Town of Corrigan

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, the way I heard it at the side of the road. Deep in the piney woods of east Texas, there's a town with a story that starts before the railroad, before the timber boom, before the bowling alley, if you can believe that. It starts around 1860, with a man named James B.

Hendry. Landowner, settler, and apparently the generous sort, because Hendry donated the property for the original townsite. That's how a place gets its start, somebody willing to give a little ground.

Now, Hendry gets the founding credit, but he doesn't get the name on the sign. That honor went to a railroad man. When the Texas and New Orleans Railroad came pushing through the area in the early 1880s, things changed fast.

A prosperous timber-based economy developed right here in these woods, and the town that grew up around it was named for Pat Corrigan, an official with the T. and N. O. Not the founder, not the landowner.

The railroad man. That's just how these things go sometimes. Then came 1884, and the Trinity and Sabine Timber Company platted the town proper.

And what followed was the kind of thing that makes a place feel real. A hotel. A blacksmith shop.

Several stores. And, now, don't let anybody tell you east Texas wasn't civilized, because right there among the pines they put up a ten-pin bowling alley. A bowling alley.

In the 1880s. In the deep piney woods. The marker makes sure you know that's what we're talking about, bowling, and I appreciate the clarification.

Today the economy in Corrigan rests on lumber, ranching, and farming. The railroad brought the boom, the timber company drew the lines, and the town has been holdin' its ground in those east Texas pines ever since.

What the marker says

Located in piney woods of east Texas. Founded about 1860 by landowner and settler James B. Hendry, who donated property for original townsite. When the Texas & New Orleans Railroad was built through area in the early 1880s, a prosperous timber-based economy developed here. The town was named for T. & N. O. official, Pat Corrigan. In 1884 the Trinity & Sabine Timber Company platted town, and soon a hotel, blacksmith shop, several stores, and a 10-pin (bowling) alley appeared. Today lumber, ranching, and farming undergird economy.