Brief History of
SANDERSON & TERRELL COUNTY

In 1881, railroad surveyors reached the site of present day Sanderson. Deep in the canyon country, little was there except for early sheep ranchers and the raw ingredients only an enormously wealthy railroad could use to build a thriving community. The native Apaches had by then been mostly driven away by U.S. Army forces stationed at Forts Lancaster and Davis.

Reflecting its importance to the railroad, the future town was first called Strobridge after the president of the transcontinental railroad construction company. Originally slated to be the midway site where the rail building efforts from San Antonio and El Paso would join, work fell behind in the canyon country and the golden spike joining the two was driven far East of Sanderson. Strobridge was later renamed Sanderson after railroad Engineer Joseph P. Sanderson.

Aware that the railroad was coming, frontier entrepreneur Charlie Wilson established a bar and post office near the site of the proposed railroad terminal. The railroad would eventually employ hundreds of workers and include 13 tracks and a roundhouse in Sanderson. Today, only the depot and bunkhouse remain on Downie Street, the once bustling Main Street of Sanderson.

Together, the railroad, cattle and sheep industries were the major economic assets. Ranges were still unfenced. Dryden became a large shipping point for cattle ranchers. Terrell County became one of the biggest sheep and wool producers in the U.S. In 1926, eleven thousand lambs averaging $6 per head were sold in one of the largest lamb sales in history. Thousands of pounds of wool and mohair were sold annually through the Sanderson Wool Commission.

In 1905, Terrell County was created by the Texas Legislature by carving about 1,500,000 acres out of Pecos County. Sanderson became the County Seat and business began to grow. Hotels, a drug store, doctor, vaudeville theater and the new 3-story brick Kerr Mercantile building all signaled community prosperity. As a rail center, Sanderson enjoyed access to freight and passenger service 20 times faster than road travel, today's equivalent of being home to an international airport.

By all accounts, the heyday of activity in Sanderson and Terrell County was in the 1950s. Population reached a high of about 3000. But, by 1960, times were changing and population declining. A devastating flash flood through Sanderson Canyon in 1965 tragically took 27 lives and damaged many homes and businesses. After a hundred years of railroad operation, Southern Pacific moved the crew-change terminal from Sanderson in 1995.

As the century of railroading and ranching closed, Terrell County took stock of its assets: its frontier heritage, historic structures, great weather, good water, oil and gas reserves, and natural and people resources. The County initiated an Economic Development Program and in 1999, the State Senate declared Sanderson and Terrell County the "Cactus Capital of Texas." The Sanderson Community Development Association was formed to translate goals into realities. Progress includes promotion through peservation; rural technology; increased recreational facilities; and infrastructure improvements to the public water and sewer systems and the Terrell County Airport.

Already a leader in rural technology, Terrell County and TCISD parthered with the Texas Telecommunications Infrastructure Fund to build a local telecommunity network. Canyons and distance may separate us from our neighbors, but the "Digital Divide" will not preclude our ability to attract young educated families or separate us from pursuit of opportunity in and from Terrell County.