Hunt County's First Railroad

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm going to let that story breathe a little. The Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railway, the one everybody called the Katy, had its first train roll out of Denison and pull into Greenville on October 1st, 1880. Now that date matters.

That single arrival was the beginning of something. But before a single rail was laid across Hunt County, somebody had to make it worth the railroad's while to come. And that's where a group of Greenville men stepped up.

Eighteen of them, to be exact. F. P.

Alexander, M. M. Arnold, A.

Cameron, J. J. Cooper, J.

C. Edmonds, Fred Ende, I. N.

Harrison, J. W. Hawkins, J.

T. Jenkins, W. C.

Jones, J. C. O'Neal, W.

G. Perkins, N. I.

Ross, Edward Schiff, Sam D. Stinson, Daniel Upthegrove, A. B.

Watson, and M. H. Wright.

Eighteen names. Eighteen men who put together a five thousand dollar cash bonus and guaranteed the right of way across the entire county. That was the deal.

That was the offer. And the Katy took it. The train came.

And the Katy didn't stop in Greenville either. It immediately built on to Mineola. Just kept going.

But what it left behind in Greenville and Hunt County was a boom, a genuine boom, in population and economy both. One train, one October morning, eighteen names on a guarantee, and a county that would never look quite the same again.

What the marker says

Missouri, Kansas & Texas (Katy) Railway, whose first train from Denison reached here Oct. 1, 1880. A $5,000 cash bonus and right of way across Hunt County were guaranteed by Greenville men: F. P. Alexander, M. M. Arnold, A. Cameron, J. J. Cooper, J. C. Edmonds, Fred Ende, I. N. Harrison, J. W. Hawkins, J. T. Jenkins, W. C. Jones, J. C. O'Neal, W. G. Perkins, N. I.Ross, Edward Schiff, Sam D. Stinson, Daniel Upthegrove, A. B. Watson, and M. H. Wright. The Katy, which immediately built on to Mineola, stimulated a boom in Greenville and Hunt County population and economy.