Before the Transcontinental Railroad connected the East and West coasts of the United States, stagecoach lines carried passengers and mail across the country, stopping at stations where tired horses from a 10-15 mile run were exchanged for fresh ones. Larger home stations, such as Point of Rocks, were about 50 miles apart and offered meals, lodging, wagon parts, and repairs, while smaller swing stations between them provided only fresh horses. From 1862 to 1868, Point of Rocks served as both a home and swing station. When the Transcontinental Railroad reached Point of Rocks in 1868, it became an important junction where the railroad, the Overland Trail, and a north-south stage line met, and supplies and passengers were transferred from rail to stagecoach for the 100-mile trip north to the gold mines near South Pass. Over time, the sod-roofed station also served as a store, schoolhouse, ranch headquarters, and home before it was transferred to the State of Wyoming in 1947 and restored in 1974.