Home of Sul Ross State University and a budding arts community, and gateway to Big Bend National Park.

Located in a wide valley in the foothills of the Davis Mountains, Alpine began as a small settlement of railroad workers in 1882. In downtown Alpine, many historic buildings from that era have been renovated for specialty shops and restaurants. A diversity of architectural styles have been preserved, providing a glimpse of the border culture that plays an important part in Alpine’s history. Sul Ross State University, established in Alpine in the early 1920s as a teachers college, is named after Lawrence Sullivan (Sul) Ross, who served two terms as Texas governor between 1886 and 1891. Alpine serves as the gateway to Big Bend National Park, an 800,000-acre park containing desert, mountain, and river environments in southwest Texas. The southern border of the park, 118 miles, is formed by the Rio Grande River and is the international border between the United States and Mexico. The station is unstaffed; a pay telephone is located inside the station.