Sitting in between the two Barrett tunnels, Barrett Station, or sometimes written Barrett’s, has appeared in newspapers since at least 1854. Considering the tunnels were completed in 1853, that places the station at least almost at the beginning of the Pacific Railroad’s opening in the area.

The 1854 Globe-Democrat article speaks of the outlay of $1,500 for a macadamized road, Barrett Station Road, from the station to Manchester Road. The latter, of course, goes deep into the history of West County, which was still rural well into the mid-Twentieth Century, as seen in the above and below illustrations.

Even after the two tunnels were rendered obsolete by the new cut in the cliffs and the train tracks rerouted, the station was still used, but from what I understand, it was moved to the south slightly.

Today, the final train station building–stylistically it cannot be the original mid-1850s structure–still sits on the grounds of the National Museum of Transportation, which takes up much of the environs around Barrett Station. Just a few dozen yards to the east, the East Barrett Tunnel’s western entrance lay.

The land the railroad crossed through was owned by John R. Barrett, who had purchased the land back in 1851, perhaps with knowledge the the railroad would be coming through the area soon. A deed recorded in the St. Louis City Recorder of Deeds explains the right-of-way the Pacific Railroad obtained across his land for perpetuity only a year or so later. Clearly labeled is one of the tunnels, the west one, I believe, below, as well as Barrett’s land.