Teague, Texas

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Teague Texas
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Interstate 45 8 songs Trinity River 11 songs Brazos River 42 songs

History of Teague

The Magic City Railroad Boom RoadyGoat

In 1906 the railroad rewrote this place. A drowsy country village called Brewer had stood here for decades when the Trinity and Brazos Valley Railway picked the spot as its division point, halfway between Fort Worth and Houston. Railroad magnate Benjamin Franklin Yoakum bought six hundred acres for a new townsite and renamed it Teague, after his mother's family, early pioneers in Freestone County. Then came the machine shops, the car shops, the roundhouse, and a handsome two-story brick depot that cost twenty thousand dollars—reckoned one of the finest stations in Texas, and still standing today as a railroad museum. Imagine the scene: workers pouring onto the prairie, dozens of brick buildings going up at once by 1907, six trains a day, and a booster club advertising 'ten thousand by 1910.' They fell short of that, but Teague hit about thirty-three hundred people by 1914. The railroad hadn't just put this town on the map; it made it the map's new center.

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Engineering a Railroad Hub RoadyGoat

The existence of Teague as a town is a case study in transportation engineering. When the Trinity and Brazos Valley Railway planned its Fort Worth-to-Houston route in 1905, it faced a critical logistical problem: steam locomotives needed constant maintenance and couldn't run far without service. The solution was a 'division point.' Engineers picked Brewer Prairie, roughly the midpoint of the line, and there they built a self-contained industrial complex: a roundhouse for turning and servicing engines, machine shops and car shops for heavy repairs, and a sprawling yard to marshal freight. The depot, finished in 1907 and designed by Austin architect C. H. Page Jr., held a rotunda, ticket office, three waiting rooms, a baggage room, a dining room, a kitchen, and the line's offices. This wasn't just a stop; it was a system designed for maximum uptime, crew rotation, and resource management. The grid of streets you see today was laid out to support it. Teague is a town built by engineers, for engineers, a complex logistical equation written in steel and steam.

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Teague, TX RoadyGoat

Teague, Texas, initially settled around the time of the Civil War, saw significant development in the latter half of the 19th century. Originally known as Brewer, the community grew with businesses such as a dry goods and grocery store, a blacksmith and wood shop, and a barber. The pivotal moment for Teague's development came in 1906 with the arrival of the Trinity and Brazos Valley Railway. The railway company established its machine and car shops in the town, leading to rapid growth and the renaming of the town to Teague. This renaming was done by railway magnate Benjamin Franklin Yoakum in honor of his mother, Narcissa Teague, and her parents, early pioneers in Freestone County. Teague was incorporated as a municipality in 1906 and officially recognized as a city in 1907.

Boyd, William Rufus, Jr.

1941

William Rufus Boyd, Jr., banker and chairman of the War Council of the Petroleum Industry during World War II , the son of Judge William R. and Lizzie (Self) Boyd, was born in Fairfield, Freestone County, Texas, on January 7, 1885. He attended Fairfield public schools and after high school was employed as a printer at the Fairfield Recorder . He then attended Metropolitan Business College in Dallas and later studied law at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. He received his law license at age nineteen. Boyd was subsequently appointed secretary to Congressman Scott Field , who represented Freestone and Limestone counties. He served for two years in Washington before moving in 1906 back to Freestone County, where he became the first mayor of Teague at the age of twenty-one. He soon moved to Eddy, McLennan County, where he organized the Farmers and Merchants State Bank and was its president for two years. He was the Texas representative of the National Citizens League for the Promotion of a Sound Banking System and later served as a member of the Dallas investment firm of Philip, Boyd, and Company. At the outbreak of World War I he served in Chicago as the regional manager of the Chamber of Commerce of the United States. After the war he was the national campaign manager for the League to Enforce Peace, an organization led by former President William Howard Taft, which sought support for United States membership in the League of Nations. Boyd joined the American Petroleum Institute in 1920 and served as vice president from 1928 to 1941 and as president from 1941 to 1949. During World War II he was chairman of the War Council of the Petroleum Industry, a national war service agency that delegated petroleum resources to the war effort. In 1946 President Harry S. Truman conferred upon Boyd Presidential Medal of Merit, the highest government decoration possible for a civilian, for his service during the war. Boyd married Gertye Watson of Fairfield on May 17, 1906, and they had one child. From 1950 to 1959 he devoted his time to civic, patriotic, charitable, and religious organizations. He was a member of the Texas Turnpike Authority from 1955 to 1959 and founded the Methodist Men's Club in Teague. Boyd died on November 6, 1959, in Teague and was buried in Arlington National Cemetery. In 1969 a Texas state historical marker was erected for Boyd in Teague.

