DUANE
Duane's take
Here's what the official marker has to say, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Half a mile south of where you're rolling right now, there's a community called Cline — and like most good Texas stories, it starts with one man arriving somewhere nobody else had settled yet. That man was Celeste Pingenot, and he came to this area in 1870.
The very next year, 1871, he built the first house on the south bank of Turkey Creek. One house. South bank.
That's the whole town, right there. But Celeste Pingenot was not the kind of man who stopped at one house. He established a stagecoach stand, a store, and an inn, and he named the whole operation Wallace.
Out here, in the 1870s, Wallace was a beacon — a place where a traveler could stop, rest, maybe eat something, maybe feel a little less like the frontier was trying to swallow them whole. And speaking of the frontier trying to swallow you whole — the community needed protection from Indians, and that protection came in the form of a small detachment of soldiers billeted at a place called The Spring, nearby. Small detachment.
That's a modest comfort, but comfort nonetheless. In 1878, Pingenot was commissioned as the first postmaster of Wallace. He had built something real out here.
Now, somewhere along the way, Pingenot employed a man named August Cline to operate the store and the stagecoach stand. Then 1883 arrived, and with it — the railroad. When the railroad came in, August Cline built a rock house and a post office, but not on the south bank this time.
On the north bank. He became postmaster. And the community?
It got a new name. Cline. Half a mile south of where you're sitting right now, that's the ground Celeste Pingenot broke, and August Cline finished — and one of them got to name the town.
What the marker says
Cline Community (1/2 mi. S. of this site) First settler, Celeste Pingenot came to this area in 1870. He built first house on south bank of Turkey Creek, 1871. Established stagecoach stand, store and inn; named it Wallace. He was first postmaster, commissioned, 1878. Community protected from Indians by small detachment of soldiers billeted at "The Spring," nearby. August Cline was employed by Pingenot to operate store and stagecoach stand. When railroad came in 1883, built rock house and post office on north bank. Became postmaster. Renamed community, Cline. (1967)