DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker at the Binion Homestead tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Now, some stories start with a journey, and this one's no different. Thomas Noel Binion — born in Georgia in 1827 — and his wife Pauline Walker Binion, born there in 1829, made their way to Texas after the Civil War.
They landed in the Oxford community, right there in Grayson County, and in 1871 they put down roots the serious way: a hundred and seven acres of Texas soil, purchased and claimed as their own. On that farm, Thomas and Pauline raised four children. Zeph, born 1856.
Homer, born 1865. Robert E. Lee Binion — went by Eddie — born 1869.
And Sarah, born 1872. Four kids on a hundred and seven acres in Grayson County. That's a life with some shape to it.
Thomas died in 1900, Pauline in 1915. They were buried in the family cemetery northwest of the homestead — not far from the land they'd worked — and the farm passed to their children. Now, Eddie Binion had gone off to be a merchant in nearby Pilot Grove.
Seemed like he'd made his move away from the old place. But after his wife died, Eddie came back. Came back with his sister Sarah.
And that's when things on the Binion homestead got interesting. Eddie raised sugar cane. And he ran a syrup mill — right there on the property — from the turn of the century all the way into the 1940s.
That mill had a personality, and it changed with the times, sometimes willing and sometimes not. In its early years, the mill used mules to work the crusher and wood fires to cook the molasses. Old-fashioned, sure, but it ran.
Then the 1920s came around, and with them came fuel oil and coal in ready supply. A piston engine replaced the mule. Coal replaced the wood fires.
Eddie was moving with the modern world. And then the Depression hit. The cane kept coming — folks still grew it, still needed the mill — but the money to buy coal and fuel oil?
That dried up right along with everything else. So Eddie did what any practical Texan with a problem and a mule would do. The mule came back.
Back to the crusher, back to the rhythm of the old way. But even the mule couldn't hold it together forever. The Binion Syrup Mill foundered in the 1940s.
And here's the part that sticks with you: when the mill finally gave out, it wasn't just abandoned. It was dismantled. The iron and the steel were sold — for use in World War II.
A hundred-year-old homestead. A mill that ran on mules, then engines, then mules again. And in the end, that iron went off to serve something larger than any one farm or any one family.
Thomas and Pauline picked a hundred and seven acres in Grayson County and made something that lasted. Sarah Binion, the youngest of their four children, lived all the way to 1955. The land outlasted the mill.
The family outlasted the Depression. And the story — well, the story's still right here on the marker.
What the marker says
Georgia natives Thomas Noel Binion (1827-1900) and Pauline Walker Binion (1829-1915) migrated to Texas after the Civil War. They moved to the Oxford community in Grayson County where they purchased this 107-acre farm in 1871. Thomas and Pauline reared four children here: Zeph (1856-1928), Homer (1865-1926), Robert E. Lee "Eddie" (1869-1945), and Sarah (1872-1955). After Thomas and Pauline died, they were buried in the family cemetery northwest of their homestead. The farm was inherited by their children. Eddie Binion became a merchant in nearby Pilot Grove, but moved back to the family homestead with his sister Sarah after the death of his wife. Eddie raised sugar cane and operated a syrup mill here from the turn of the century until the 1940s. The mill first used mules to operate the crusher, and wood fires to cook the molasses. When fuel oil and coal were readily available in the 1920s, a piston engine replaced the mule, and coal replaced the wood fires. During the Depression years, cane continued to arrive but money to purchase coal and fuel oil diminished. The mule was reinstated, but the Binion Syrup Mill foundered in the 1940s. The mill was dismantled and the iron and steel sold for use in World War II.