Cleburne Hops on Board its New Ballpark

After more than a century-long hiatus, professional baseball has returned to Cleburne, Texas. The railroad town 40 minutes south of Fort Worth welcomes back its Cleburne Railroaders, the namesake of the 1906 Texas League Championship team that relocated the following season.

Serving as the setting of this comeback story is a new 1,750-seat multi-use ballpark christened The Depot at Cleburne Station. A replica locomotive greets guests as they approach the ballpark, followed by a museum detailing the rich history of baseball in Cleburne. It’s a history well-documented by author and Cleburne Mayor Scott Cain in the book, “Cleburne Baseball: A Railroader History.”

“Baseball was a natural sport for Texas railroad towns,” Scott writes. “And for one small North Texas town in particular, railroads and baseball merged at just the right time to make some magic.”

The ballpark combines these two civic identities to give locals and the surrounding Johnson County community a special point of pride to go with a versatile gathering place. Along with the Railroaders, The Depot will play host to a minor league soccer team, concerts and other events.

On a broader scale, The Depot anchors the larger Cleburne Station mixed-use development comprised of dining, retail and other entertainment outlets. It’s one of the largest economic developments in the history of the city.

“We didn’t take that fact lightly,” says Populous Project Manager Steve Caudle. “We designed The Depot as one significant piece of a larger ecosystem.”

The Depot at Cleburne Station represents a design-build partnership between Hunt Construction Group and Populous. Among the amenities at the new ballpark are suites, a Conductor’s Club that can accommodate 150 fans on game day and a kids’ play zone.

For more information on this and other Populous-designed ballparks, contact us at media@populous.com.

Photos courtesy of Monica Faram