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History in
a Pecan Shell
Tennesseans
arrived by wagon train from their home state in 1852 when the settlement
was known by the colorful name of Wild Cat Thicket. With the
arrival of the Missouri, Kansas and Texas railroad, a townsite was
platted by Dr. W. C. Holmes, known as "the father of Trenton." The
name Trenton was submitted to the postal authorities (after Trenton,
New Jersey) and the post office opened under that name in 1881.
The railroad drew people from nearby communities and a depot was built.
The first population figures available show 200 people living there
in the mid-1880s. Fifteen years later the population was 300 and the
town had a school and all essential businesses, including a newspaper.
By the mid-1920s the population rose to just over 600 people and the
Trenton school system had 300 students enrolled. In the early 1930s
the town became a shipping point for onions
- with 158 railroad cars sent out from the Trenton area in 1933 alone.
But the Great Depression was in full swing and Trenton's population
declined to less than 500 by 1936.
After WWII,
it rose to just over 600 and by the late 1960s it had reached a new
high-water mark of 712.
The town continues to grow onions as a crop, although the population
has settled in around 662. |
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Historical Marker:
(US 69 Business. at Hamilton Street)
TRENTON
The earliest Anglo
settlers in this area, drawn to the fertile farmlands, probably came
to the locality known as Wildcat Thicket in the mid-1800s.
By the 1870s a community had begun to form, and settler A. J. Russell
reportedly named Trenton for a hospital in which he's been treated
during the Civil War. The railroad arrived in Trenton in 1881, the
same year a post office was established, and the town began to boom.
By 1885 there were several thriving businesses in operation. Trenton
was incorporated in 1890. Dr. W. C. Holmes, a former Trenton mayor
and active citizen, began to publish the weekly "Trenton Tribune"
in 1909. The town maintained its size during the 20th century, outlasting
many of its neighbors. Trenton remains a bustling community.
(1999) |
Trenton City
Limit. POP 635
Photo courtesy Barclay
Gibson, August 2013 |
| Texas
Escapes, in its purpose to preserve historic, endangered and vanishing
Texas, asks that anyone wishing to share their local history, stories,
landmarks and recent or vintage photos, please contact
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