Magnolia
Magnolia, Montgomery County, Texas
Marker Inscription
In early days, known as Mink's Prairie, and by 1850, shortened to Mink. In 1902, railroad named it Melton to honor Jim Melton, a large landowner in the county, but U. S. Post Office confused it with town of Milton. Citizens renamed it Magnolia for the many magnolia trees beside nearby Mill Creek.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
First known as Mink's Prairie and later just Mink, this Montgomery County settlement got a new name when the railroad arrived in 1902 and dubbed it Melton for landowner Jim Melton. When the Post Office kept confusing it with Milton, residents settled on Magnolia, for the flowering trees along nearby Mill Creek.
Why it matters
Its shifting name is a small case study in how the railroad and the federal Post Office, not the locals, so often decided what nineteenth-century American towns would be called.
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Related people
- · Jim Melton
Themes & tags
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