after? Do you know where he’s buried? Do you why the town was named for him? Do you know who the first people were around these parts were? Why did they come here? Did you know Hitchcock was the end of the Santa Fe Line for a while? (All fright coming from and going inland from the ships in Galveston, went through Hitchcock).  Do you know the history of the Camp Wallace? The Blimp Base? A rare thing a Blimp Base. What about the history of the diary farms? I think if you looked into your history, you would find Hitchcock a story worth saving, worth telling. Maybe even worth cashing in on.

Allow me point out a few overlooked resources around Hitchcock.  Land, the canal, Jack Brooks Park, (Camp Wallace), the bones of the old blimp hanger (a landmark for miles around these parts), the old Santa Fe depot, the Santa Fe railroad, we have a little airport, a cross roads, (2004, a direct line to I-45 and Highway 6, a major 4 lane coming out of southwest Houston), our basic lack of direction and our proximity to Galveston.

Galveston can be the key to Hitchcock’s growth. The causeway moves some 12 million automobiles each year, some 7 million of them tourists. Galveston has over 4000 hotel and motel rooms and the tourist industry has an economic impact of some 300 million dollars!!! 

Think??? 12 million automobiles. What does Galveston do with 12 million automobiles?????? Park them?????  Where??? It’s a growing problem!   One Galveston doesn’t have a real solution for without tying up valuable real estate. Now, let’s look at some of the resources available in Galveston. The Santa Fe Depot (at the foot of 25^th street & Strand), the trolley, their bus system, hotel limos, the horse drawn carriages.  The duck!!!  The Santa Fe Depot, also known as the Moody Railroad Museum is desperate for a passenger train to come into this facility and bring it to life. (Think what this would mean to Galveston). But how ???

Now, lets say Hitchcock was to construct a spur off the main Santa Fe line, put up a depot (sitting down there near Alto Loma), a circa 1940’s war town, that is a little tourist center (along the canal, like the Kemah boardwalk, with a nice oversized parking lot. Take our stories, about who Lent Hitchcock was and why the town is named for him, the story of Camp Wallace and the Blimp Base, about how John Mecom tried to buy the town back in the 1960’s, and dust them off. Then bring in a Live Steam Locomotive with passenger rolling stock (sitting down at the museum), and put it all together.

Hitchcock could sell Galveston a parking lot, available to their tourist district, and all Galveston would have to do is pick them up and drop them off at their depot.

The ride from Hitchcock is not a very long one, with few crossing, and the biggest part of the ride through the mud flats of Galveston Bay.  Long enough to be an exciting train ride, short enough, to leave them wanting more, and most important, functional.

With this kind of asset, Island hotels could book guest without their automobiles, by booking them into Hitchcock to catch the train, and then picking them up at the depot. The Tremont House was built for that depot. You could park in Hitchcock, and have the beach available without your car, via the train and the trolley, along with the clubs, restaurants and stores along the trolley’s route (something the snowbirds would find useful). Carnival Cruise Ships could park their long-term cars off the island. If you worked at the hospital, or American National, you could commute. The first dollars and the last dollars spent would be spent in Hitchcock!

Let me speak a moment about the snowbirds, the first wave of baby-boomer are turning sixty, they retire in a year. With the above describe asset, we could turn Hitchcock into a golf cart community, that is to say, with the State’s cooperation make all of Hitchcock, including the train station available by golf cart, declare Hitchcock a bird sanctuary and market our older homes up north to soon to be retiring snowbirds. A quality resident with money in their pocket, “From your cozy cottage in Hitchcock, the Galveston beach is available without your car”. (Via: golf cart, train and trolley).

Now you ask, where would the money come from for a Venture like this, look around a bit, what would we be doing? Economic development? Alternative transportation solutions? Park improvement? Go to the government and ask for an Economic Development Grants, grants for Alternative Solutions to Transportation, a Parks & Wildlife Improvement Grant

Who would benefit???  The hotels, the big hotels, Tillman Fatita, Robert Moody, George Mitchell with money to solve parking problems, Carnival Cruise Ships, who need long-term parking.  The Moody Foundation, who owns the depot and could use new life in this asset. There is money everywhere!

With these facilities in place Hitchcock would be in a position to host a successful spring festival, maybe a reenactment of the battle of San Jacinto, along the canal, with a large flea market aimed at the black powder crowds. Then turn right around with a fall blimp and hot air balloon festival, to tie in with the theme of the Blimp Base and invite all the country’s blimp owners to participate along with the balloonist, again to include the flea market, and the tourist in Galveston could ride the train up and participate. The dog track would suddenly be available to Galveston tourist and residents, without getting into their Automobiles, via the trolley, train and a shuttle.

Hitchcock would grow with business opportunities, restaurants, retail stores, a larger grocery store, a marina, snowbird parks, a golf course and tours of the old blimp base, of the canal, the bay, as well as a golf cart dealer, ect…

With a well drawn out and good-grounded plan and community support, the money can be found.  This also gives us the power to etch our history in stone before the metropolitan area just swallows us up.

There would be an increase in property values, a widening of the tax base. With a vision, you have better control over the growth, all done nice and clean, without a heavy industry, it’s a way of keeping Hitchcock on the map and indeed become the jewel of the mainland, as she once was.

I see a great opportunity here, because it’s American history, because it’s Texas history, because it’s our history, and because tourist would eat it up. So now I put it to you, would you rather be the frog? Or the cook?