McGregor
McGregor, McLennan County, Texas
Marker Inscription
On September 7, 1882, lots in the town of McGregor Springs were sold at public auction. The event had been advertised statewide by the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railroad and the Texas and St. Louis Railway. The community was named for Dr. Gregor Carmichael McGregor (1824-1902), a pioneer Texas physician who later became a prominent Waco businessman. As the settlement grew away from the springs on Harris Creek, it became known as McGregor. Residents of such nearby pioneer settlements as Banks and Eagle Springs were among the first to move their families and businesses here. The post office was even listed as Banks for a short time in 1882. The first school,the McGregor Academy, was opened by J.S. Greenlee in 1883, four years before the McGregor Independent School District was created. The town ws incorporated in 1886 and A. H. Crain was elected to serve as the first mayor. Because of its location on major railroad lines, McGregor first developed as an agricultural shipping center. During World War II it experienced a period of intense growth due to the opening of an ordnance plant. Continued development has resulted from the town's diversified economy and rich heritage.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
McGregor was born of the railroad. In 1882 the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe and the Texas and St. Louis lines drew statewide crowds to a public auction of town lots, and settlers from nearby hamlets like Banks and Eagle Springs moved in. Named for pioneer physician Dr. Gregor Carmichael McGregor, the town grew as an agricultural shipping hub and boomed again during World War II with a new ordnance plant.
Why it matters
McGregor's rise shows how railroads conjured whole towns into being across late-19th-century Texas, and how wartime industry could remake them a second time.
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Related people
- · Gregor Carmichael McGregor
Themes & tags
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