The Beginning
Denison
has been call the "Infant Wonder," "Gateway
City," and Katy's Baby," It is clearly all of these.
Infant wonder it was - it blossomed like an oak tree in the
first warm days of spring. A gateway to Texas, Denison has
long been the first welcoming stop for persons entering Texas
from the north. And from its beginning Denison was destined
to be a railroad town. Had it not been for O.B. Gunn, chief
engineer of the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railroad in the
summer of 1872, Denison might have been another location and
under a different name.
Gunn made a personal inspection of this part of the country to select
the location for a new Katy railhead in Texas. There was already a tent
city just south of the Red River, where it is said a lawless community
existed that would rival any western movie today. But Gunn passed this
lawless "Red River City", selected another site for the Katy
railhead and land was purchased. The site was kept secret until the deals
were closed. Once the location was announced the town was laid out and
on Sept. 23, 1872, lots went up for sale and Denison was born. Harrison
Tone of Denison was clerk for the Denison Towne Company, organized Sept
20, 1872. First two lots sold at auction were in the 200 block of West
Main, the first going to S.A. Cook for $250 and the second to W.H. Hull
for $300.
On Tuesday, Dec. 24, 1872, a biting cold day, a heavily loaded construction
train piled high with rails and ties to test the solid strength of the
newly built bridge over the Red River, pulling out of Colbert, Indian
Territory headed across the Red River, Red River City and in to Denison.
Inhabitants of Red River City lined the right-of-way and shouted obscenities
at the passengers as the construction train rolled on past their tent
town and took the "hill" to the new townsite. Denison turned out en masse
for it's arrival, but since the community was yet unorganized, there
were no ceremonies and the crowd just dissolved into wild celebration.
In the evening of the following day, Pat Tobin tied down the whistle
of Locomotive No. 15 and brought the first regular train screaming over
the Red River Bridge, arriving in the city on Christmas night at 7 p.m.
There were two passenger coaches and one pullman place car with the train
and over 100 passengers. Santanta and Big Tree, celebrated Indian chiefs
were on the train, being taken to the state prison at Huntsville.
Shortly thereafter the railroad's publicity men plastered the Midwest
with posters announcing the history-making event. One featured "Gateway
to Texas" depicting a cowboy astride a Texas Longhorn just ahead of an
engine chugging across the Red River Bridge. Denison's population grew
to 3,000 in the first 100 days and the building of the city was like
magic. Every third building was a saloon, but the businessmen in Denison
were a stern self-reliant, confident company with ideas to tame the wildness.
It was these men who hired the famous Texas Ranger Deputy Sheriff, "Red" Hall
who brought everything under control. The Denison Towne Co., allowed
only respectable establishments on Main Street, thus Skiddy Row sprung
up a block south. Skiddy Row was make famous by its tented gambling halls
and bawdy houses.
In 1872 Harrison Tone, at his own expense, opened the first post office
in Denison and installed lock mail boxes and other equipment. He served
as postmaster for the first at a salary of $1. On March 7, 1873, Denison
was incorporated by an act of the Texas Legislature. There was some support
to name the town Red River City, but it was named after the wealthy Katy
vice President George Denison. L.S. Owings, former governor of the Arizona
Territory, was the first mayor.
Earliest known picture of Denison
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