Dodd City, Texas - 150 years
Sept. 8, 1873 - 2023

9th in a series by Andy & Sherri Weeks

“Population Zero”

Dodd City, Texas -- After the deed was filed on 08 Sep 1873 creating Dodd City, Texas the town was owned by three groups: Edmund H & Elizabeth Dodd, Texas & Pacific Railway Company and the citizens of the new town.

What citizens? The population of the town was ZERO; it was only a small piece of farm land, but that changed
rapidly.

The railroad was already laying track coming from Sherman, with no time to waste they started immediately building on the depot and preparing the 26 even* blocks they received per the deed for $1.00 to be sold. This, in part was how the railroad raised funds for the project. Most likely, the same three groups worked together on building streets, drainage ditches, digging water wells, etc. Citizens of the surrounding communties were looking to relocate and take advantage of what a railroad town had to offer.

*Correction in article #1-the T&P received 26 even blocks.

On a deed filed Dec 11 th 1873 at the Fannin County Clerk's office, E.H. Dodd sold his son, Louis “Tibb”, 13 of the odd blocks for $1.00 and his widowed son-in-law, Frank Stewart received 14 odd blocks for $2000. On the same day, another deed shows E.H. Dodd purchased back from Frank 13 lots for $500. At this point, the town had four real estate brokers with a big vision, but the population was still ZERO.

H.S. Thrall’s A Pictorial History of Texas 1879 page 779, shows that railroad bulding in Texas was a big deal from 1850s though the 1870s, so if a town was created or happened to be on a railroad route this was very benifical for the town and surrounding area.

The below are some updates of Dodd City & Stephensville (Lannius) growth through the early years:

The Galveston Daily News 8 Sep 1875: ”…Dodd City, situated six miles east of Bonham, on the Trans Continental Railroad is a new town, and situated in a very rich section of country….Stephensville, two and a half miles north of Dodd City, is in a thickly settled community. Mr. H.R. Stephens has a store in this community, and is an old and respectable citizen. There are many enterprising farmers living in this community, Good Schools, Masonic Lodges, etc.”

Denison Daily Cresset 19 Jan 1876: “Dodd City, Fannin county, had a grand ball the other night in the freight room of the depot and a number of young folks from Bonham attended.”

Tommie Grisham Eaton told the authors stories of the dances that took place in the Texas Pacific Railroad Depot in the 1940s. She also told of her and her friends jumping on the train and riding it to Bonham as a teenager, watching a movie at the American Theater and returning on the last train back to the Dodd City Depot.

On 9 Aug 1879, when the town voted to incorporated, there were at least 200 souls in the original town plat.**p19

After the vote of 37 for, 2 against, the size of the town increased to ONE SQUARE MILE which increased the population on the 1880 US census to a calculated 250. This was estimated because Dodd City was combined with Precinct #8.

The Galveston Daily News 1 Jul 1880:

The Galveston Daily News 1 Sep 1881: “This small but live place enjoys not only the advantage of being on the Transcontinental, that thriving artery of trade and travel in Northern Texas, but also situated in one of the finest, most fertile and productive farming regions on upper Red River.” The article states because Dodd City is the Division Headquarters of the Transcontinental it has seen rapid growth in the year of 1881. The paper lists 13 businesses, 2 hotels, 2 church buildings showing the town’s buildings and population had increased. The total value of shipments in the last year by rail was over $146,000 of cotton, cotton seed, wool, corn, oats, hogs, flour, hides and furs. That is approximately $4,300,000 in todays value! This was not counting the exports by horse and wagons. The article states, Dodd City draws business from Bonham, Delta and Hunt counties, as well as across the Red River from the Indian Territory.

Fort Worth Daily Gazette 15 May 1884: The below clip describes the town and it’s citizens after ten years.

Dodd City, Texas online US Decennial Census above shows growth has been up and down. Starting at ZERO in 1873, hit its peaked in 1920 and in 2020 the population of 389 indicates an upward trend. In the last few decades many of older houses that were too far gone to save have been razed and new ones are replacing them which had improved the population and appearance of the town. Will history repeat itself? Only time will tell!

MORE HISTORY at:
on-line at: Fannin County GenWeb

**Millard Brent’s The History of Dodd City, Texas available at: FC Historical Museum

Email your comments to: DoddCity1873@gmail.com