Gregory

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker says about Gregory, Texas — so you know where this story's coming from. Now, out here in San Patricio County, towns have a way of rising up where the iron rails decide to stop — or in this case, where they decide to split. The year was 1886, and the San Antonio and Aransas Pass railroad was layin' down a line through this part of Texas.

The railroad and the Coleman-Fulton Pasture Company joined forces to put a station at a spot they called Corpus Christi Junction — a switch where the rail line turned toward Corpus Christi and branched off toward Aransas Pass. A fork in the road, you might say, and somebody had to stand at it. By 1887, that junction had a new name: Gregory.

Named for Thomas W. Gregory, a friend of the Fulton family who would go on to serve as U.S. attorney general. And right alongside that new name came a United States Post Office, opened on March 8th, 1887.

Once the mail starts arrivin', you know a place means business. And Gregory meant business. The community grew quickly — stores, hotels, banks, churches, a school.

As many as seven trains passing through on daily round-trip schedules. Seven trains a day through one junction. That's not a whistle-stop, that's a symphony.

By 1900 the population had reached 400 souls, and then the town got another boost when the Coleman-Fulton Pasture Company relocated its main office here from Rockport. They weren't done yet. In 1909 the company built a three-story green hotel — and train travelers from across the region relied on Gregory as their stopover point.

A place to rest, a place to eat, a place to let the miles fall off your shoulders. But here's the part that would've sunk a lesser town: in the 1920s, the Coleman-Fulton Pasture Company headquarters and the Green Hotel both packed up and relocated to Taft. The engine that had driven so much of Gregory's growth — gone.

And yet. Gregory didn't fold. Didn't vanish into the coastal brush the way some towns do when the railroad stops payin' attention.

It survived, and it stands today as a viable residential community — proof that a town built at a junction learns, sooner or later, how to hold its ground even when the trains roll on.

What the marker says

The town of Gregory traces its beginnings to 1886, the year the San Antonio and Aransas Pass railroad built a line through San Patricio county. The railroad and the local Coleman-Fulton pasture company joined forces to build a station here at a site known as Corpus Christi junction, a switch where the rail line turned toward Corpus Christi and branched off to Aransas Pass. By 1887 the junction was known as Gregory, named for Thomas W. Gregory, a friend of the Fulton Family and later U.S. attorney general. A U.S. Post Office opened on March 8, 1887, and the new community grew quickly, soon boasting stores, hotels, banks, and other businesses, as well as a school and several churches. As many as seven trains passed through the junction on daily round-trip schedules. By 1900 the town's population had reached 400, and the community received another boost when the Coleman-Fulton Pasture Company relocated its main office here from Rockport. The company built the 3-story green hotel in 1909, and many train travelers relied on Gregory as a stopover point. Although the company headquarters and the Green Hotel both relocated to taft in the 1920's, the town survived and remains a viable residential community.