The City of Waller Grew Along Main Street and US 290

Waller began with a plat, cattle, and two houses. K. H. Faulkner filed the town plat in 1884. By 1897, Main Street was still part dirt and part sand, but a dozen or more businesses lined it and the population was nearing 200. Cotton, corn, and cattle drove the local economy.

Transportation kept remaking the place. Wagons and horses stayed useful even after cars appeared, because wet local roads could turn travel into a weather problem. In 1930 and 1931, a new state highway cut through Waller north of and parallel to the railroad tracks; in 1939 that road became US 290. The city incorporated in October 1947, and by 1960 the railroad no longer stopped passenger trains there, but produce still shipped out by rail.

Voters approved the city on October 11, 1947, and the county judge declared it established five days later. By 1960 Waller had nearly 1,000 residents and 48 businesses. Passenger trains no longer stopped, but many tons of local produce still left by rail. The road changed; the shipping-town habit stayed.