The eighth grade students from Raul Yzaguirre School For Success [RYSS]
[Houston, Texas]
traveled to Somerville, Texas at the invitation of Mayor
Don "Skipper" Murray II to see Texas Longhorn cattle, eat "Sloppy Joes"
at Somerville Lake, and tour the Somerville Area Museum to experience Texas early
history. The trip was arranged by Tom R. Chambers, Technology Applications Teacher at RYSS via Dr. Pete Pederson, Curator of the museum and Barbara
Pederson, City Administrator.
Somerville is a city in Burleson County, Texas. It is part of the
Bryan-College Station metropolitan area.
History of Somerville [courtesy of the City of Somerville]:
Somerville was one of many railroad boomtowns that started as a station stop beside the tracks of a railroad built in Texas from 1870 to 1900. Transportation was a major
problem facing early Texas settlers. It was the railroads that made the development of Texas possible. Railway extension and economic growth paralleled
each other for many years.
In 1880 the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railway Company of
Galveston, Texas built the first railroad bridge over Yegua Creek. Soon smoke belching steam engines with bells ringing and whistles wailing were pulling
passenger and freight cars through the new town site named Somerville after Albert Somerville, the president of GC&SF.
To gain access to East Texas forests, the GC&SF bought a short line that ran from
Montgomery to Navasota in 1882. Track was laid from Navasota to join the
mainline in Somerville by 1883. Somerville was made a Division Headquarters for the East Texas Branch line, which later became known as the Beaumont Branch.
A railroad yard, machine shops, and a roundhouse were built to service the steam engines. In 1897 a group of Chicago investors built the Texas Tie and
Lumber Preserving Company that was bought by the Santa Fe
in 1905. A large train depot was built to accommodate trainmen and passengers in 1900. The Somerville Depot housed a
Fred Harvey Hotel and Restaurant that became a social gathering place for
Somerville folks and their neighbors from the surrounding area for the next forty years.
People from Burleson and other Texas Counties, all parts of the United States, and other countries came to Somerville to work for the Santa Fe or start a
business. By 1913 Somerville had a population of over 3000 people and was the largest town in Burleson County, but since that time the population has been
around 1700. The Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe became a subsidiary of the
Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railroad in 1887. A post
office opened in 1894 for sixteen months and was reopened in 1897. The first general store in the community was opened in 1893. The first community union
church services were held in the offices of the tie plant in 1898.
In 1903 the Somerville Independent School District was established, and a two story, brick all
grades public school was built by 1905. A native stone gymnasium and football stadium with seating and fence were built by the
WPA during the
Depression and finished by 1939. Somerville was incorporated in 1913 and adopted
the city commission form of government. The United States Army
Corps of Engineers began construction of the Somerville Dam and Reservoir on Yegua Creek at the southwestern edge of the town in 1962 and completed the
project four years later, producing one of the most outstanding recreational areas in south central Texas.
The improvements of highways, construction of the interstate highway system, and the introduction of jet air transportation greatly reduced the number of
people using passenger train service, which was turned over to Amtrak in 1971. Somerville
once had five or six passenger trains a day. The last Santa Fe steam engines were
replaced with Diesel engines by 1975. The days of the economy of Somerville being
largely dependent on the railroad and its related industries would soon be past.
The United States Army Corps of engineers began construction of the Somerville Dam and Reservoir on Yegua Creek at the southwestern edge of town in 1962
and completed the project four years later, producing one of the most outstanding recreational areas in south central Texas. Somerville's future economic
growth depends upon the success of the development of the Somerville Lake area and gas and oil production, and population increase from residents of nearby
cities seeking rural homes.
The Somerville Historical Society was incorporated in 1979
and established the Somerville Area Museum that opened in 1983. The museum houses archives, collections, and exhibits of photos and artifacts for the
purpose of preserving the history of Somerville and the surrounding area from 1850 to 1950.
Photographs [By Cho Eun-mi] and video [By Tom R. Chambers] of the students in Somerville:
Somerville Area Museum
