Greenville grew into a cotton hub after the railroad arrived

Before the railroad, Hunt County had rich soil and a shipping problem. The county formed in 1846 from Fannin and Nacogdoches counties, but there were no navigable waterways and no rail line. Cotton could grow here, but getting it to market was hard.

That changed in October 1880, when the East Line and Red River Railroad reached Greenville. By 1904, seven rail lines crossed parts of the county, and railroad towns gave farmers places to ship their crop.

The numbers tell the turn. In 1860, Hunt County reported 22 bales of cotton. By 1900, it had more than 50,000 bales and 47,295 people. Greenville became a serious cotton-market town, not just a county seat on the prairie.