Scroggins Began With a Sawmill and a Railroad Stop

Scroggins is the kind of Franklin County name that makes more sense once you put lumber and rail back into the picture. Settlement began in the area in the 1850s, and the community grew around a sawmill run by Milt Scroggins.

The railroad gave that mill country a wider door. The East Line and Red River Railroad came through the area in 1877, and Scroggins became a shipping point. A post office followed in 1891. By 1896, the community had a sawmill and three stores, enough business to make the place feel like more than scattered houses along Farm Road 115.

The later community stayed small, but it kept a personality of its own. TSHA records the Catalpa Worm Festival beginning in 2004 at Scroggins General Store, organized as a community fellowship event. Catalpa trees and the worms that feed on them are common in the area.

That mix gives southeastern Franklin County some texture. Scroggins was not built around a courthouse or a big lake park. It came out of timber, a family name, a railroad line, a store, and the practical need to move goods. For a small community, that is a sturdy origin story.