Ham (Pauline)

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about Ham — or Pauline — out in Henderson County. Now, some towns earn their names through blood and battle. Some earn them through decades of hard labor.

And then there's Ham, Texas — a town that earned its first name in 1898 when the Texas and New Orleans Railroad came through lookin' for a more direct path to Dallas. They needed land, and they found an attorney willing to sell it to them. That attorney was Marshal Hamlet Gossett — folks called him Ham — and when the railroad purchased his land and a community started growin' up around those new tracks, they named the whole town after him.

Not a bad legacy for a land deal. By 1900, the community was already taking shape. People moved in to take advantage of land that was well suited for ranching and farming.

And before long, Ham had itself three general merchandise stores, a cotton gin, a school, and a church building that pulled double duty for worship services, town meetings, and social events. The school started in a single room, the way these frontier schools often did, and when the population kept growin', residents added a second room to keep up. Now, here's where the story takes a turn that no railroad survey could've predicted.

One of the earliest postmasters in Ham was a man named Henry M. Faulk. And according to town lore — and you have to love that town lore bothered to preserve this — Faulk had his eye on a schoolteacher by the name of Pauline Riddle.

So he did what any man of determination might do: he made a formal request to rename the entire town after her. The whole town. In an attempt to win her admiration.

Well, whether Pauline Riddle was impressed, the marker doesn't say. But the town officially changed its name to Pauline in 1912. So at minimum, Henry M.

Faulk left his mark — just not with his own name on it. Pauline kept on. By the nineteen-thirties, the school consolidated with the Eustace School District, and a cannery opened up in the community, which speaks to folks adapting, keepin' things going.

But the thirties were hard on Pauline from more than one direction. Poor economic conditions pressed in, and on top of that, the community suffered through several typhoid fever outbreaks. That combination — financial strain and disease — began a slow decline that the town never quite pulled out of.

And then in 1976, the railroad that had brought the whole thing into existence in the first place removed its tracks from the area and rerouted. Today, few vestiges remain of Pauline. What's left is the memory of a once-thriving community whose pioneering residents endured some genuinely trying circumstances — and the quiet historical footnote that it all began as Ham, named for an attorney who sold some land, and became Pauline, named for a schoolteacher who may or may not have been flattered.

What the marker says

By 1900, a community had developed here on property owned by the Texas and New Orleans Railroad, which laid tracks through the area to create a more direct path to Dallas. The company purchased land in 1898 from attorney Marshal Hamlet "Ham" Gossett. The new town was named Ham in his honor.The settlement grew as many residents moved here to take advantage of the area's land, which was well suited for ranching and farming. By the early years of the 20th century, Ham had three general merchandise stores, a cotton gin, a school and a church building which was used for worship servies, town meetings and social events. The local school was housed in a one-room structure before residents added a second room to accommodate a growing population. In the 1930s, the school consolidated with Eustace School District. Also during that decade, a cannery opened in the community.From its early years, Ham also had a post office; one of the earliest postmasters in the settlement was Henry M. Faulk. Town lore indicates that Faulk made a request to rename the town to Pauline in an attempt to win the admiration of Pauline Riddle, a schoolteacher. The community officially changed its name to Pauline in 1912. By the 1930s, a number of factors, including poor economic conditions and several typhoid fever outbreaks, led to the slow decline of the Pauline community. In 1976, the railroad removed its area tracks and rerouted. Today, few vestiges remain of Pauline, which is remembered as a once-thriving community whose pioneering residents endured trying circumstances. (2008)