Calvert Moved Two Miles to Meet the Railroad

Calvert moved before it boomed. The earlier community was called Sterling. When the Houston and Texas Central Railway route was established in 1868, the settlement shifted about two miles to the right-of-way and took Judge Robert Calvert's name. Investors platted the new site in January, merchants began moving in from Sterling and Owensville by February, and trains arrived in 1869.

The rail line and Calvert's county-seat role, which began in 1870, made the town a cotton and commercial center. A severe yellow fever epidemic killed many residents in 1873. Even so, Calvert counted fifty-two businesses by 1878 and an estimated 3,000 people by 1884.

The former courthouse at 604 Elm Street shows how quickly the government role changed. Work began in 1875, but the county seat moved away in 1879 before the building was completed. Merchant and planter Robert A. Brown bought it in 1885 and, with his wife Lucy Herndon Brown, turned it into a residence. It became a museum in 1966.

At 502 Main Street, a foundry founded about 1870 gives the industrial side of the story. County-made brick formed the building, while its iron front came from St. Louis. Horse-drawn wagons brought iron ore from local deposits and Cherokee County to be made into farm tools and other sturdy goods. The railroad pulled Calvert two miles; the courthouse and foundry fixed the new townsite in brick and iron.