Grayson County Rails but not Denison (Denison deserves a separate post).

This map is of Red River City, a town that ws supposed to be there... Denison was not supposed to be there. But Denison of the MKT surpassed H&TC's Red River City very quickly. Note that the map’s cardinal directions are a bit different: from left to right is north to south.

To see a larger image of this map with Red River City, click here.

According to this map filed by the Houston & Texas Railroad with the Texas General Land Office, their rail line was proposed to extend to the Red River in 1872. Their terminus would be an apparently large town called Red River City, which, according to the map, was even bigger than Denison (the city that the MKT built).

Alas, Red River City never became Houston & Texas Central’s terminus. Prior to the railroads, Red River City was a place to buy liquor after crossing the river on Colbert’s ferry (and was referred to Shawnee Town on land maps). When the H&TC finally came into Grayson County in 1873 (not 1872 as this map suggests), the line stopped in Denison to meet up with the MKT.

Red River City is no more, and never much was.

Check out some more Grayson County Rails!

Here’s the view from the north end of Sherman (Grayson County, Texas) along the Houston, Texas & Central Railway tracks towards Tower 16 and the Union Depot, which was razed before 1950. (City of Sherman, via Railspot – Hogan).

Today, the location of the depot and the tower are obliterated by trees (and abandoned cars) (Sherman, Grayson County Texas).

Van Alstyne (Grayson County, Texas) has kept its small-town charm, even though it’s right at the cusp of the ever-reaching Dallas/Ft Worth Metroplex. The tracks for the Texas Traction Company railway still adorn Preston Street.

The power substation and passenger waiting room for the street car line used to be at the corner of Marshall and Preston streets in downtown Van Alstyne. The building has been replaced by a nondescript, white, metal building (left edge of photo). The Texas Traction Company line reached from Dallas to Sherman to Denison (1914, Van Alstyne Public Library).

Speaking of the Texas Electric (formerly Texas Traction Company) and Sherman… in the 1940s, a crash along the route destroyed one of the cars. The destroyed car was ferried along the rails in through downtown Sherman (Denver Public Library).

One of my hobbies is to find old location via Google Maps, and I did that (instead of grading, ha ha). Travis Street in Sherman hasn’t changed much, except that the TE tracks are no longer there.

#UrbanExploration #website #research #Texas #culture #discovery