Dryden is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

in south central Terrell County,

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

, United States.

History

The community was founded in 1882 and named for Eugene E. Dryden. He was the chief engineer of the

Galveston, Harrisburg and San Antonio Railway The Buffalo Bayou, Brazos, and Colorado Railway (B.B.B.C. or B.B.B. & C.), also called the Harrisburg Road or Harrisburg Railroad, was the first operating railroad in Texas. It completed its first segment of track between Harrisburg, Texas (now a ...

, which established a section house at Dryden when building its tracks through Terrell County. Over the next several decades Dryden became a small center for

ranching A ranch (from /Mexican Spanish) is an area of land, including various structures, given primarily to ranching, the practice of raising grazing livestock such as cattle and sheep. It is a subtype of farm. These terms are most often applied to li ...

-based businesses. The headquarters for the Pecos Land and Cattle Company were established in Dryden in 1884. The company drilled a well that supplied the area with water. By 1912 the Dryden Hotel had been established, along with a combined schoolhouse, community center, and church. Dryden had a population of nearly 100 by 1929. Two units of U.S. Army troops were stationed in Dryden during the 1913–17 Mexican border unrest. During the

Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...

of the 1930s, the railway closed the Dryden depot and relocated its crews, and the area’s ranches were eventually broken up. The population had dwindled to approximately fifty by 1970. The population continued to decline, to thirteen by 1988, although a

general store A general merchant store (also known as general merchandise store, general dealer, village shop, or country store) is a rural or small-town store that carries a general line of merchandise. It carries a broad selection of merchandise, someti ...

was still operating in 1995. The post office dated from 1888; however, the

United States Postal Service The United States Postal Service (USPS), also known as the Post Office, U.S. Mail, or simply the Postal Service, is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the executive branch of the federal governmen ...

no longer maintains a post office in Dryden. Wayne Sutton, a local sheep farmer and director of Dryden Water Supply Company, has been appointed mayor by the other residents.

Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak (; ), is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates intercity rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...

Sunset Limited The ''Sunset Limited'' is a long-distance passenger train run by Amtrak, operating on a route between New Orleans and Los Angeles. Major stops include Houston, San Antonio and El Paso in Texas, as well as Tucson, Arizona. Opening in 1894 thr ...

passes through the town on Union Pacific tracks, but makes no stop. A stop is located to the west in the nearby town of Sanderson.

Geography

Dryden is located on

U.S. Route 90 U.S. Route 90 or U.S. Highway 90 (US 90) is an east–west major United States highway in the Southern United States. Despite the "0" in its route number, US 90 never was a full coast-to-coast route. It generally travels near Int ...

at the southern terminus of State Highway 349, east of Terrell County's

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...

Sanderson and west of Del Rio.

Climate

Elevation: .

References

{{authority control Unincorporated communities in Texas Unincorporated communities in Terrell County, Texas Ghost towns in West Texas

History

Geography

Climate

See also

References