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History in
a Pecan Shell
Two brothers (with
the cumbersome name of Munzheimer) are credited as the community founders.
Harry and Gus were developers who had left Texarkana
and bought forested acreage here in the late 1800s. Early on, the
name was shortened to just plain Munz.
The brothers had big ideas to get their timber (and other people’s
freight) to market. They devised a narrow-gauge railroad connecting
to Texarkana with Munz
as the terminus. The railroad was named the Northeast Texas Railroad
Company and initially began in Texarkana
through Redwater to Maud
and terminated at Munz City.
The tracks reached Munz in 1905 and city lots were sold as property
in “Munz City.” A post office was granted in 1905 but was closed just
3 years later.
Brother Gus Munzheimer seemed intent on Munz City becoming a destination.
He built a hotel, a train depot, a boarding house and even a brickyard.
Like most of East Texas,
towns large and small declined as the timber was cut and Munz City
was no exception.
In 1914 disaster struck in the form of a huge tornado that wiped the
town off the map. With the timber all but gone, there seemed no reason
to rebuild. Lots (whose owners had planned to build homes) were sold
at auction and the rest of Munz reverted to watermelon and cotton
fields and in time, timberland.
The Brothers Munzheimer returned to Texarkana
where they had much better luck with real estate development. The
railroad rails were eventually sold as reinforcement material in public
buildings. In the region.
Today there is nothing left of Munz and the old scar of the railroad
roadbed is the only tangible proof that a town was once here.
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Click on image
to enlarge
Courtesy
Gregory Phillips |
Munz, Texas
Location
Munz was located
near the intersection of Texas 77 and FM 994. The [above] map is the
current USGS topographic map with the road network present in 1910
(orange) as an overlay. The heavy black line was the tracks of the
Northeastern Texas Railroad. The 1910 map indicates that there was
a short spur from the main line into Munz. It is difficult to appreciate
the three roads leading into Munz and the railroad tracks on current
aerial photographs. The location of TX 77, FM 994 and Co Rd 2470 are
almost unchanged from 1910.The area that was Munz has been re-forested.
- Gregory Phillips, October 17, 2021 |
Cass
County 1907 postal map showing Munz
(Above "A" in "CASS")
From Texas state map #2090
Courtesy
Texas General Land Office |
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