Hunt County's First Railroad

Sources disagree on which railroad first reached Greenville in 1880. The plaque says the Katy's first train came from Denison on October 1. The Handbook of Texas entry for Greenville says the Katy came from Whitewright and the East Line and Red River followed in February 1881, while its Hunt County and East Line entries credit the East Line with the first track in late 1880. The East Line, a narrow-gauge road from Jefferson, was bought by Jay Gould in June 1881 and sold to the Katy that November. Seven lines served the county by 1904.

What the plaque says

Hunt County's First Railroad Missouri, Kansas & Texas (Katy) Railway, whose first train from Denison reached here Oct. 1, 1880. A $5,000 cash bonus and right of way across Hunt County were guaranteed by Greenville men: F. P. Alexander, M. M. Arnold, A. Cameron, J. J. Cooper, J. C. Edmonds, Fred Ende, I. N. Harrison, J. W. Hawkins, J. T. Jenkins, W. C. Jones, J. C. O'Neal, W. G. Perkins, N. I.Ross, Edward Schiff, Sam D. Stinson, Daniel Upthegrove, A. B. Watson, and M. H. Wright. The Katy, which immediately built on to Mineola, stimulated a boom in Greenville and Hunt County population and economy. (1972)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Audie Murphy / American Cotton Museum — 1.6 mi
  A Greenville museum of Hunt County's military heroes, including Audie Murphy, and of cotton, which keeps the engine of what it says was the world's largest inland cotton compress.
• Rockwall County Historical Foundation & Museum — 24 mi
  A small museum in Harry Myers Park that keeps the evidence on Rockwall's rock wall, sandstone dikes that geologists call natural and folk tales call built.
• Cooper Lake State Park — 30 mi
  Two units on Jim Chapman Lake, a Corps reservoir proposed in the late 1930s, stalled by a lawsuit until 1984 and dedicated in 1991, with a 10.5-mile equestrian trail and wildlife land around it.

More markers nearby

• Greenville Building and Loan Association — steps away
• Greenville — steps away
• Greenville's Electric Light Plant — steps away
• The Seven Courthouses of Hunt County — 0.3 mi