Anna Foster reported on the depot in the Temple Daily Telegram.

The Temple City Council unanimously approved Thursday officially abandoning 1st Street between Adams and Central avenues and renting the Moody Depot for use by the CentraMod Model Railroading Club. City staff laughed in relief after the vote on the one-block segment of 1st Street, thanking the council for its action – the street has been physically gone for weeks as construction crews work on the city’s downtown plaza project.

Planning Director B.A. Bailey said in response to a question from Mayor Keifer Marshall Jr. that although many people – some city officials included – thought the action had already been taken, the official procedure to abandon the street had not been done. Ms. Bailey did show the council, however, part of a council-approved resolution from several years ago that authorized the staff to go after the grant they eventually received to fund the project, which committed the city to abandoning the street.

The project will replace the Municipal Building’s main parking lot with the downtown plaza, which will have a visitors’ center and be used for festivals in addition to parking space.