Timpson
Timpson, Shelby County, Texas
Marker Inscription
In 1884, Houston businessman Paul Bremond (1810-1885), and other investors began planning for a new railroad to connect Houston and Shreveport, Louisiana. Surveys soon began along the proposed route, and in 1885 the town of Timpson was founded, named for Paul C. Timpson, the railroad official who laid out the town. The Houston, East and West Texas Railroad, a narrow gauge system, was soon a reality, and the first passenger train arrived in the new town on August 1, 1885. The first businesses in the new town were two stores, separated by a pine thicket which would later be cleared for use as the town square. Within a year, the population had grown to 1,000. Within the first year of Timpson's founding, a school was begun, and churches and fraternal organizations were organized. Many businesses were established, including a newspaper; grocery, drug, and other retail stores; an ice company; factories; and banks. The town became an important East Texas lumber, cotton, and rail center, as well. Railroads continued their important role in Timpson until the 1940s, when development of state roads and highways decreased the use of rail shipments. Texas Sesquicentennial 1836 - 1986
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Timpson was born of the railroad in 1885, laid out along the new Houston, East and West Texas narrow-gauge line and named for the official who platted it. The first passenger train arrived that August, and within a year two stores separated by a pine thicket had grown into a town of a thousand, complete with a school, churches, a newspaper, banks, and factories. It thrived as an East Texas lumber, cotton, and rail hub until state highways eroded the railroads' dominance in the 1940s.
Why it matters
Timpson is a classic instant railroad town, its rise and plateau tracing the entire era when the rails, and then the highways, dictated the fate of rural American communities.
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Related people
- · Paul Bremond
- · Paul C. Timpson
Related events
- · Founding of Timpson, 1885
Themes & tags
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