EUREKA! FIRST PASSENGER TRAIN ARRIVES IN AUSTIN  

(Had to have gone through MCDADE!!!!)

On the morning of the 28^th a telegram was received from Houston stating that two immense passenger trains had left that place and would arrive at Austin about 4 o’clock p.m.  By previous arrangement every preparation had been made to receive the visitors with every mark of respect and honor, and as the hour approached the whole city seemed wending their way to the terminus of the newly completed road.

A procession had been arranged, and at about 31/2 O’clock , it had formed and was in waiting upon Pecan (Sixth) Street. The line was in order as follows: Band; U.S. Infantry; Knights Templars; Fire Engine Company; Austin Hook and Ladder Company; Washington No.2 Fire Engine Company; Battalion of Cadets from Texas Military Institute; Society of Turn Verein and citizens, with Captain Finnin and Major James as Marshals of the day.

Four o’clock came, but with the hour was received the disheartening news by telegram from McDade, that the trains had just reached that point, and the fact was realized that the guests would not arrive in Austin until after dark.  Under such circumstances, it was decided that the procession should at once take up its line of march. Leaving Pecan Street, it deployed into Congress Avenue, marched to the Capitol, and returned by the same route, dispersed in front of the Raymond House.  This was according to the original plan of the reception. 

A piece of ordinance had been stationed on the hill near the depot site, which was kept in position to give a salute on the arrival of the guest.  Hours passed away, and an anxious crowd waited in breathless expectation until 61/2 o’clock, when a flash from the headlight down the track told that the cars were coming, and in another instant the shrill whistle was heard, waking the darkness into renewed life.

Cheer after cheer, in deafening shouts, arose from the assembled throng, until the trains had swept up in all their majesty, and stood ready to deliver their living freight of one thousand human beings, and the pealing cannon told it far and near, that  “hope  deferred” was at last realized. Hastily the visitors were placed in carriages and conveyed to hotels and private residences, where the work of preparing for the great event of the evening, the ball, was commenced.

Already the lights began to beam forth from the windows of the State House, where the ball and supper was to be given, and at eight 0’clock the Austin Brass Band, from the portico of the Capitol, commenced to send forth sweet stains of music, inviting a multitude of joyous hearts to the merry dance and the festal board.

Soon the halls, both Representative and Senate, became thronged, and the galleries filled with those seeking moments of quiet and rest. Galveston, Houston, Austin and other places, seemed to be vying with each other for the palm for beauty, wit and elegance, and when we looked upon all that beauty, we thought that had we Hesperian fruit to bestow, though not fraught with the blood of a second Illium, ‘twould prove a phrenzy (sic) to our soul.

And thus in to the strains of gentle music the hours passed away in dancing, conversation and promenading until the hour of 12 when supper was announced.  Following in the current, we reached the long corridors in the basement of the building, when we were led to look upon the splendid scene with mingled feelings of pleasure. The dancing continued until five o’clock in the morning, and the chambers being brilliantly lighted and decorated, everything combined to produce an impression long to be remembered by all present.

On this occasion it is supposed that fifteen hundred persons were present, more than half of whom were special visitors for the occasion.