Throughout the city's history, railroads have been instrumental in the community's early economic boom and supplemented the city's growth for over a century. Three railroads initially laid tracks and operated to and from Ennis - the Houston and Texas Central (H&TC) running north to south-east, the Texas Midland Railroad spurring to the northeast, and the Waxahachie Tap Railroad - later known as the Central Texas and Northwestern Railroad (CT&N) - coming in from the northwest. The CT&N was merged into the H&TC by the early 1900s and both remaining railroads serving the city would be merged into the Texas and New Orleans Railroad in 1934, eventually merging into its parent company Southern Pacific Railway by 1961. In 1996, Southern Pacific would merge into Union Pacific Railroad which is now serves as the sole rail operator in the city, maintaining a yard and local base of operations for the Ennis Subdivision.