Name: Moody, Texas
Address: Moody, TX

Moody, TX RoadyGoat

Moody, Texas, sits nestled in a part of McLennan County where the Blackland Prairie begins its subtle roll towards the west. Unlike some of its neighbors, it never quite became a major agricultural hub, despite the fertile soil. The railroad, when it came through, was the key. It transformed Moody from a scattering of farms into a real town, a place to ship cattle and cotton. It was a shipping point, really, more than a destination in itself. Today, folks might stop in Moody on their way to Waco or maybe even Austin, drawn by the quiet charm of small-town Texas, the antique shops that have sprung up in old storefronts, or the promise of a good plate of chicken-fried steak at the local cafe. But if you ask a local why people truly end up staying, or even just passing through and feeling a sense of belonging, they’ll tell you it's the people. It’s that unhurried pace, the friendly wave from a passing car, the sense that you’ve stepped back into a time when community meant something tangible. Moody might not have become a boomtown, but it became a home, and that's a legacy that’s hard to beat.

Moody, TX RoadyGoat

Moody, Texas, sitting there in McLennan County, owes its existence to two things: the railroad and the blackland prairie soil. Folks started trickling in after the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railway pushed its line through here in the late 1800s. Before that, this was mostly open range, part of the vast expanse that cattlemen drove their herds through. The railroad changed everything. Suddenly, you could ship cotton and grain directly to market, and that rich soil was just begging to be plowed. Those early settlers were a hardy bunch – mostly farmers drawn by the promise of that fertile land. They built their homes, churches, and schools, and a little community started to sprout up around the train depot. Life was hard work, clearing the land, planting and harvesting, and dealing with the unpredictable Texas weather. But there was a real sense of community, too. The railroad brought not just goods but also people, connecting this small patch of prairie to the wider world. It wasn't long before Moody became a vital shipping point, and a town was officially born.

The Steel Plow RoadyGoat

The town of Moody is, fundamentally, an engineering project. In 1880, this was just open prairie. Then came the surveyors from the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railway. Their job was a complex math problem: find the cheapest, flattest, and most direct route to connect the cotton markets of Central Texas to the port of Galveston. Every curve had to be calculated for a locomotive's turning radius, every grade measured to ensure a train could pull its heavy load. They chose this specific path not for its scenic beauty, but for its efficiency. Once the survey was done, construction crews arrived, acting like a giant steel plow. They graded the earth, laid wooden ties, and spiked down rails of steel, carving a perfectly engineered line across the landscape. The town itself was then platted on a grid, oriented to this line of steel. Moody exists here, in this shape, because of the practical decisions of those 19th-century engineers.

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Stampede Creek

1839

Stampede Creek takes its name from a horse stampede that occurred near this site in 1839. On May 26 of that year, Capt. John Bird and a Ranger force of 34 men encountered more than 200 Caddo, Kickapoo and Comanche Indians at what became known as the Battle of Bird's Creek. The Rangers returned to Bird's Creek a week later to bury their dead and then headed west in pursuit of the Indians. The horse stampede took place on the evening of June 4 while the Ranger force camped along the nearby creek, later named for the incident. On July 4, 1876, the stream was the site of another stampede, this time of cattle being driven north from South Texas. (2002)

Historical Marker → · 3.8 mi away

Moody

1881

The town of Moody can trace its history ot the pre-civil war settlement of Perry (2 mi. N). In 1881, the Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe Railroad bypassed Perry, and a new town was platted on the land of early settler William Naler. Col. W.L. Moody of Galveston who supervised the laying of track in the area, named the town in honor of his family. Incorporated in 1901, the Moody community has thrived over the years and is the home of various fraternal, educational, commercial, religious, and medical institutions and organizations.

