A Man, a War, a Dollar, and a Legacy

By the early 1880s, Paris, Texas, faced a problem — one that might hinder its development as a major commercial and economic force in northeast Texas. The issue? The railroad — specifically a line joining Paris directly with Dallas, the center of commerce for all of north Texas. It’s not that rail service had bypassed Paris. The Texas and Pacific (T&P) Railroad entered the city in 1876 and soon provided an east-west route across the northern tier of Texas counties. But the T&P’s hub at Sherman didn’t connect to Dallas. Rather, it continued west before turning southward with a wide turn toward Fort Worth, a city battling Dallas for supremacy in the northern area of Texas. In effect, Paris and Lamar County were cut off from Dallas, at least in the sense of a railway. Still, an opportunity presented itself when the Gulf, Colorado, and Santa Fe (GCSF) built northeastward from Dallas to Ladonia in southern Fannin County. It was at Ladonia where the GCSF paused to determine its direction. On the one hand, it could head due north to Honey Grove and cross the Red River where it could join the Frisco Railroad in Indian Territory (Oklahoma). Or, if Paris footed the $20,000 the GCSF demanded, the rail would continue northeast through Lamar County. When Paris committed to the payment, a right-of-way from Ladonia to Paris had been secured — almost. The small community of Prairie Mount, or “Old Roxton,” remained a sticking point, and the GCSF saw few options to bypass the town that was developing on the ridge east of present day Roxton. When some early and prominent property owners resisted the GCSF agent’s offers. It took one enterprising gentleman to step up and gamble on the railroad. But for George Hackleman, taking a gamble on the railroad — a business often seen as an intimidating landgrabbing monopoly — was far from the largest risk he ever took. In fact, before Hackleman turned 20, he had already fought what many railroad-resisting Texas landowners avoided — the Civil War. George James Hackleman was born May 2, 1843, in Lowndes County, Mississippi. His parents, Conrad and Catherine Hackleman worked as planters near the community of Columbus, and George was the oldest of five children. The family was well-to-do, owning at least 160 acres of farmland and 11 enslaved people to do a majority of the work. All of the children attended school. By 1857, Conrad has passed away, and George, along with his brother and sisters, helped his mother operate the farm. While the family’s wealth had grown considerably over the previous decade, by 1860, the Hacklemans owned only three enslaved people. The future as a Mississippi planter seemed destined to reach untold heights. But division was quickly growing between the northern industrial states and the southern states that produced the cotton keeping the textile mills in the north profitable. Two years later, the Civil War broke out, and within five months 19-year-old George Hackleman enlisted in the Confederate Army. Hackleman enlisted at Columbus, Mississippi, on September 10, 1861. The reasons he joined the war effort are not recorded. Regardless, upon enlistment, Hackleman was assigned to the 43rd Mississippi Infantry at the rank of private. Over the next nearly four years, he fought with the 5th Mississippi Infantry, and served in the 6th Cavalry under the command of Peter Burwell Starke and eventually under Nathan Bedford Forrest. Hackleman fought primarily in the western theater, involved in battles at Nashville and Franklin, Tennessee; Shiloh; Monroe County, Missouri; and several within Mississippi. While it is unknown in which battles George Hackleman saw combat, he was under the command of Forrest upon his unit’s surrender at Selma, Alabama, in April 1865. Regardless, young Hackleman fought for nearly the duration of the war, and according to military records, escaped unscathed — at least from a physical standpoint. Back home in Mississippi, the Hackleman farm, like most others across the South, lay in shambles. Hackleman decided his future did not rest in farming. Instead, he moved west, settling in Hopkins County, Texas. In 1870, he worked in a Satillo grocery business. Family members, included his mother, soon joined Hackleman in Lamar County where the businessman had set up a dry goods store in what was then called Prairie Mount, overlooking Cane Creek and what was known as the “hawg waller” to the west. Hackleman married Mary Minor, a resident of the Prairie Mount area since birth. In 1877, he was named postmaster of the newly renamed “Roxton” community. He employed one clerk in his store, George Whipple, the father of arguably the most well-known merchant in 20th century Lamar County, Nettie Whipple. Hackleman’s neighbors in what became referred to as “Old Roxton” atop the ridge included names still familiar in town today, Maness, Denton, and Bywaters, to name a few. The Maness family owned a large portion of land between Cane Creek and Old Roxton, while the Dentons owned property between Cane and Denton Creeks in the area north of what became Honey Grove Street. No doubt, they were more wealthy than Hackleman. But what George Hackleman lacked in financial wealth he made up for with a perspective on business that did not focus on the here and now; rather, he had visions for the future. He realized how the industrial revolution was changing both urban and rural economies. He knew the key to expanding commerce in any area was directly tied to the railroad. And he knew that all the GCSF needed to pass through Roxton was a right-of-way. When the Maness and Denton families refused to sell and ultimately divide their property with a rail line, Hackleman surveyed Old Roxton and the “hawg waller” across Cane Creek. Rather than sitting on a ridge, the area between Cane and Denton Creeks was a flat plain, just the type of land ideal for construction of a railroad. Trains could easily pass both ways just west of Cane Creek on their way to Paris or into Delta County. In fact, it was a better route than along the ridge at Old Roxton. So, George Hackleman made an investment in his own business and the future of Roxton. First, he purchased a 200-yard-wide swath of property just west of Cane Creek from a point approximating Honey Grove Street south to Denton Creek. How much money Hackleman paid for the property is lost to history. But his next transaction is what built Roxton for the 20th century. Hackleman sold a right-of-way through his newly-purchased acreage to the GCSF for a tidy sum — one dollar. Hackleman’s bold move set the dominoes in motion. The Dentons soon sold a 100-footwide right-of-way from Hackleman’s property north to Cane Creek. The transaction cost the GCSF considerably more than it paid Hackleman —$183, or $35 per acre. Others saw the writing on the wall and sold what little additional land was needed. By 1887 the GCSF officially completed the route from Paris to Dallas, and for the next century, Roxton remained an important stop along the line. With the railroad now west of Cane Creek, it was only logical that Old Roxton moved down from the ridge. Hackleman reloacted his business due west to a point near the intersection of today’s Highway 38 and Honey Grove Street. Others followed, and in short order, Roxton became a virtual boomtown. Unfortunately, George Hackleman never saw the full power of the dollar he requested from the GCSF that served as the first financial transaction in the development of Roxton. He died on July 27, 1894, at the age of 54. He, along with other early settlers, is buried in Denton Cemetery. Long-time Roxtonites recall the Dentons, a family that benefitted perhaps more than any other when Roxton moved down the hill. And the elaborate Maness home still stands on the hill overlooking the town. But before crowning these and other early Roxton settlers as local royalty, give a nod to George James Hackleman — the man, the soldier, and the entrepreneur whose gamble on the railroad led to a century of prosperity for Roxton and the businesses for which Hackleman, quite literally, laid a railway to success.