DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker says about Chinese labor on the Houston and Texas Central Railway, out there in Limestone County. By 1861, the Houston and Texas Central Railway had pushed its way from Houston all the way up to a place called Mullican — eighty-one miles of iron and timber laid down by human hands. Then the Civil War came along, and construction stopped cold.
When the war finally ended, there was a railroad to finish and a lot of ground left to cover. Now, here's where the story takes a turn most Texans have never heard. Late in 1869, a man named General John G.
Walker, acting on behalf of the railroad, made arrangements with a San Francisco-based labor contractor by the name of Chew-Ah-Heung to bring in several hundred Chinese laborers. These were not green hands learning on the job. Most of them had come from Guangdong province in Southern China, and they had just finished building the Central Pacific Railroad — the western half of the first transcontinental rail line this country ever had.
Think about that for a moment. These men had helped drive iron across the Sierra Nevada and through the Nevada desert, all the way to where the Central Pacific met the Union Pacific. And now, barely any time had passed before they were on the move again.
In December of 1869, they rode that very transcontinental line — the one they had just built — from Sacramento to St. Louis. Then they boarded the steamboat Mississippi, rode the river down through New Orleans, and came ashore at Galveston.
From there, the Houston and Texas Central carried them to its then-terminus at Calvert. They had traveled a very long way to get to Texas. The work they were set to do ran from Bremond to Steele's Creek, near present-day Groesbeck, and the crew pushed at least as far as Thornton.
That stretch covered about twenty miles of right-of-way that needed clearing and grading. Kosse sat close to the midpoint of that section. It was hard, physical work — the kind that reshapes the land.
The 1870 U.S. Census caught a glimpse of them: ten Chinese laborers, all men, ages nineteen to thirty-six, boarding together in Limestone County. Newspaper accounts from Bremond noted something else, too — celebrations of Chinese New Year that January.
In the middle of a Texas railroad camp, those men marked their calendar, their traditions, their presence. Historians have since recognized this as perhaps the earliest example of Chinese labor importation in both Texas and the South. And it did not arrive without intent.
Some promoters saw it as an experiment — a way to test post-Civil War ideas about using Chinese contract labor to displace African American workers. That is part of the story, and it deserves to be said plainly. The initial group stayed only a few months.
But some of those individuals did not leave. They moved into the area and stayed after the rail work was done. And historians have noted that their experiences, and the imprint they left on that stretch of Texas land, laid the foundation for later generations of Asian Americans in the state.
A few hundred men, far from Guangdong, grading a right-of-way in Limestone County. The railroad moved on. So did history.
But the ground they shaped is still there.
What the marker says
By 1861, the Houston & Texas Central Railway (H&TC) extended from Houston to Mullican, a distance of 81 miles, but construction was halted during the Civil War. After the war, extension of this important transportation and commerce corridor continued. On behalf of the railroad, General John G. Walker arranged with San Francisco-based labor contractor Chew-Ah-Heung late in 1869 to employ several hundred Chinese laborers to expedite construction of the H&TC. These experienced workers, most from Southern China's Guangdong province, had just completed to Central Pacific Railroad. The group traveled this first transcontinental rail line from Sacramento to St. Louis in December 1869, then road the steamboat Mississippi through New Orleans to Galveston. Finally, they were taken on the H&TC Railroad to its then-terminus at Calvert. The workers began clearing and grading the right-of-way from Bremond to Steele's Creek (near present-day Groesbeck), working at least as far as Thorton. Kosse was near the midway point of this 20-mile section. The 1870 U.S. Census enumerated ten Chinese laborers boarding together in Limestone County, all men ages 19 to 36. Newspaper accounts reported celebrations of Chinese New Year in January in Bremond. Historians have noted the significance of this importation of Chinese labor as perhaps the earliest example in both Texas and the South. Some promoters intended it as an experiment to test post-Civil War political and economic ideas about contracting with Chinese laborers to displace African American labor. The initial group stayed only a few months, though some individuals moved to the area permanently after the rail work was done. Their initial experiences and imprint on the land laid the foundation for later generations of Asian Americans in Texas. (2020)