DUANE
Duane's take
The marker out here in McLennan County tells it like this, and I'm just along to pass it on. Now, some places earn a name the hard way, and Old Harrison is one of them — because the man it was named for was not the kind of figure who slips quietly into the background of history. Confederate General James E.
Harrison. Just sit with that name a moment. He was born in South Carolina, came west, and planted himself deep into the soil of McLennan and Falls counties as an early settler, a political leader, and a landowner of no small consequence.
And he carried connections that most men only dream about — a kinsman of United States President William Henry Harrison, and a close personal friend of Confederate President Jefferson Davis. That is a short list of powerful names attached to one man. But Harrison wasn't content to coast on those associations.
He showed up where it mattered. He was a member of the Texas secession convention — right there in the room when some of the most consequential decisions in Texas history were being made. And when the Civil War came and the Confederacy needed someone to navigate the complicated, delicate world of the Indian Territory, they turned to Harrison.
He had been adopted into the Chickasaw Indian Tribe — an adopted son, the marker says — and so he headed special Civil War missions out in that territory. A general who moved between worlds. Now here's where the town comes in.
Harrison was a stockholder in the Waco Tap Railway. And when the railway needed land — needed a right-of-way, needed a site — Harrison gave it. What rose up at that spot was called Harrison Station.
And around Harrison Station, a town took shape. It had a post office, a school, stores, churches, gins, gristmills. The whole machinery of a living community, out here on the Texas landscape, carrying the name of a South Carolina-born general who had made himself at home in two counties, two nations, and two very different American worlds.
That's Old Harrison. One man's roots, and everything that grew from them.
What the marker says
Named for Confederate General James E. Harrison, kinsman of U.S. president Wm. Henry Harrison and close friend of Confederate President Jefferson Davis. Born in South Carolina. Early settler, political leader and landowner in McLennan and Falls counties. Member of the Texas seccession convention. As an adopted son of Chickasaw Indian Tribe, headed special Civil War missions in Indian Territory. As a stockholder in Waco tap railway, gave right-of-way and site for Harrsion Station. Town had post office, school, stores, churches, gins, gristmills.