New York, Texas & Mexican Railroad and The Community of Hungerford

Hungerford ran two school systems and counted its voters by race. The Handbook of Texas says that by 1926 five area schools served 189 White students and 259 Black students with thirteen teachers, so Black pupils outnumbered White pupils. A year later the poll-tax roll registered sixty-four Black voters and eighty-five White voters. The town had one White church and several Black congregations. The old Black school campus was later bought by a rehabilitation program.

What the plaque says

New York, Texas & Mexican Railroad and The Community of Hungerford Attracted by the State of Texas' offer of free land to railroad developers, a charter for the New York, Texas & Mexican Railroad was secured in 1880. Its major investor, John W. Mackay, made his fortune in the Nevada silver mines. His brother-in-law, count Joseph Telfener of Lombardy, Italy, arranged for the construction. Work began in 1880 on the 91-mile stretch of railroad track between Rosenberg and Victoria. The pasta diet of many of the Italian laborers lent itself to the railroad's nickname, the "Macaroni Line." Telfener and Mackay established six stations along the line--Inez, Louise, Edna, Hungerford, Telfener, and Mackay and named them for themselves and family members. The community of Hungerford was named for their father-in-law Daniel E. Hungerford, who served as vice-president of the New York, Texas & Mexican Railroad. Not the successful business venture they had envisioned, the company was sold to Southern Pacific Railway in 1885. With an economy based on farming and ranching, the community of Hungerford has continued to flourish over the years. Its origin is a reflection of the varied history of the railroad in Texas. (Texas Sesquicentennial 1836-1986.)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Attwater Prairie Chicken National Wildlife Refuge — 22 mi
  Ten thousand acres of native coastal prairie northeast of Eagle Lake, kept for a critically endangered grouse, many of whose birds are hatched in captivity and released here.
• Varner-Hogg Plantation State Historic Site — 31 mi
  A Brazos sugar plantation built by enslaved people for the Patton family, later leased convict labor and Hogg family oil, now told through Rachel Patton and Sarah Ford.

More markers nearby

• J. D. Hudgins Ranch — steps away
• Site of Post West Bernard Station — steps away
• Site of Quinan Community — steps away
• Texas Gulf Sulphur Company-Newgulf — 3.9 mi