Denver, Texas & Ft. Worth Railroad Company was organized in April 1887. The enterprise was created to gain control of the Denver Texas & Gulf and the Ft. Worth and Denver City Railway. The Denver, Texas & Ft. Worth Railroad was to complete construction undertaken by the two predecessor enterprises to a junction at the Texas-New Mexico border. This project was completed in March 1888, and the entire line was managed as a single unit, the so-called "Panhandle Route."The Denver, Texas and Ft. Worth called itself a "people's railroad" and issued numerous pamphlets which touted the opportunities available to homesteaders along its line.
Elaborate brochures described the country through which the railroad passed. In 1889, Denver, Texas and Ft. Worth Railroad was a part of a twelve company consolidation from which the Union Pacific Denver & Gulf system emerged. These lines were reorganized as the Colorado & Southern Railway in 1898.