New Boston
New Boston, Bowie County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Established as shipping point when Texas & Pacific Railroad was built across Bowie County in 1870s, drawing business from original town of Boston (4 mi. S). New Boston townsite was platted in 1876; its post office opened Jan. 26, 1877, with L. C. DeMorse as postmaster. Baptists organized church here in 1880; Methodists, 1883; Church of Christ, 1943. The first building designed as a school was erected in 1886. New Boston men who have served in the Texas Legislature: Blair McGee (1889); Norman L. Dalby (1909-1910); R. M. Hubbard (1929, 1931), and Joseph White, Jr. (1939). (1971) Incise on back: Marker Sponsors: Veterans of World War I, Bowie County Barracks #1657, Their Auxiliary, and The Bowie County Historical Survey Committee
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
New Boston sprang up in the 1870s as a shipping point when the Texas & Pacific Railroad crossed Bowie County, pulling business away from the older town of Boston a few miles south. Platted in 1876 with a post office the next year, the town quickly gathered churches, a school, and civic leaders who went on to serve in the Texas Legislature. Its rise is a classic story of a Texas town relocating to meet the railroad.
Why it matters
New Boston shows how the coming of the railroad reshaped the map of Texas, drawing settlement and commerce toward the tracks and leaving older towns behind.
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Related people
- · L. C. DeMorse
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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