Dryden Intermediate Field Site 29

Dryden began in 1882 as a railroad section house named for chief engineer Eugene E. Dryden, and from 1884 it was headquarters of the Pecos Land and Cattle Company, whose manager put up a store and post office building by 1886. Beverly Carter Farley built the Dryden Hotel and in 1912 bought the townsite and gave land for a school. From 1913 to 1917 the Mexican Revolution brought two army units to town, yet Mexican ranchers still drove cattle across the river to ship from Dryden. By the early 1930s fifty people remained.

What the plaque says

Dryden Intermediate Field Site 29 The U.S. Government first invested in Terrell County Aviation in 1919, with an airfield built west of Sanderson for the 90th Aero Squadron that flew biplanes for the border patrol. After the squadron relocated, the East Dryden Aerodrome was an active field until 1941. During World War II, American Airlines and the government joined to build a new civilian intermediate and emergency military landing field here. The Civilian Aeronautics Administration supervised construction that ended in October 1943. Two intersecting runways, each nearly a mile in length, were built of rock asphalt on a caliche base. Later named Terrell County Airport, this facility has also hosted civil air patrol and military training exercises. (2008)

Where it stands

More markers nearby

• Baxter's Curve Train Robbery — 3.4 mi
• General Alexander W. Terrell — 12 mi
• Sanderson Flash Flood — 12 mi
• Terrell County — 13 mi