DUANE
Duane's take
The official marker tells it this way, and I'm just along for the ride. Back in 1906, the Texas State Railroad pushed its tracks out into this stretch of Cherokee County — not for passengers, not for commerce in the usual sense, but for timber. Raw fuel to feed the iron manufacturing operation at the penitentiary over in Rusk.
The railroad built to this area, and where the line ended, where the railhead sat, that's where they established a branch prison. They called it Camp Wright. End of the line, edge of the woods, and that was that — for a little while.
Now, Rusk had a native son named Thomas Campbell, and Thomas Campbell became governor. And when a governor wants something, he tends to find a way to ask the Legislature real persuasively. Campbell did exactly that — persuaded them to extend the line all the way to Palestine, where it connected up with the I&GN Railway.
Suddenly this wasn't just a timber spur anymore. It was a through route. And through routes have a way of bringing people.
Settlement started taking hold around the old Camp Wright area, and by 1910 the residents had decided this place deserved a proper name and a proper plan. They platted a new town. Named it Maydelle — for the governor's daughter herself.
And she didn't just lend her name from a distance. She showed up and sang at the townsite's dedication. Now that is how you open a town.
Maydelle grew into an early center for cotton, for timber, and for tomato production — three things that'll keep a community busy. But the latter part of the twentieth century brought what it brought to a lot of rural Texas towns: a quieter road, fewer folks, a population that gradually thinned out. The tracks got laid, the town got named, a young woman's voice rang out over a fresh-platted townsite, and Maydelle became what it became.
Some stories don't end with a bang. They just settle in, real gentle, like the East Texas pines around them.
What the marker says
In 1906, the Texas State Railroad built to this area for timber to fuel iron manufacturing at the penitentiary in Rusk. The branch prison established at the railhead was called Camp Wright. When Rusk native Thomas Campbell became governor, he persuaded the Legislature to extend the line to Palestine, where it met the I&GN Railway. The line brought new settlement to the Camp Wright area, and in 1910, residents platted the new town of Maydelle, named for the governor's daughter, who sang at the townsite's dedication. The town was an early center for cotton, timber and tomato production, but its population, like in other rural Texas towns, declined by the latter part of the 20th century. (2003)