Maydelle, Texas. (original) (raw)
History in a Pecan Shell
The area around Maydelle was settled as early as the 1840s, but the town didn't form until the railroad was built. Camp Wright had been a satellite prison that housed prisoners making charcoal for the foundry at Rusk. A group of local men saw the opportunity for development and bought the land around the prison camp, platting a town in 1910.
The town was named after the daughter of Governor Thomas Mitchell Campbell. Governor Mitchell is credited with helping extend the railroad from Camp Wright to Palestine. Palestine already had a connection to Dallas on the International & Great Northern, so this link was important to the people of Cherokee County since it connected them with the rest of the world.
There is no record of Maydelle Campbell's reaction to the town being named after her, but she did sing at the opening of the townsite, so we'll assume she was pleased.
Merchants and - especially merchants left their suddenly insufficient homes in the smaller communities to move to Maydelle. The towns of Gent, Java, Mount Comfort, and Pine Town can been seen on old county maps.
Maydelle was thriving in 1914 with a population of 150 and it reached a high water mark of 450 in 1929.
The town flourished during the early twentieth century, reaching a peak population of 450 in 1929. It was reduced to only 150 persons during the Great Depression, but currently it's enjoying 250 inhabitants thanks to the economic boost of being on the route of the Texas State Railroad.
Photographer's Note:
"These still don't do Maydelle justice. Lots more there to see." -
Maydelle Railroad Turntable
Photo courtesy Barclay Gibson, August 2013
Maydelle Depot
TE Photo, 2002
"Cushing Hotel"
Glidden Grocery and Market in the 1940s, formerly a bankTE Photo, 2002
Maydelle, Texas Forum
- Subject: Photo of "Cushing Hotel"
This building was never a hotel. My grandparents owned this building beginning in the 1940's (Glidden Grocery and Market) and it is still owned by my cousin. They used the bottom floor for their grocery store and a kitchen, and the top floor was their residence. They built out the bedrooms and living room on the top floor, which originally was just one big room, and added an inside staircase.
Before that, the bottom floor was occupied by a bank and the vault, which my grandparents used as a pantry, is still there, with an inscription written in the vault dated 1919.
The Cushing Hotel sign was put on the building when the movie "The Long Summer of George Adams" starring James Garner was filmed there in 1981. The movie was about a town called "Cushing, Oklahoma" and that is the reason for the sign. Thanks! - Margaret Haney, June 15, 2004
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