This unusual brick structure, now a museum, was a substation housing an electromagnetic device that converted indirect current to direct current for use by the interurban rail cars of the Texas Electric Railway, one of which is on display. The railway operated between Waco, Corsicana, Dallas, and Denison from 1908 to 1948. The building, with pilasters that break above the cornice and a hipped-roofed tower, was rehabilitated in 1990 for use as the museum. The old Texas Electric tracks on Avenue J have are now used by Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART), which arrived in 2002.
The redevelopment of old commercial properties and construction of new medium-density residential units on 15th Street near the DART station is one of the few examples in the Dallas–Fort Worth Metroplex where a historic town center has been revitalized rather than replaced. The A. R. Schell and Son Agency Building (1896; former Plano National Bank) at 1001 E. 15th anchors a run of fine two-story Italianate commercial structures. The Schell Building’s striking white and black Art Deco facade was added in 1936. Across the road, the Moore House-Plano Masonic Lodge (1898; 1414 Avenue J) is a two-story, three-bay red brick structure with massive, rock-faced limestone voussoirs and stringcourses. Built as a hotel for railroad travelers, it received a stucco finish and conversion for Lodge No. 768 in 1925.