WHITNEY, TEXAS

History in a Pecan Shell

Established in 1876 with the arrival of the Houston and Texas Central Railroad, things really got started in November of 1879 when lots were auctioned off. The town’s namesake was Charles A. Whitney, brother-in-law of New York financer J. P. Morgan, an investor in the H&TC.

Whitney became a boom town (without having to discover oil). Tents served as stores and the smaller nearby towns moved their businesses to Whitney for the railroad connection. The nearby towns of Towash and Hamilton Springs even moved their post offices to Whitney although a Whitney post office didn’t open until 1880.

Crops in 1880 were a dismal failure and the town was so low on flour that bread became a rare treat. The railroad had promised a bushel of corn for each resident on the first train to arrive, but the need was so great that the gift lasted for months.

In 1880 the first bank opened and three years later the population was estimated to be 1,200. A proper schoolhouse was built in 1884 but a decline in residents had already started when the town was hit by a devastating fire in 1885.

Rebuilding was done in brick but the population had shrunk to 400 in 1890. In the latter part of the 19th Century and early 20th, passenger travel was a good part of railroad income and the train companies provided “excursions” where whole towns would travel to another part of their state to see the greener grass.

Whitney threw a huge picnic in 1891 and with promotion by the railroad, people visited from as far away as Austin County. The event was a surprising success and enough people from the event pushed the population back over the 1,000 mark.

Whitney was affected by the boll weevil infestation of the 20s and in 1930 the population was back to 750 residents. Relief projects during the Great Depression added to the town’s infrastructure and employed some residents, but that was all.

The Whitney Dam and Reservoir Project (1944-1953) had longer-lasting effects. The population had grown to 1,379 by 1950 and the power plant started producing electricity in 1953. After dam construction, the population dipped again – to 1,050 for the 1960 census.

The town suffered an economic recession and nearly 16,000 acres that had once been growing crops were flooded by the lake.

The Lake Whitney Association was formed in the early 1950 to promote the lake as a recreational destination. By 1972 the population hit a high of 1,500.

A tornado struck the town on May 23, 1971 killing one but causing considerable property damage. The 1990 population was reported as 1,626, growing to the present 2,087 (2010).

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Whitney Historical Marker ›

Whitney, Texas Landmarks

Whitney

Whitney Texas Cemeteries

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