January 26, 2009 04:06 pm
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The first rail line through Cleburne was built by the Santa Fe in 1881. This line ran from Fort Worth to Cleburne and on to Temple. Six years later, in 1887, the Santa Fe ran a line from Weatherford to Cleburne.
Today the rail line out of Cleburne through Godley goes as far as Cresson, where it connects with the main line out of Fort Worth. This line goes on to Brownwood and points west.
No rail line goes to Weatherford, but you can see an old, raised railroad bed on the east side of the highway between Cresson and Weatherford.
One of my uncles lived between Cleburne and Godley in about 1950. The tracks went between his house and the highway. I remember him talking about “Old Nancy” going by the house, in reference to the train.
So what do “Old Nancy” and a vacant railroad bed have in common? I went to Weatherford recently to find out.
The Weatherford Chamber of Commerce office is in the old Santa Fe Depot building. This depot was designed by Otto H. Lang, architect, who also designed the Johnson County Courthouse.
When I asked for information about the Weatherford to Cleburne rail line, they knew nothing about it. They suggested I see Jenna Mae Thedford at the Doss Heritage & Culture Center. Here I had better luck.
Thedford told me the train that ran on the Weatherford to Cleburne line was known as a cattle train. There was a town between Weatherford and Cresson known as Parsons Station. There were cattle pens at Parsons Station where area ranchers brought their cattle so they could be loaded on the train and shipped to Cleburne. From Cleburne they could be shipped to many different markets.
Thedford also told me that a historical marker had been placed near the site of Parsons Station that would give more information.
After leaving Weatherford I found the marker about midway between Weatherford and Cresson. The marker had been placed there in 2006, but I had not noticed it on previous trips to Weatherford.
Amsley Parsons settled in this area with his family in 1854. Sam B. Kutch was another early settler in the area, and it was his land that the Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe rail line crossed on its way from Weatherford to Cresson and on to Cleburne. This line was built in 1887
A settlement developed in the area of the Parsons/Kutch homesteads. In 1888 the residents requested a post office in the name of Woodstock, but this name was denied by postal service officials. The name was then changed to Parsons Station.
In the 1880s there were many ranches in southern Parker, northwest Johnson and Northeast Hood Counties. Parsons Station was centrally located as a shipping point for the cattle from these ranches.
In addition to being a rail stop, Parsons Community had a rail switching station and offices for telegraph, Western Union and Wells Fargo Services. There were also cattle pens for loading livestock of area ranchers onto rail cars for shipment to Cleburne. There was also a school here named Paradise and a grocery store.
Today, nothing is left in the area to show there was ever a town here.
Now, this gets interesting.
According to the historical marker, the train that made the trip from Weatherford to Cleburne was known as Old Nancy Hanks, or Old Nancy, reportedly for a famous horse belonging to Abraham Lincoln’s mother.
Nancy Hanks Lincoln was Abraham Lincoln’s mother. I found nothing about her owning a famous horse. But according to Wikipedia, a Central of Georgia Railway passenger train running between Atlanta and Savannah, the Nancy Hanks, was named for a race horse that was named for Abraham Lincoln’s mother.
Old Nancy was basically a cattle train, but passengers often hopped aboard for rides.
In 1931, the county began construction on what became Texas 171. The highway followed the route of the railway. The road’s completion led to a decline in rail use and the ultimate end to Old Nancy’s route.
After the rail was removed from Cresson to Weatherford, Santa Fe continued to use the line from Cleburne to Cresson to connect with the main line from Fort Worth west. By the 1980s Santa Fe had just about discontinued use of this track. The line lay unused for several years.
In the mid- to late-1990s the Fort Worth & Western Railway obtained the right to this section of track. After drilling for natural gas started in the Barnett Shale, this became a major supply line for pipe and equipment for the drilling companies. Today Cresson is a busy switching station on this line.
So, I guess you could say Old Nancy Hanks has gone from being a cattle train to being a gas-well supply train.
John Watson is a Cleburne resident who can be reached at texastraveler@sbcglobal.net.
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