Waskom was established in 1850, connecting the Carolinas to southwest Texas and Mexico.
The original post was called Powellton, named for Jonathan S. Powell, a local land owner. In 1872, the town’s name changed to Waskom.
The town was a midway point of an east-west (Dallas, TX to Shreveport, LA) cattle and cotton economic travelway to the Red River in Louisiana, some 20 miles (32 km) east.
J.M. Waskom led the way in bringing the railroad to East Texas as a Director of the Southern Pacific Railroad. A major railway still travels through Waskom today.
Railroads shaped our cultural landscape and brought revolutionary change unlike anything the world has known before.
