Railroads in Mineola
Mineola, Wood County, Texas
Marker Inscription
This city's fortunes have been tied historically to railroads. Mineola was born in the summer of 1873, as the Houston and Great Northern (later International and Great Northern) and Texas and Pacific lines raced to a predetermined crossing point. The company arriving first would secure ownership of rail facilities, so construction crews worked day and night, with the I&GN building northwest from near Tyler and the T&P extending westward from Longview. The two lines neared this spot on the same day and the crews were within sight of each other that morning. Accounts differ on which railroad won the competition, with disagreement over the exact surveyed location and whether being first meant the first tracks or first train to arrive. The City of Mineola incorporated in 1877 and its rail success continued as the Missouri, Kansas and Texas line extended to Greenville in 1881. This connected the growing trade center with major cities -- Dallas, Sherman, Shreveport and Houston -- in all directions. The railroads also brought new settlers to Mineola, and a new depot opened in 1905. The T&P moved its terminal here from Longview in 1929, bringing about 200 employees and making a significant economic impact on the city. Its presence sustained Mineola while other towns suffered through the Great Depression. In the following years, a new fire department, post office and schools were in operation. The city became a shipping center for agriculture, notably watermelons, sweet potatoes and cotton. The T&P dedicated a new passenger depot in 1951, but rail connections to Greenville and Lindale were later abandoned. Passenger service, suspended in Mineola's centennial year of 1973, returned in 1996. (2007)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Mineola owes its very existence to a railroad race: in the summer of 1873 the Houston and Great Northern and the Texas and Pacific drove crews day and night toward a single crossing point, arriving so close together that the two lines could see each other and still argue over who won. The junction town incorporated in 1877, gained a third railroad in 1881, and became a bustling shipping point for watermelons, sweet potatoes and cotton. When the T&P moved its terminal here in 1929, some 200 rail jobs helped carry Mineola through the Great Depression while neighboring towns struggled.
Why it matters
Mineola is a textbook example of the railroad-made town, where the placement of a rail crossing decided which prairie settlements would thrive and which would wither.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Related events
- · Railroad race to Mineola
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Jordans Saline
Grand Saline, TX
When John Jordan settled in this corner of East Texas in 1844, he and partner A.T. McGee tapped the region's underground salt deposits to found Jordans Saline. Salt was a frontier necessity—for preserving meat, tanning hides, and trade—and the little town thrived on it, even serving briefly as Van Zandt County's first seat. But when the Texas & Pacific Railroad laid its tracks a mile to the north in 1873, the whole community picked up and moved to the rails, reincorporating as Grand Saline. Jordans Saline simply faded away.
Pure Oil Company Camp
Van, TX
When Pure Oil Company geologists struck oil on W.T. Jarman's farm on October 14, 1929, the Van field roared to life just as the Great Depression settled over the rest of the country. Holding most of the leases, Pure Oil built a self-contained company camp of houses, bunkhouses, a laboratory, machine shop, mess hall, and even a swimming pool to run the field and house its workers. A railroad spur completed in 1930 removed the last barrier to the town's boom, and the field still produces oil today.
First United Methodist Church of Gladewater
Gladewater, TX
Gladewater grew slowly as a railroad town from the 1870s until, in 1922, fourteen people led by the Rev. H.T. Perritte gathered in a family home to organize a Methodist congregation and soon built a one-room sanctuary. Everything changed in the 1930s, when the East Texas oil boom flooded the town with new residents and swelled the church alongside it. Its members went on to form the men's and women's groups that carried the congregation's many programs forward.
Longview Train Depot
Longview, TX
Longview owes its existence to the railroad: in 1870 O. H. Methvin deeded 150 acres to the Southern Pacific, and by 1871 the town had become the line's western terminus, soon a junction where the International & Great Northern crossed. The Texas and Pacific replaced an 1874 station with the Colonial Revival depot completed in 1940, whose passengers reached the platform through a tunnel and whose walls bore stylized quoins, keystones, and grey stone trim. Once boasting three depots, Longview retains only this one — the last survivor of the railway network that created the town.