DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker at this corner in Sherman, Grayson County, has to say — and friend, it's a good one. Now, you have to understand what April 5, 1905 meant to this part of Texas. A sitting president of the United States had never set foot in Grayson County before that day.
Not once. So when word got out that Theodore Roosevelt was coming through — on his way to San Antonio for a reunion of the Rough Riders, his special troops from the Spanish-American War — well, people did not stay home. They came by buggy.
They came on horseback. They piled onto special trains from as far as 175 miles away. And when it was all said and done, Sherman had thirty-five thousand people standing in its streets.
A record crowd. For a town, for a county, for a moment — that number tells you everything about what this visit meant. Roosevelt had stopped first in Denison earlier that same day, where excited youngsters presented him with a floral piece shaped like the state of Texas.
Then his train rolled on to Sherman, and the city was ready. The procession that came up those banner-decked streets was something to see. A unit of Rough Riders led the way — fitting, given where the president was headed.
Roosevelt and his party rode in nine handsome carriages, and lining both sides of the route were Union and Confederate Civil War veterans, standing together. Think about that image for a moment. Men who had fought on opposite sides of the bloodiest war this country ever knew, now standing side by side to watch the same man pass.
They arrived at the speaker's stand to loud applause, and Roosevelt stepped up right here — this very corner — and spoke for fifteen minutes. He praised Texas as one of two or three greatest states in the Union. He talked about his own heritage from both the south and the north, and he spoke of his delight in national reunification.
Standing there between those old veterans, with thirty-five thousand Texans listening, that message landed on fertile ground. Within an hour, he was gone — off to Dallas, then on to San Antonio and his Rough Riders reunion. The whole visit, start to finish, was a single day.
But for the people of Grayson County, that one day, April 5, 1905, became one of the most memorable occasions of their lives. Fifteen minutes at a corner in Sherman. Thirty-five thousand people.
And a president who called Texas one of the greatest states in the Union — standing right here to say it.
What the marker says
One of the most festive events in Sherman's early history, Theodore Roosevelt's 1905 appearance here marked the first visit of a president of the United States to Grayson County. Traveling to San Antonio to attend a reunion of the "Rough-Riders" -- his special troops in the Spanish-American War -- Roosevelt stopped first in Denison on that same day, April 5, and was there presented with a Texas-shaped floral piece from excited youngsters. His train proceeded then to Sherman, where a record crowd of 35,000 had come by buggy, horse, and special trains from as far away as 175 miles to see him. Led by a unit of Rough Riders, Roosevelt and his party rode up the banner-decked streets in nine handsome carriages. Passing between lines of Union and Confederate Civil War veterans, they arrived at the speaker's stand amid loud applause. Here (at this corner) he spoke for 15 minutes, praising Texas as "one of two or three greatest states in the Union". He emphasized his own heritage from the south and the north and his delight in national reunification. Within an hour Roosevelt left for Dallas, having provided for the people of this area one of the most memorable occasions in their lives.