Tower 19 is First Museum Piece to Arrive in Frisco

3/6/2012

FRISCO, TX: The Museum’s Santa Fe Tower 19 now has the distinction of being the first piece in the collection to arrive in Frisco. The Tower was moved onto the site at 1:15am today following a nearly 3 ½ hour trek from Fair Park. The intermediate and top floors moved one behind the other on separate sets of bogies along streets through East Dallas, North Dallas, and finally up Preston Road to the Frisco city limits. They then traveled west along the 121 service road and finally north along the Dallas North Tollway service road to Cotton Gin Road.

The move went off without a hitch – the product of much planning and preparation by all parties involved. H. D. Snow & Son did an outstanding job of moving the Tower for an unprecedented third time in its long life. With a motorcycle escort, four vehicles occupied the full width of most Dallas streets as it moved northward during the cool evening hours. The Dallas Morning News accompanied us for the entire route, gathering documentation through photographs, video, and interviews. There was a feeling of exhilaration and great accomplishment as this historic structure arrived in a community that has long anticipated the relocation of the Museum. This move will undoubtedly be the last as the Tower takes its place at its new, permanent home in Frisco.

The structure’s upper two floors have been temporarily positioned in close proximity to where they will be placed on a permanent concrete foundation that will faithfully replicate the first floor. The stairway side of Tower 19 will ultimately face the Museum’s lead track and BNSF’s main line to the east. The full-windowed side of the Tower will face west, providing a panoramic view of the new Museum. This orientation is in keeping with the Tower’s original configuration along the Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe / Missouri- Kansas-Texas of Texas lines, its original builders in 1903.