Frost

Duane's take

The official marker tells it this way, and I'm just along for the ride. Now, before there was a Frost, there was a Cross Roads — a little community sitting two miles south of where we're standing right now. Folks had built their lives there, set up their businesses, planted their roots.

And for a while, that was just fine. Then came 1887. March of that year, a post office went in to serve settlements west of Corsicana along the St.

Louis, Arkansas, and Texas Railroad. And just like that, Cross Roads started movin'. Not the people scattering — no, the businesses that had been rooted at Cross Roads picked up and relocated to the new town.

That's the thing about a railroad and a post office. They don't ask a community to follow them. They just start walking, and the community tends to follow anyway.

The land for the new townsite was donated by R. J. Sanders.

And the name? It went to Samuel R. Frost — Navarro County judge, state legislator, a man born in 1846 and gone by 1908.

That's whose name got hung on this place. The city of Frost was incorporated on June 7, 1893. By then the community had already been building itself in earnest.

A Methodist church went up in 1887, right at the start. Three years later, the Frost Baptist Church was organized. Then in May of 1890, the Frost Common School District was created.

Early years, busy years. Roll into the early 1900s and Frost had two banks open their doors. There was a newspaper — the Frost Enterprise — running weekly, keeping the town talking.

And then came May 6, 1930. A tornado. Many of the town's structures were destroyed or damaged that day.

You don't dress that up with fancy language. A tornado on May 6, 1930, and it left its mark. But here's the thing about Frost.

Since its very beginning it has remained an agricultural community. It still retains the charm and atmosphere of a rural Texas town. Some places survive their storms by becoming something else entirely.

Frost just kept being Frost.

What the marker says

Prior to 1887 the community of Cross Roads existed two miles south of this location. The town of Frost was created when a post office was established in March of that year to serve settlements west of Corsicana along the St. Louis, Arkansas, and Texas Railroad. Businesses previously located at Cross Roads moved to the new town. Land for the townsite was donated by R. J. Sanders and the town was named in honor of Samuel R. Frost (1846-1908), Navarro County judge and state legislator. The city of Frost was incorporated on June 7, 1893. Churches of several denominations and schools were organized in the early years of Frost's existence. A Methodist church was established in 1887, and three years later the Frost Baptist Church was organized. The Frost Common School District was created in May 1890. Two banks opened in Frost in the early 1900s and a newspaper, the Frost Enterprise, was published weekly. Many of the town's structures were destroyed or damaged in a May 6, 1930 tornado. Since its beginning Frost has remained an agricultural community, and retains the charm and atmosphere of a rural Texas town.