Trumbull
Trumbull is located on I-45 between Palmer and Ferris. According to Ida M. Brookshire and Mrs Bessie Wester, it is a town of many names.
When the Houston and Texas Central Railroad builot a switch there in 1872, the community was called "The Switch."
The name changed to "Ghost Hill" when three Mexicans, thought to be section hands, were killed by a train. They were buried in a grove of trees near the home of Mr. and Mrs. J. E. Smith on the west side of the railroad track and the graves marked by two steel rails. Mr. Valley, the engineer, always humg a red lantern outside his engine when passing through..
Another name was "Mackie" and when the post office was established in 1896, it was called "Clemma."
When the railway express office was established, the name changed to "Trumbull" which also became the name of the postoffice.
Land from Trumbull to the Trinity River was covered by pecan trees. George Ford bought land in that area in 1884. There were two churches - Methodist and Church of Christ - the latter church burned before 1972. The Methodist church was used for meetings, funerals and as a voting place. There is no cemetery, but early pioneers were buried in either Norman or Hans Smith Cemeteries. Ferris is the cemetery primarily used today.
Mr. and Mrs. J. H. Newton came by covered wagon from Marion County, Ark. in 1897. She was 90 years old in 1954 and still lived in the same home in Trumbull. It was still standing in 1986.
At one time, Trumbull was served by the Southern Pacific and the Texas Electric Interurban, but later depended on automobiles, buses and trucks. The railroad station agent also served as the telegraph operator. As many as sisteen coal-burning trains passed through daily, stopping to pick up and let off passengers. The interurban station was a three-sided building and tickets were sold at Mr. Perkins' stone.
In the early 1900s, the stores were in wooden buildings over by the railroad track. There were three groceries - one operated by L. N. Lee, who also had a small saloon inside. Another grocery store, owned by Jim Davis, had a soda fountain, and sold clothes, shoes and bolts of material. He was also a druggist, owned the first gas station in Trumbull, and a lumber yard on the other side of the tracks. Next to the grocery store was a restaurant, a barber shop (owned by Eli Whitley) and a doctor's office.
The first physician was Dr. Kincaid who had an office in the bank building. Other doctors were McBurnett and Rogers. Dr. McBurnett owned the first black Model T in Trumbull. Cars replaced horses and the wooden buildings were replaced by a row of brick buildings facing the railroad track. They were run by J. E. Harville, J. H. Smith, and Jim Davis, who had a general stone and band until 1920.
In 1954 business establishments were the Trumbull Implement Company, a grocery store owned by Mrs. Nellie Perkins (assisted by her father, Mr. Cash) and another store run by Shorty Davis. There was also a filling station.
The first gin was built by Barron Bros., who also had a gin in Palmer. The Watsons had another gin which only ginned certain kinds of cotton. They were attempting to develop a special cottonseed, glandless seed, which now can be eaten like any other nut. Walter Watson spent a lifetime and a fortune developing this seed and was successful just before he died.
At one time the post office was in Mrs. Tate's home. After each train run, the mail was put up aroumd 8:30 a. m., 1:15 and 5:30 p. m. When the post office department decided that Trumbull was not big enough for a post office, people got up a petition in 1957 and it was kept open until November 1967.
The first school was two miles east - a log building with, at one time, one hundred students taught by one teacher. Mr. Riley and Mr. Epps were early day teachers. In 1912, there was a two-room school with two teachers and heat provided by wood burning stoves. The students attended through the 8th grade and then walked to Ferris and back each day if they had no better means of transportation. A modern school was built in town, but was closed in 1945 and students sent to Ferris. The building was used for housing cotton pickers for some time afterward. Mrs. Bessie Wester, later a teacher, attended there and also attended the brick school which went to the tenth grade. The brick for this building came by train from Malakoff, Texas, according to Burnie L. Bailey. "Mrs. Bessie," as her pupils called her, had one daughter, Sharon Barnes, (who lived in Virginia), and two sons. She had four other sisters Edna, Lola, Lois Patterson and Pauline Boon - all schoolteachers. Her brother, Alva, went to business college and later retired from the bank. Another teacher was Emmy Clyde Coker Bailey, who first taught in the community of "Frog Pond."
At one time Trumbull was noted for its implement manufacturing plant which was established in 1954 by Mr. John Toal. He had an ingenious way of designing and making plows and also built spray tanks and equipment and a complete line of accessories. His sons carried on the business until 1983. Mr. Toal built a large building facing the interstate, but never moved his shop to the new location.
Some other early settlers were George Riley and his sixteen children, George Ford, the Epps, Gray, Smith, Lee, Newton, Holder, Jeffers, Tate, Perkins, Richardson and Williams.
References:
Ida M. Brookshire, Ellis Co. History Workshop, History of
Ellis County. 1972
The Ferris Wheel, Sept. 25, 1986
Toal, Janet Ann, "From Stories Collected by People Who Love and Appreciate
the Town of Trumbull." 1987.
Burnie L. Bailey, Mr. and Mrs. Bruck (Jack) Williams
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