Kerens

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the town of Kerens, out in Navarro County. Now, most towns have a founder who at least set foot in the place. Kerens may not have had that luxury.

The Texas and St. Louis Railway laid its narrow gauge line through Navarro County in 1881, surveyed out a 270-acre townsite, and named the whole settlement for Richard C. Kerens, an official of the railroad up in St.

Louis, Missouri. The marker puts it plainly and with a certain dry wit: he evidently never saw the town that bore his name. Born in 1842, died in 1918.

A whole life, and apparently not one afternoon spent in Kerens, Texas. But the town didn't wait around feeling sorry about that. Streets and blocks were laid out in relation to the railroad, the way railroad towns do, and some of those streets were named right after railroad officials.

Senter. Humphreys. Goodman.

And one called Sloss, which was later renamed for Kerens' daughter, Mrs. Hamilton Colket, who actually did make the trip and visited here in 1941. So the family name found its way to town eventually, just a generation down the line.

The railroad itself kept evolving. It became standard gauge in 1887, and by 1891 it had been renamed the St. Louis Southwestern.

Meanwhile, the town was pulling people in. Isolated cotton farmers moved in from the prairie. And then there were the folks from Wadeville, a settlement that sat two miles to the south.

Many of those residents didn't just leave Wadeville behind. They picked up their homes and businesses and brought them along. One man you have to mention is Theophilus Smith Daniel, born in 1851.

In 1883 he moved his 1878 house out of Wadeville and set it down at 200 South Throckmorton Street right here in Kerens. He wasn't just passing through, either. Daniel was elected to the first city council in 1888, and he went on to serve as president of the first bank, established in 1900.

He lived until 1933. That's a man who built something. And cotton was the engine of all of it.

The first cotton gin went up in 1883. Cotton seed oil was being processed after 1899. And by 1933, city gins were turning out 23,000 bales of cotton.

That is not a small number. That is a town humming. But 1933 was also the year the marker seems to mark a turning.

The building of a state highway in 1931 along Second Street, and the decline of the cotton industry, greatly altered Kerens' growth and economy. The road brought change. The cotton faded.

And the town that a railroad built, and a man named Kerens never visited, had to find its footing again. That's Kerens. Named for a man who never came, shaped by people who hauled their houses across the prairie to get there.

Texas don't do things halfway.

What the marker says

The Texas & St. Louis Railway built its narrow gauge line through Navarro County in 1881 and surveyed a 270-acre townsite here. The settlement was named for Richard C. Kerens (1842-1918), an official of the railroad in St. Louis, Missouri, who evidently never saw the town. Streets and blocks were laid out in relation to the railroad, and some streets were named for railroad officials: Senter, Humphreys, Goodman, and Sloss, renamed for Kerens' daughter Mrs. Hamilton Colket, who visited here in 1941. The railroad became standard gauge in 1887, and was renamed St. Louis Southwestern in 1891. Isolated cotton farmers moved from the prairie into the new town, and many residents of Wadeville (then two miles south) transferred their homes and businesses. In 1883 Theophilus Smith Daniel (1851-1933) moved his 1878 house from Wadeville to 200 S. Throckmorton Street in Kerens. Daniel was elected in 1888 to the first city council and was president of the first bank, established in 1900. The first cotton gin was built in 1883, and cotton seed oil was processed after 1899. City gins produced 23,000 bales of cotton in 1933. The building of a state highway in 1931 along Second Street, and decline of the cotton industry greatly altered Kerens' growth and economy. Texas Sesquicentennial 1836 - 1986