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History in a Pecan
Shell
The town is named after Captain. J. H. (Jim) Garrison who bought land near
here in the mid 1880s and sold a portion of it to the expanding Houston, East
and West Texas Railroad when they were looking for a right-of-way to the Louisiana
State Line.
The sale was made in 1884 with eleven acres 125 going for
the right-of-way, a depot and lots to be sold for businesses and residfences.
The depot was designated Garrison and this soon applied to the area immediately
around the tracks. Captain Garrison's office for his real-estate and crosstie
business was the first to open.
Other crucial businesses soon opened,
including a sawmill, store and the Greenwood Hotel - which may be the building
above. The arrival of the town's first train in 1886 was celebrated by a free
ride (albeit on flatcars) for all Garrisonites back to Nacogdoches.
Garrison's first school, a log church/ church burned that same year. Classes
were taught in homes until the Mineral Springs Institute could be constructed.
A new brick public school opened in 1911 but burned five years later.
Since incorporation proceeding were interupted in Nacogdoches,
Garrison claims that their incorporation was the first in the county. Undisputed
is the fact that Garrison elected Maud Irwin the first female mayor in Texas in
1937.
From a population of 500 in the mid-1890s, Garrison had double
that number by 1915. Mineral springs made Garrison a (minor) health resort. Excavating
clay for firebrick and exploiting the small coal deposits helped the economy,
but after 1929 the coal mining operations ceased when cheaper natural gas replaced
coal. Clay for brick continues to be a part of the Garrison economy.
Nacogdoches Hotels
> Book Your Hotel Here & Save |
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most noticeable building in Garrison
Photo Courtesy Ken
Rudine August 2006 | |
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Photographer's
Note -
I finally got a shot of the old hotel in Garrison TX on Hwy 59.
If you are not camera ready before you get to Garrison, you'll miss it entirely.
After "Tenaha, Timpson,
Bobo and Blair" the next town down the road is Garrison.
"There ain't much here, but here is the best of it". - Ken
Rudine, September 01, 2006 | |
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