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CORRIGAN,
TEXASPolk County,
East Texas
Highways 59 and 287
FM 352 and FM 942
6 miles N or Moscow
25 miles N of Livingston
100 miles N of
Houston
Population: 1,887 est. (2007) 1,764 (2000) |
| | Corrigan's
old water tower
Photo Courtesy Ken
Rudine, June 2005 |
History
in a Pecan Shell
Although settled earlier, Corrigan didn't get a jump start until the arrival of
the Houston, East and West Texas Railway in 1881. Pat Corrigan, conductor on the
first train to arrive was given the honor of having the town named after him.
The Trinity and Sabine Railway arrived the following year. Having two railroads
were a boon to area lumber companies, and in the early 1880s there were as many
as seventeen sawmills operating in the vicinity. A post office was granted in
1883. By 1900, Corrigan's population was a respectable 461 residents.
Corrigan had a bottling works, stone quarries, sand pits, and of course, cotton.
This diversified economy buoyed Corrigan through the hard times when the mills
shut down. After the timber was nearly exhausted, particleboard plants appeared
after WWII.
The population reached
just over 1,400 in the early 1950s, but declined to less than a thousand by 1960.
It has since increased to over 1,700.
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PeopleBabe
Ruth in East Texas by Bob Bowman
Imagine, if you can, baseball
slugger Babe Ruth walking around a field and shoveling cow manure. In 1923, Ruth
joined fellow baseball players for a series of exhibition games in Texas, including
three which were played at Corrigan, 22 miles north of Livingston, in a pasture
owned by Mrs. P.B. Maxey... |
| Texas
Escapes, in its purpose to preserve historic, endangered and vanishing
Texas, asks that anyone wishing to share their local history and vintage/historic
photos of their town, please contact
us. | |
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