Three Railroads Turned Giddings Into a Junction

The Houston & Texas Central reached the site of Giddings in 1871 and established a shipping point. The new town took its name from Jabez D. Giddings, a Washington County transportation pioneer, business leader, and stockholder in the railroad.

The San Antonio & Aransas Pass arrived in 1889. The Hearne & Brazos Valley followed in 1913, giving a town barely four decades old its third railroad connection. Giddings also served as Lee County's seat.

That third railroad arrived in the same year Giddings adopted commission government. By then, a shipping point named for a railroad investor had become both a county seat and a rail junction. The tracks did not merely pass through Giddings; they gave the young city its shape.