Town of Teague
Teague, Freestone County, Texas
Marker Inscription
In 1905 this town was a drowsy country village called Brewer-- named for 1835 land grantee Green Berry Brewer. It had been settled in the 1870s. Prosperity rolled into Brewer in 1906, however, when the Trinity & Brazos Valley Railroad selected it as site for the railroad shops and as the main division point between Houston and Fort Worth. The town was speedily renamed for the Teague family, relatives of noted railroad builder B. F. Yoakum. In August, 1906, promoters held a town lot sale. Customers arriving on a special train were met by a band playing "Dixie" and before the day was over, they had consumed 5,000 pounds of barbecue. By 1907 Teague was transformed. Dozens of brick buildings were under construction, population soared, and the Ten Thousand Club advertised "10,000 by 1910". Teague's first opera house was soon projected, and citizens once watched 2 merchants struggle happily to the bank carrying large baskets of "greenbacks". During the first decade of the 1900s, population hovered at 5,000 but then momentum decreased. With the decline of passenger train service, Teague began to dwindle. Today it is again a quiet town and the railroad depot-office building houses a museum. (1969)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
In 1905 this was a sleepy farming settlement called Brewer, named for an 1835 land grantee, until the Trinity & Brazos Valley Railroad chose it as its shops and main division point between Houston and Fort Worth. Renamed Teague for relatives of railroad magnate B. F. Yoakum, the town exploded almost overnight—a 1906 lot sale drew crowds by special train, a band playing 'Dixie,' and 5,000 pounds of barbecue. Brick buildings and boosterish dreams of '10,000 by 1910' followed, but as passenger rail declined, so did Teague, which drifted back to quiet with its old depot now a museum.
Why it matters
Teague is a vivid case study in how the railroad made and unmade American towns, booming and fading with the fortunes of a single rail line.
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Related people
- · B. F. Yoakum
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Old Division Point Office for the "Boll Weevil" Railway
Teague, TX
Chartered as the Trinity & Brazos Valley Railway and built between 1902 and 1907, this line earned the affectionate nickname "Boll Weevil" from the special trains that carried men to conferences about the pest then devastating Texas cotton. Founded by Col. Edward M. House—later President Woodrow Wilson's famous confidant—it became a shortcut hauler linking Galveston to Fort Worth and Dallas and even introduced diesel streamliners to Texas. Teague served as its division point, and this office anchored the road's operations.
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