DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm gonna give it the ride it deserves. Picture the summer of 1873 — the Texas heat bearing down, and two railroad companies in a flat-out race to the same spot on the map. The Houston and Great Northern, later known as the International and Great Northern, was building northwest from near Tyler.
The Texas and Pacific was punching westward from Longview. And here's the thing — that crossing point wasn't a secret. It was predetermined.
Which meant both companies knew exactly where the finish line was. The prize? Ownership of the rail facilities at that crossing.
So the construction crews worked day and night, and I mean that literally — day and night — iron and sweat and lantern light, until one morning those two crews came within sight of each other. Same day. Same spot.
And that, friend, is how Mineola was born. Now, accounts differ on who actually won. There's disagreement over the exact surveyed location, and whether winning meant being first with tracks in the ground or first with a train rolling over them.
History has not fully settled that argument, and maybe that's fitting for a town born out of a tie. What it did settle is that the City of Mineola incorporated in 1877, and the rails kept coming. The Missouri, Kansas and Texas line extended to Greenville in 1881, and suddenly Mineola wasn't just a crossing point — it was a crossroads.
Dallas, Sherman, Shreveport, Houston — connected in all directions. New settlers followed the rails in, and a new depot opened in 1905 to greet them. Then came 1929, and the T&P moved its terminal to Mineola from Longview, bringing about two hundred employees with it.
Two hundred people — jobs, families, commerce — and the timing could not have been more consequential, because the Great Depression was coming. While other towns suffered through those lean years, Mineola held on. A new fire department came online.
A new post office. New schools. The town became a shipping center for agriculture — watermelons, sweet potatoes, cotton rolling out on those same rails that built the place.
The T&P dedicated a brand new passenger depot in 1951, a kind of celebration in steel and brick. But railroads, like rivers, don't always stay the course. The connections to Greenville and Lindale were later abandoned.
And in 1973 — Mineola's own centennial year, a hundred years after those crews spotted each other across the Texas prairie — passenger service was suspended. The town that was born from a race watched the last passenger train leave on its birthday. But here's where the story turns: in 1996, passenger service returned to Mineola.
Born in a sprint, built on iron, and still running.
What the marker says
This city's fortunes have been tied historically to railroads. Mineola was born in the summer of 1873, as the Houston and Great Northern (later International and Great Northern) and Texas and Pacific lines raced to a predetermined crossing point. The company arriving first would secure ownership of rail facilities, so construction crews worked day and night, with the I&GN building northwest from near Tyler and the T&P extending westward from Longview. The two lines neared this spot on the same day and the crews were within sight of each other that morning. Accounts differ on which railroad won the competition, with disagreement over the exact surveyed location and whether being first meant the first tracks or first train to arrive. The City of Mineola incorporated in 1877 and its rail success continued as the Missouri, Kansas and Texas line extended to Greenville in 1881. This connected the growing trade center with major cities -- Dallas, Sherman, Shreveport and Houston -- in all directions. The railroads also brought new settlers to Mineola, and a new depot opened in 1905. The T&P moved its terminal here from Longview in 1929, bringing about 200 employees and making a significant economic impact on the city. Its presence sustained Mineola while other towns suffered through the Great Depression. In the following years, a new fire department, post office and schools were in operation. The city became a shipping center for agriculture, notably watermelons, sweet potatoes and cotton. The T&P dedicated a new passenger depot in 1951, but rail connections to Greenville and Lindale were later abandoned. Passenger service, suspended in Mineola's centennial year of 1973, returned in 1996. (2007)