DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it — the story of Druso, out here in Houston County. Now, some towns are born slow, built up brick by brick over generations. And then some towns get yanked into existence by a single decision made somewhere else entirely.
Druso was that second kind. When the Four-C Company put up a large sawmill over in nearby Ratcliff in 1900, the Eastern Texas Rail Line came right along with it — laid down through the area for the purpose of shipping. And Druso?
Druso happened to be sitting right there in the middle of it all. It was the only stop on that rail line between the Four-C mill and Lufkin. The only one.
You can imagine what that does to a place. One day you're a quiet farming community, and the next, the logging boom has rolled right over you like a loaded timber car. A post office went up.
A cotton gin. A general store. A blacksmith.
Even a saloon — because where there's a boom, there's thirsty men. Children in those days made their way to Mt. Pisgah School, just nearby.
For a stretch, Druso had the feel of a place going somewhere. But here's the thing about a town that gets built around one mill and one rail line — it's only as permanent as those two things. In 1920, the mill closed.
The rail line was abandoned. And just like that, Druso began to fade, quiet settling back in the way it does when the machinery stops and the workers move on. By 1935, much of that land had become part of the Davy Crockett National Forest.
The trees came back, in a manner of speaking. Druso got one good run, and the forest got the last word.
What the marker says
When the Four-C Company built a large sawmill in nearby Ratcliff in 1900, the Eastern Texas Rail Line was built through the area for shipping. Druso was the only stop on the rail line between the Four-C mill and Lufkin, and changed from a farming to a logging boom town. Druso included a post office, cotton gin, general store, blacksmith and saloon. Children attended nearby Mt. Pisgah School. In 1920 the mill closed, the rail line was abandoned, and the town declined. Much of the land became part of the Davy Crockett National Forest in 1935. (1997)