Lyons
Lyons, Burleson County, Texas
Marker Inscription
An 1878 railway work camp; in 1880 became town of Lyon's Station, named for site donor, W. A. Lyon. Soon had 3 cotton gins, an oil mill, many businesses. In 1894 hosted first auto ever seen in this county, with rides for the daring. Now gateway to Lake Somerville Recreation Area. (1968)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Lyons began in 1878 as a railway work camp and by 1880 became Lyon's Station, named for landowner W. A. Lyon, who donated the townsite. It quickly grew three cotton gins, an oil mill, and a cluster of businesses, and in 1894 thrilled the county by hosting its first automobile, offering rides to the daring. Today it serves as a gateway to the Lake Somerville Recreation Area.
Why it matters
The town's rise shows how the railroad and the cotton economy spun small Texas communities into being — and how quickly the automobile age arrived on their heels.
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Related people
- · W. A. Lyon
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Somerville
Somerville, TX
Somerville grew up where two branches of the Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe Railway met, taking its name from the railroad's first president, Albert Somerville. Settlers arrived after an 1883 survey, and the town boomed in the 1890s when residents lured a railroad tie plant here—an operation the Santa Fe bought in 1905 that remained a mainstay long after the 1960s creation of Lake Somerville made the town a recreation hub.
Site of the Somerville Harvey House
Somerville, TX
Fred Harvey, an English immigrant, launched his famous Santa Fe Railroad dining rooms in 1876, bringing tablecloth elegance to travelers along the western rails. In 1900 a Harvey House opened at Somerville, the Santa Fe's divisional headquarters—a 260-foot, two-story galleried building with a dining room, guest rooms, and a library that quickly became the social center of town. It served travelers and railroad workers until 1940 and was dismantled in 1943, though part of its structure survives in the present depot.
Southern Pacific Freight Depot
Brenham, TX
In the early 1860s Brenham residents built a short local rail line to link up with the Houston & Texas Central Railway, which bought it in 1869 and helped turn the town into a regional distribution center. Around 1916 the H&TC, by then owned by the Southern Pacific, erected this brick depot, and the railroad maintained a presence in Brenham until 1975. Its limestone stringcourses and Prairie School-influenced corbelled pendants recall the town's heyday as a rail hub.
Lyons Methodist Church
Lyons, TX
This Methodist congregation first gathered at High Prairie sometime before 1880, with the Rev. John R. Dunn as its first pastor. When the railroad reached the new town of Lyons, the church picked up and followed the rails, erecting its sanctuary here in 1887. It endures as the oldest church building still in regular use in the area.