According to local oral tradition, the Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe Railroad gained a vital right-of-way through Emily Hitchcock's property in 1875 by agreeing to establish a depot named for her deceased husband, Lent Munson Hitchcock. The railroad platted the town of Hitchcock in 1891. Built by 1893, the depot became a social center as passengers, freight, and agricultural produce moved past its doors. It is the last of this area's Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe Railroad depots still standing, and it was relocated here by the Santa Fe Area Historical Foundation in 1975 and converted for museum use in 1982.