Howe History Minute: Railroad Memories

by G.T. McDonough

The railroad came through Howe in 1872 bringing growth and prosperity The railroad was the Southern Pacific Howe was located in the middle of a rich farming area; it became known for grain, cotton, corn, hogs, and cattle Howe had the distinction of being named the largest grain market inland in the nation For many years there were four grain companies operating in Howe On Many occasions it would take the train a one-half day to switch on the side tracks They would have to furnish boxcars to every elevator and gin During these days all freight was carried by rail. There were no trucks until after World War I Freight was delivered to the depot which was located next to the main track on the north side of Haning Street This is directly east of former Mack's Grocery (now apartments in downtown) which was located on the corner straight across from the fire hall Our family moved here in 1918 and at that time the depot was large enough to hold all the freight delivered here by the train The freight was then delivered to the various merchants by wagon and teams of horses or mules The depot was run by a Mr Carnes There were "through" freight trains that did not stop at Howe The depot agent would hand the orders to the engineer of the train with a hoop We also had passenger trains running through Howe On one occasion my family made a trip to the Dallas Fair on a train that was run just for that special event During those days a little boy that was quite a trip for me I have never forgotten a few of the things that happened One thing that has stuck in my memory was buying a hot cooked fist at the Dallas Depot

When the weather was bad, all the men and boys went to the depot many played marbles, pitched washers, etc This was about the only recreation we had then To eliminate the mud problem, the railroad graveled all around the depot During this time, Howe had three gins and three grain elevators This provided an enormous amount of business for the railroad My dad built a large wharf on one of the railroad's sidings to keep the bales of cotton out of the mud The bales of cotton were stored on the wharf and then as the buyers sold the cotton, it would be loaded into the boxcars

As you have seen time waits for no man or thing In the 1920s, the electric interurban began trying to get the railroad's freight business Each built a cotton wharf The electric company ran boxcars just like the railroad Both carried the mail to the post office At one time, Howe would receive mail every 30 minutes We were very lucky to live in a town that the railroad went through. Times were changing fast. Highway 75 was a gravel road The trucking business was starting up and growing At the endof the 1920s, a new highway 75 (now Highway 5) was being built out of contrete. It was being built by horses and mules A bridge was built over the underpass to allow farmers to cross over Highway 75 with their farm products All this time more cars and trucks were apprearing and were in great demand The railroad had more and more competition The passenger train was discontinued due to lack of business The The interurban rails had to be moved to allow the construction of the new Highway 75 it was moved one block east The old location of the interurban is now Highway 5. The Domino Hall (now Peggy's Porch south of City Hall) was the freight building for the interurban All this time, the emergence of trucks and cars was causing the railroad to lose a lot of business.

About this time along came the Great Depression Why they call it "great", I'll never know It was everything buy great to most people. Into the 1930s, the freight business continued to go to the trucks Due to the depression, farm products were practically worthless In this area, there were no jobs People lost their homes and farms My family lost a one hundred acre farm while owing only two thousand dollars on it Cotton got so cheap, farmers were unable to sell it This situation also caused the railroads to lose money They cut all costs they could The railroad tracks got in really bad condition They repaired only what absolutely had to be repaired

In the late 1930s, Hitler came into power in Europe and began to take over several nations People began to get a few jobs Then came World War II Of course the railroad business picked up Over this period of time, the farmers had new ways to handle their products Due to the availability of cards, the interurban had to go out of business The depot for the railroad was torn down The gins and elevators were closed and torn down The railroad no longer needed the siding (or switching) tracks They were removed one by one

Presently (as written in 1991), there is only a small train, one southbound, one northbound each day

The railroad played a great part in the pioneering and building of America To ride on a train is an experience like no other you will ever enjoy in your life If you haven't ridden on one, do so before they are all gone The Southern Pacific Railroad played a very important role in the development of Howe

Jim and Jennie McDonough and four children moved to Howe, Texas in 1918 They came here in a covered wagon Jim McDonough had the Chevrolet dealership in a building where Independent Bank of Howe is now located An insurance agent and a public cotton weighter were located where the Howe Volunteer Fire Department building now stands

Jim McDonough started a business of "country peddling" by selling and trading various good and necessities Jim died in 1931 His son, G T (Mack), then 14, continued his business until he finished school and went to Dallas to work. Later, he had a motorcycle delivery business in Sherman Then he carried a rural route delivering the Sherman Democrat This allowed him to become acquainted with many people People still remember him (as of this 1991 article) as their paper boy G T then went into the Reserve Air Corp to train as a glider pilot He was later discharged after the excessive losses of people on the island of Crete caused the Allied Command to change the European invation more toward the use of boats rather than gilders

Howe Chamber of Commerce board meeting

March 6 @ 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm

Howe Development Alliance, 101 E Haning St

Howe, TX

Freshman Baseball vs Lone Oak

March 7

Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo

March 7 @ 8:00 am

JV/V Baseball @ Commerce

March 7

High School OAP Competition @ Princeton HS

March 8

V Baseball @ Calera Tournament

March 9

JV Baseball @ Sanger Tournament

March 9

JV/V Softball @ Commerce

March 10

Freshman Baseball @ Trenton

March 10

Grayson County, Precinct 1

Spring Cleanup

March 11 @ 7:30 am - 12:00 pm

1312 E FM-1417, Sherman, TX

Peggy’s Porch

March 11 @ 9:00 am - 11:00 am

Peggy’s Porch, behind City Hall Howe, TX

Keep Howe Beautiful Meeting

March 13 @ 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm

Howe Development Alliance, 101 E Haning St , Howe, TX

V Softball vs Lone Oak

March 13

JV/V Softball @ Whitewright

March 14

JV/V Baseball vs Lone Oak

March 14

JV/V Baseball @ Whitewright

March 17

Peggy’s Porch

March 18 @ 9:00 am - 11:00 am

Peggy’s Porch, behind City Hall Howe, TX http://howeenterprise.com/events/