From the Annals of the Octopus –  In 1880, the Missouri Pacific Railway Company entered Texas by leasing the Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad’s line from Kansas to Texas.  The Missouri Pacific was purchased by Jay Gould in 1879 to develop a southwestern rail network.  Gould also gained control of various other railroads in the state.  Gould’s venture into Texas was unsuccessful and several of the Missouri Pacific’s component lines entered receivership in the 1880s.  The company reorganized as the Missouri Pacific Railroad Company in 1917, but filed for bankruptcy in 1933 and remained in receivership until 1956. It was acquired by the Union Pacific Corporation in 1982.

The MoPac name lives on as a central freeway in Austin that follows the old MoPac line through town.