Ganado

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about Ganado, down in Jackson County. Now, every good Texas town has a story, and Ganado's is one worth slowing down for. It starts in 1882, when the New York, Texas and Mexican Railroad laid its tracks through this stretch of country and needed a place to load and ship.

So they established a shipping point right here, and a railroad official gave it a name: Ganado. That's Spanish for herd. Make of that what you will, out here in cattle country.

The railroad man picked it, the marker tells us that much, and it stuck. Now, a shipping point on a railroad line is a modest enough beginning. A dot on a map, a platform, maybe a water tower.

But then came 1891, rolling into 1892, and Ganado changed its tune entirely. Scandinavian immigrants came and settled the area, and this little shipping stop became a boomtown. Just like that.

One decade you're a waystation, the next you've got a whole new community putting down roots in the Texas coastal plain, people who'd crossed an ocean and then some to get here. That kind of energy has a way of building something lasting. And it did.

Today Ganado stands as a farm, oil, and shipping center. Same ground, same name, layers of purpose stacked up over the years. A railroad town that became a boomtown that became a working center of agriculture and industry.

Not bad for a herd.

What the marker says

Established in 1882 as a shipping point on New York, Texas & Mexican Railroad. Named Ganado (Spanish for "herd") by railroad official. Became a boomtown in 1891-92 when Scandinavian immigrants settled area. Today a farm, oil and shipping center.