Hagerman
Pottsboro, Grayson County, Texas
Marker Inscription
In 1904 James Patillo (J. P.) Smith platted streets here in a 10-acre wheat field and established the town of Hagerman. Named for railroad attorney James P. Hagerman, the town consisted of 250 residents, a cotton gin, school, church, post office, railroad depot, and several businesses by 1910. The town prospered and grew to contain three churches and a three-teacher school. However, in the 1920s residents and businesses began to abandon the area when it became known that the creation of Lake Texoma would completely inundate the town. Lake Texoma was created in 1943. Sesquicentennial of Texas Statehood 1845 - 1995
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
In 1904 J. P. Smith laid out streets in a ten-acre wheat field and named the new town Hagerman for a railroad attorney. Within a few years it was a real place — 250 people, a cotton gin, school, church, depot, and shops, growing to three churches and a three-teacher school. Then the future arrived as a rising tide: word spread in the 1920s that the planned Lake Texoma would drown the town, residents drifted away, and the 1943 reservoir finished the job.
Why it matters
Hagerman is a classic American ghost town, a reminder that the same government engineering that brought water and power to the mid-century Southwest also erased whole communities from the map.
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Related people
- · J. P. Smith
- · James P. Hagerman
Related events
- · Creation of Lake Texoma
Themes & tags
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