Site of Old Town and Post Office of Weldon
Weldon, Houston County, Texas
Marker Inscription
In 1850 William Morrow built a cotton gin about a mile north of here, opening a settlement. An early post office in the vicinity was renamed Weldon in 1869, for Weldon Jones Murchison (1838-99), a local pioneer merchant. Local economy was based on cotton and timber. Trains hauled logs over a tram road to mills in Trinity (15 miles east) by 1900. Town moved south in 1911, when Beaumont & Great Northern Railway reached this point. The East Texas Development Company platted the new townsite, which prospered in spite of disastrous fires in 1926 and 1927. Weldon post office closed Sept. 3, 1976.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
The settlement began around William Morrow's 1850 cotton gin and gained a post office renamed Weldon in 1869 for pioneer merchant Weldon Jones Murchison. Cotton and timber drove the local economy, with logs hauled by tram road to distant mills by 1900. When the Beaumont & Great Northern Railway arrived in 1911, the whole town picked up and moved south to meet the tracks, prospering despite ruinous fires before its post office finally closed in 1976.
Why it matters
Weldon's rise, relocation, and slow fade trace the classic arc of a Southern cotton-and-timber town whose fate rose and fell with the railroad.
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Related people
- · William Morrow
- · Weldon Jones Murchison
Themes & tags
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