Parsons Station

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about Parsons Station, out in Parker County. More than a hundred years. That's how long the Parsons community held its ground right here, and it all started with one man and a homestead.

Amsley Parsons came to this area with his family in 1854, put down roots, and built the kind of ranch that a community eventually grows up around. And grow it did. Another early settler, a man named Sam B.

Kutch, was out here too. The Kutch and Parsons families intermarried (the way families in these parts often did), and it was on Kutch's property that the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe rail line came through, rolling its way from Weatherford to Cresson and on to Cleburne. That line was built through the area in the 1880s, and when the railroad arrived, things got serious in a hurry.

Parsons wasn't just a place where the train slowed down. It had a full switching station, offices for telegraph, Western Union, and Wells Fargo. The kind of infrastructure that tells you people meant business.

And then in 1888, a post office opened under the name Parsons, though that almost didn't happen. The name they originally requested was Woodstock. Postal Service officials denied it.

So Parsons it was. Now, the cattle pens. That's where the real commerce of the land made itself known.

Area ranchers (families like McFarland, Eddleman, Woodhouse, and Buck, alongside the Kutch and Parsons families themselves) they'd load their livestock right here at the station, onto rail cars bound for Cleburne, from which those animals could be taken on to other markets. Longtime residents of the area also remember a school called Paradise, and a grocery store. A full little world, out here where the rails crossed.

And the train that worked this route; well, she had a name. They called her Old Nancy Hanks. Old Nancy for short.

Reportedly named for a famous horse belonging to Abraham Lincoln's mother. She was a cattle train, Old Nancy was, though passengers often hopped aboard for a ride. There's something about that detail that tells you everything about what this place was: practical, moving, alive with purpose.

Then came 1931. The county began construction on what would become State Highway 171. And when that road was finished, the rail use declined.

Old Nancy's route came to an end. And the shipping point and community that had meant so much to this corner of Parker County slowly faded. Few relics remain now of what once stood here.

But for more than a hundred years, this ground was something. Amsley Parsons showed up in 1854, the railroad came through in the 1880s, a post office opened in 1888, and for decades after that, Old Nancy rolled, cattle shipped, and families built lives. That's not nothing.

That's Parsons Station.

What the marker says

For more than 100 years, this was the site of the Parsons community, which developed around the homestead and ranch of Amsley Parsons, who came to the area with his family in 1854. Another early settler was Sam B. Kutch; the Kutch and Parsons families intermarried, and it was on Kutch's property that the Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe rail line crossed on its way from Weatherford to Cresson and Cleburne. The rail line was built through the area in the 1880s. In addition to being a rail stop, Parsons community had a rail switching station and offices for telegraph, Western Union and Wells Fargo services. A post office opened in 1888 under the name Parsons after the originally requested name, Woodstock, was denied by Postal Service officials. The rail stop featured cattle pens for loading livestock of area ranchers onto rail cars that shipped them to Cleburne, from which they could be taken to other markets. Prominent ranch families in the vicinity were McFarland, Eddleman, Woodhouse and Buck, as well as Kutch, Parsons and others. Longtime area residents also remember a school named Paradise and a grocery store. The train that made the trip from Weatherford to Cleburne was known as Old Nancy Hanks, or Old Nancy, reportedly for a famous horse belonging to Abraham Lincoln's mother. Old Nancy was a cattle train, although passengers often hopped aboard for rides. In 1931, the county began construction on what became State Highway 171. The road's completion led to a decline in rail use and the ultimate end to Old Nancy's route, and few relics of the once vital area shipping point and community around Parsons Station remain. (2006)