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The Howard House

1900

A resident of Moody when the town was founded in 1881, Charles Howard (1862-1915) operated a general store and became a prosperous businessman. He built this elegant residence for his family in 1900. A St. Louis architectural firm drew the house plans and local contractor Elmo Routh supervised the construction. The Queen Anne detailing includes a turret and decorative fish scale shingling. The Howard family owned the property until 1973. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1978

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Acree, Robert Fred

1892

Fred Acree, businessman and collector of rare books and Texas memorabilia, was born to George Wren and Elizabeth Virginia (Grimes) Acree on March 26, 1878, at Cross Roads, Navarro County, Texas. He attended McGregor High School, Toby's Business College, and the University of Texas. He worked in a dry-goods store at Moody, then later formed a partnership, under the name Johnson and Acree, with another mercantile owner there. He also at one time owned a grocery store in Chilton with Clay Gilmore. Acree was mayor of Moody for several terms and also served as president of the local school board. He married Anna Byrd McLeod on September 19, 1906; they had three children. Acree moved his family to Waco on January 1, 1927, and established a real estate business there. In 1892, at age fourteen, he had begun his book collecting when he purchased a pine bookcase filled with rare books. He preferred Texas, religious, and poetry books, and by the early 1940s his collection comprised some 5,000 volumes. He was also noted for about fifty drawings that he had done from photographs of famous people. Acree was a Baptist, a Mason, an Elk, and a member of the Democratic party , which he served for many years as the Moody precinct chairman. He was also a supporter of prohibition . Acree had memberships in various historical and literary organizations, including the McLennan County Historical Society, the Texas Poetical Society, and the Sons of the Republic of Texas . He died on August 29, 1945, and was buried at McGregor. After his death, much of his book collection was given to Baylor University, while many of his papers went to the University of Texas at Austin.

Tsha Handbook →

Gaines, James Taylor

1836

James Taylor Gaines, a signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence , was born on November 14, 1776, in Culpeper County, Virginia, the son of Thomas and Susanah (Strother) Gaines and a descendant of the distinguished Pendleton family. He was a double first cousin to United States Army general Edmund Pendleton Gaines , with whom he worked in 1803–04 by order of President Thomas Jefferson to survey lands along the Natchez Trace. He was christened Robert Thomas but changed his name to James around 1810. Gaines operated a Sabine River ferry by 1812. He raised and commanded troops in the Gutiérrez-Magee expedition , an effort to wrest Texas from Spain. Tall, red-haired, and red-faced, he was "Captain Colorado" to the Alabama and Coushatta Indians he commanded. After defeat in San Antonio, Gaines went to Virginia and fought against the British in the War of 1812. In 1819 he bought the long-established ferry on El Camino Real, and with his sons and employees operated the facility over twenty years, bringing (it was said) four-fifths of the colonists across from the United States to Texas. He served as alcalde for the Sabine District of the Municipality of Nacogdoches in 1824, sheriff in Nacogdoches in 1828, and postmaster for years. Beside the ferry, he operated an inn and mercantile store and forwarded mail across the boundary into the United States. He later founded the town of Pendleton on this site. In 1826–27 Gaines was a decisive leader in the forces opposing Haden Edwards in the Fredonian Rebellion , and by his stand on behalf of the old settlers made enemies who injured his reputation in later years. However, he retained the respect and loyalty of the electorate and represented the Sabine region in Washington-on-the-Brazos in March at the Convention of 1836 . Here he served on the drafting committee for the Declaration of Independence, signed the declaration, and helped write the Constitution of the Republic of Texas . In the republic he served as a senator in the Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth congresses, representing Shelby, Sabine, and Harrison counties. In February 1843 Gaines sold his ferry and moved to Nacogdoches, where he led campaigns to obtain annexation for Texas. He soon moved to Bastrop in Central Texas, where he owned and operated a hotel. With news of the California gold rush, his sons Edmund and John B. went with other East Texans along the Gila Trail to the mines to make their fortunes, and James Gaines himself arrived on the steamer Ecuador in San Francisco on August 23, 1850. He was instrumental in imposing law and order in the mine fields and held office for years in Mariposa County. He and his sons discovered the rich Gaines Ledge of gold and established the Mount Gaines Mine, which still exists. Although his sons returned to Texas, Gaines remained at the mine, as his wife had died and he had no home in Texas. Gaines was married three times. He and his first wife, Isabella Christian of Tennessee, had a daughter; he and his second wife, Katherine Vincent of Indiana, had two sons; he and his third wife, Susanah Norris of the Nacogdoches municipality, had six children. Enemies charged Gaines committed bigamy when he married for the second time, but proof is lacking. Gaines died on November 12, 1856, and is buried near Oakland, California.

Tsha Handbook → · 8.1 mi away

Moody, Texas

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