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Old Division Point Office for the "Boll Weevil" Railway

1902

Important Texas transportation artery. Chartered as Trinity & Brazos Valley Railway. Nicknamed for special trains roaring down its tracks, taking men to "Boll Weevil Conferences"-- in turn of century alarm over pests attacking cotton and the economy. Another nickname for road was "Turnip & Bean Vine". The T. & B.V. was founded by an investor-statesman, Col. Edward M. House, famed for his national political power as advisor of U. S. President Woodrow Wilson. House's associates included Frank Andrews, formerly assistant attorney general of Texas; Robert H. Baker, statesman and insurance executive; and Benjamin F. Yoakum, lifetime railroad man and agriculturist. Road was built 1902-1907 from Houston to Cleburne, and with special trackage arrangements it became a short-cut hauler from Galveston to Fort Worth and Dallas. It introduced diesel passenger streamliners to Texas; belonged to Burlington-Rock Island complex during most of its first 60 years of service. Texas attained a peak of 17,078 miles of railroads in 1933. Trains still have respected roles in freight hauling. But the era of regulating family clocks by passage of the "Boll Weevil" or some other train is now largely a matter of warmly-cherished history. (1968)

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Town of Teague

1905

In 1905 this town was a drowsy country village called Brewer-- named for 1835 land grantee Green Berry Brewer. It had been settled in the 1870s. Prosperity rolled into Brewer in 1906, however, when the Trinity & Brazos Valley Railroad selected it as site for the railroad shops and as the main division point between Houston and Fort Worth. The town was speedily renamed for the Teague family, relatives of noted railroad builder B. F. Yoakum. In August, 1906, promoters held a town lot sale. Customers arriving on a special train were met by a band playing "Dixie" and before the day was over, they had consumed 5,000 pounds of barbecue. By 1907 Teague was transformed. Dozens of brick buildings were under construction, population soared, and the Ten Thousand Club advertised "10,000 by 1910". Teague's first opera house was soon projected, and citizens once watched 2 merchants struggle happily to the bank carrying large baskets of "greenbacks". During the first decade of the 1900s, population hovered at 5,000 but then momentum decreased. With the decline of passenger train service, Teague began to dwindle. Today it is again a quiet town and the railroad depot-office building houses a museum. (1969)

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Boyd, Jr., William Rufus

1885

(January 7, 1885 - November 6, 1959) Licensed to practice law at age 19; became Teague's first mayor at 21. Regional manager of U. S. Chamber of Commerce during World War I. Joined the American Petroleum Institute in 1920, rising to positions of executive vice president, 1928-1941, and president, 1841-1949. In World War II, as chairman of War Council of petroleum industry, he aided Allied victory. Married Gertrude Watson and had one son, William Rufus, III.

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Burlington-Rock Island Railroad Museum

1906

The Burlington-Rock Island Railroad Museum, in Teague, was officially opened on October 4, 1970, and is housed in the original Trinity and Brazos Valley Railway depot and office building. The depot was built in 1906–07 and designed by C. H. Page, Jr., an Austin architect, whose father had worked as a stone mason on the state Capitol . The two-story building combines the round arches and arcades of Romanesque styling with an asymmetrical Italianate tower. Its bichrome façade features red-brick trim on a buff-colored, pressed-brick background. The hipped roof is covered in red tile. When built, the depot was considered one of the most handsome stations in Texas. The railway itself, the "Boll Weevil," belonged to the Burlington-Rock Island system for most of its existence and continues freight service to Teague. After a new railroad office was constructed in the 1960s, local historians, led by Llewellyn Notley, retired Teague school superintendent, and P. F. Thomas, retired railroad superintendent, acquired the building for the city of Teague from the Fort Worth and Denver Railway and the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad for one dollar. The Burlington-Rock Island Railroad Museum Association of Teague was organized and incorporated by the Texas secretary of state in 1969. The museum opened on October 4, 1970, with United States congressman Olin E. Teague delivering the dedicatory address. Two state historical markers were unveiled at the program. The exhibits in the museum include a 1925 Baldwin locomotive donated by W. T. Carter and Brother of Camden, a railroad motor car, a baggage wagon, photographs, timetables, and other memorabilia. Other artifacts of local history are also preserved in the museum, including items pertaining to churches, schools, doctors and hospitals, merchants and business firms, clubs and organizations (including a Boy Scout room), civic leaders, and city officials. The Teague Volunteer Fire Department, which dates back to 1907, developed its own exhibit, which includes the department's first motorized pumper engine, a 1920s Seagraves with dual ignition. The local newspaper, the Teague Chronicle , published since 1906, has its own display, which features the Cottrell printing press used by the paper from 1906 to 1976, in addition to a copy of its first issue, dated July 27, 1906, which contains a report on the arrival of Teague's first passenger train. A Veterans' Room displays exhibits of all wars; special memorial cases honor those killed in action. The museum also serves as a permanent depository for the Teague Family Genealogical Research Center, founded by Carroll Hudgens Teague of Oklawaha, Florida. Exhibited on the museum grounds is a two-room log house, dog-trot style, built in the early 1850s for Col. B. A. Philpott near Dew and moved to Teague and restored as a United States Bicentennial project in 1976; the house was donated by Mr. and Mrs. Dale McCeig. On March 21, 1979, the Burlington-Rock Island Railroad Museum building qualified for listing on the National Register of Historic Places by the Texas Historical Commission and the United States Department of the Interior. It is the only building in Freestone County so honored.

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Everything Near Teague

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