| History: | This company was originally chartered as the Houston and Great Northern in 1866. It later became a part of the International Railroad Company, which took the name of the International & Great Northern. ts state charter exempted it from taxes for twenty-five years. The line also received the special consideration in that for every mile of track constructed it was given twenty acres of public land instead of the normal sixteen acres of public land per mile constructed.
Construction north from Houston began in 1870. It crossed Montgomery Couny south to north with sawmill towns stops like Tamina, Grand Lake, Conroe, Willis, Esperanza, and Danville. I
The Walker County seat of Huntsville refused the railroad special considerations, so it built east of the town. The county citizens built their own line, the Huntsville Branch Railroad, seven miles to the east to intersect the International & Great Northern in 1872. The major railroad took over the Branch the next year. Some of the sawmill towns were Alonso, New Waverly, Kelly's Siwthc, Pine Valley, Barrett's Switch, Carolina, Dodge, Phelps, Riverside, and Elmina.
In 1956, the Missouri Pacific acquired the International and Great Northern. |