Thomaston
Thomaston, DeWitt County, Texas
Marker Inscription
(Founded 1872) De Witt County's first railroad town. Absorbed Price's Creek, 1848 settlement of Republic of Texas patriot, Judge David Murphree (1811-66). Thomaston was named for State Legislator Nathan Thomas (1809-91), who sold south part of townsite (in Refugio Amador survey) to Gulf, Western Texas and Pacific Railroad. North part of plat was donated (from Charles Lockhart Survey) by John P. and Mary (Lockhart) Wright. Schoolteacher J. H. Moore and wife Lou (Thomas) built first house and owned cotton gin and grist mill. James Pridgen was first railroad agent, postmaster, and merchant. At peak, town had 500 people.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Thomaston sprang up in 1872 as DeWitt County's first railroad town, absorbing the older 1848 settlement of Republic-era judge David Murphree. Named for legislator Nathan Thomas, who sold part of the townsite to the Gulf, Western Texas and Pacific Railroad, it drew a schoolteacher's cotton gin and grist mill, a first postmaster-merchant, and, at its peak, some 500 residents.
Why it matters
Thomaston shows how the railroad reorganized the Texas map, conjuring new towns at the rails' edge while older creekside settlements were folded in or faded.
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Related people
- · Nathan Thomas
- · David Murphree
- · John P. Wright
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Thomaston Cemetery
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When Thomaston became DeWitt County's first railroad town in 1872, John P. Wright donated much of the townsite—and, in 1886, land for its cemetery. Some 283 graves lie here, the earliest marked with wooden boards later replaced by concrete blocks, including that of an infant who died in 1871. Wright, his two wives, and veterans of the Civil War and both World Wars rest among them.
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