Quinlan

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about Quinlan, Texas — and it's a story with some real characters in it. Around 1892, a stop appeared on the Texas Midland Railroad, and a city began to grow up around it. Now, the Texas Midland wasn't just any railroad.

It was owned by a woman the press of the day called the witch of Wall Street — Hettie Green, a famed bond investor whose reputation apparently preceded her everywhere she went. Hettie herself didn't run the line day to day. That job fell to her son, Edward H.

R. Green. The Texas Midland eventually became a subsidiary of the Houston and Texas Central Railroad, and the city that built up around a depot constructed right here — between the towns of Roberts and Greenville — was named Quinlan.

Named for George A. Quinlan, the general manager of the Houston and Texas Central. A post office opened in 1894.

By 1896 the city was incorporated, and a man named Harry Ford stepped in as its first mayor. From there, Quinlan didn't waste any time. It became the center of a large agricultural area — a railroad shipping point for growers of cotton and other crops.

By the early twentieth century, the town could boast three cotton gins, banks, schools, churches, fraternal organizations, and a full spread of businesses and homes. Then the thirties and forties arrived, and oil exploration and production overtook cotton farming as the area's economic base. And if that wasn't enough of a turn, the 1950s brought the construction of Lake Tawakoni, which handed Quinlan yet another economic boost.

From a railroad stop to a cotton hub to an oil patch to a lakeside community — that's a lot of life packed into one stretch of Hunt County ground.

What the marker says

The city of Quinlan began about 1892 as a stop on the Texas Midland Railroad. Owned by famed bond investor Hettie Green, called by the contemporary press "the witch of Wall Street," the railroad was operated by her son, Edward H. R. Green. Texas Midland became a subsidiary of the Houston & Texas Central Railroad, and the city which built up around a depot constructed here between the towns of Roberts and Greenville was named Quinlan in honor of George A. Quinlan, the general manager of the Houston & Texas Central Railroad. A post office opened in Quinlan in 1894, and by 1896 the city was incorporated. Harry Ford served as first mayor. Quinlan soon became the center of a large agricultural area, providing a railroad shipping point for growers of cotton and other crops. By the early 20th century the town boasted three cotton gins, numerous businesses and fraternal organizations, banks, schools, churches, and homes. Oil exploration and production overtook cotton farming as the area's economic base in the 1930s and 1940s, and the construction of Lake Tawakoni in the 1950s brought another economic boost to the community.