The typical, long, rectangular station with broad overhangs received considerable additional flair from the addition of large Queen Anne dormers, hipped roofs, and Eastlake scroll-sawn roof brackets. This was the passenger station built to supplement the earlier freight depot, containing a ticket office, baggage room, and racially segregated waiting rooms and restrooms. The Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railway reached Hillsboro in 1881, making it a regional shipping hub. The depot was moved from its original rail-side location to this site beneath the town water tower in 1978.