DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Now, some communities get their start from grand schemes — railroad deals, land grants, men in suits making plans over maps. And then there's Savage, Texas, which got its start the old-fashioned way: bad roads and a man who hated running out of supplies.
William Hamilton Savage — folks called him Uncle Billy — was born in 1822, and by 1869 he and his wife Elizabeth, née Henson, had made their way out to this stretch of Fannin County. The roads in those days weren't exactly what you'd call cooperative. Mud, ruts, washouts — the kind of conditions that could strand a wagon between here and nowhere for days at a time.
So Uncle Billy and Elizabeth did what sensible people do when the road won't cooperate: they stocked extra. Kept the shelves full against the possibility that a neighbor might come knocking with an empty pantry and no way to get to town. Neighbors noticed.
Neighbors came. And somewhere along the way, that extra stock became a store, and that store became the beating heart of a community. By the time Savage hit its stride, sitting about two and a half miles to the east of this marker, it had everything a town worth the name ought to have — a doctor, a blacksmith, a cotton gin, more than one store, a school, a church, and a post office that the government made official in 1891.
Not bad for a place that started because the roads were terrible. Uncle Billy himself lived to see it all, right up until 1909, having come into this world in 1822. Now here's the part that has a little sting to it.
The very thing that undid Savage was roads — or rather, new ones. When World War I came and went, 1917 to 1918, the construction crews came through Fannin County laying down better routes, and Savage found itself sitting on the wrong side of progress. The new roads went elsewhere, and the town began to decline.
That's how it goes sometimes — the same problem that built you can unmake you, just wearing different clothes. The community of Savage may have faded, but it hasn't been forgotten. Every year, reunion activities are held over in Leonard, three miles to the southwest — folks keeping the memory of Uncle Billy's well-stocked shelves alive, one gathering at a time.
What the marker says
William Hamilton "Uncle Billy" Savage (1822-1909) and his wife Elizabeth (Henson) moved to this area in 1869. Due to bad road conditions, they often stocked extra supplies and sold them to their neighbors. Their store became the center of Savage community (2.5 mi. E). The village had a doctor, blacksmith, cotton gin, stores, school, church, and a post office established in 1891. Savage began to decline after World War I (1917-18) when it was bypassed by construction of new roads in the area. Annual reunion activities are held in Leonard (3 mi. SW). (1980)