New Boston

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm passing it right along to you. New Boston, Bowie County, and the story of a town that moved itself forward, one railroad tie at a time. When the Texas and Pacific Railroad came cutting across Bowie County in the 1870s, it didn't just bring freight and passengers.

It rearranged the whole neighborhood. The original town of Boston sat four miles to the south, settled and established, minding its own business. But the railroad had its own ideas about where commerce ought to happen, and pretty soon New Boston was pulling business right up from the old town like a magnet working through dirt.

The new townsite was platted in 1876. That's when things got official on paper. Then, on January 26, 1877, the post office opened, with L.

C. DeMorse holding the postmaster's chair. You have a post office, you have a town.

Everybody knows that. The churches came in order, as churches tend to do. The Baptists organized here in 1880, the Methodists followed in 1883, and the Church of Christ arrived in 1943.

The first building actually designed as a school, not just pressed into service as one, was erected in 1886. And New Boston did not stop producing people worth knowing. The town sent Blair McGee to the Texas Legislature in 1889.

Norman L. Dalby served in 1909 and 1910. R.

M. Hubbard went up to Austin in 1929 and again in 1931. And Joseph White, Jr. took his turn in 1939.

A shipping point becomes a townsite, a townsite gets a post office, and before long you've got churches, a schoolhouse, and men heading off to make law for the state of Texas. That's New Boston, built right where the railroad said the future was going.

What the marker says

Established as shipping point when Texas & Pacific Railroad was built across Bowie County in 1870s, drawing business from original town of Boston (4 mi. S). New Boston townsite was platted in 1876; its post office opened Jan. 26, 1877, with L. C. DeMorse as postmaster. Baptists organized church here in 1880; Methodists, 1883; Church of Christ, 1943. The first building designed as a school was erected in 1886. New Boston men who have served in the Texas Legislature: Blair McGee (1889); Norman L. Dalby (1909-1910); R. M. Hubbard (1929, 1931), and Joseph White, Jr. (1939). (1971) Incise on back: Marker Sponsors: Veterans of World War I, Bowie County Barracks #1657, Their Auxiliary, and The Bowie County Historical Survey Committee