Timpson grew where a main line met a 34-mile lumber railroad

Timpson began in 1885 as the Houston, East and West Texas Railway came through northwestern Shelby County. The town took the name of railroad engineer P. B. Timpson and received a post office that same year. By 1890, about 1,200 people lived among two sawmills, a weekly newspaper, and a canning factory. The town had incorporated by 1892.

A smaller railroad pushed the timber story beyond the main line. Chartered on February 16, 1901, as the Timpson and Northwestern, it became the Timpson and Henderson Railway in 1909. At that point, eight miles of track connected Timpson and Ragley.

The company then bought an 11.5-mile lumber line from Ragley to Pine Hill and opened a 14-mile extension from Pine Hill to Henderson on November 21, 1909. By 1916, the line owned two locomotives and seven cars. All 34 miles were abandoned in 1923.

Timpson kept shifting with what the rails could carry. By 1925 it shipped locally mined lignite, and an apparent 1920s boom lifted the estimated population to 2,500 in 1927 before the 1930s decline. In a few decades, one town moved from main-line stop to sawmill center, short-line railroad headquarters, and lignite shipping point.