Whitewright

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm just passin' it along. Way back before there was a Whitewright, this corner of Grayson County wasn't empty. Not by a long shot.

Three communities had already taken root out here. Orangeville, four miles to the east. Pilot Grove, four miles south.

Kentucky Town, three miles to the west. Settlers had put down stakes, built lives, made neighbors of strangers. And for a good while, that was the shape of things in this part of the county.

Then came 1878, and everything shifted. The Missouri, Kansas, and Texas Railroad, the MKT, built a line southeast out of Denison, and when that line reached this particular patch of ground, a new town was born. They named it for William Whitewright, born in 1825, died in 1898, a railroad official and the vice president of the Union Trust Company of New York, which happened to be the railroad's financial backer.

Now here's the thing about a railroad town. Word travels fast when the iron horse is comin', and those folks in Orangeville and Pilot Grove and Kentucky Town, they did not sit on their hands. Almost immediately, former citizens of all three communities picked up and moved to the new town.

Just like that, three neighborhoods folded themselves into one. A post office opened in 1878. Homes went up.

Businesses followed. And Whitewright grew with the kind of speed that makes your head spin. By 1894, this town had schools, churches, a newspaper, a college, community organizations.

It had railroad depots, cotton gins, restaurants, drugstores, grocery stores, wagon yards and livery stables, lumberyards, hardware stores, blacksmith shops, and numerous other businesses besides. For a town that didn't exist before 1878, that is a considerable list. But a town that rises fast sometimes draws hard luck too.

In 1904, a serious fire came close to destroying the central business district. The citizens rebuilt. Then 1911 brought another serious fire, and again it nearly took the heart of the town.

And again, the people of Whitewright rebuilt. That's not nothing. That's the kind of stubbornness a place either has or it doesn't.

The passenger rail service is gone now, but Whitewright is still standing, still serving as an important marketing center for this area of Grayson County. Three towns gave way so one could rise. Two fires tried to finish it.

It's still here.

What the marker says

Early settlers in this part of Grayson County established communities at Orangeville (4 mi. E), Pilot Grove ( 4 mi. S), and Kentucky Town (3 mi. W). In 1878, after the Missouri, Kansas, and Texas (MKT) railroad built a line southeast from Denison to this site, a new town was created and named for William Whitewright (1825-1898), a railroad official and vice president of the Union Trust Company of New York, the railroad's financial backer. Immediately upon the new town's founding, former citizens of Orangeville, Pilot Grove, and Kentucky Town moved to Whitewright. A post office was established in 1878, along with numerous homes and businesses. By 1894 the town boasted schools, churches, a newspaper, a college, and community organizations, as well as railroad depots, cotton gins, restaurants, drugstores, grocery stores, wagon yards and livery stables, lumberyards, hardware stores, blacksmith shops, and numerous other businesses. Serious fires in 1904 and 1911 almost destroyed the central business district, but the citizens soon rebuilt. The city of Whitewright no longer has passenger rail service, but it continues its role as an important marketing center for this area of Grayson County.