WWI & WWII Gallant Dead -- Walnut Springs TX - Non-Specific Veteran Memorials on Waymarking.com

The town of Walnut Springs is not quite a ghost town, but not exactly thrivin, either. Its best days are clearly behind it.

The town began in the 1870s centered around the 7 springs under the walnut trees that give this place its name. Walnut Springs soon became an important watering place for cattle on their way to the Chisholm Trail, and markets north. More businesses arrived, adn the population grew.

After the end of the big cattle drives, Walnut Springs could have become a farming hamlet, but again the springs proved the economic drivers for this place, as Walnut Springs became an important locomotive stop on the Houston & Texas Central Railroad, which arrived in town in 1881. The H&TC soon decided to build a large locomotive shop here, and became the town's most important industry. At its height around 1900, Walnut Springs had a population of 4000. Fewer than 900 people live here today (2010 census).

In 1920, disaster struck. The H&TC shops exploded, scattering steel debris all over town. The H&TC railroad declined to rebuild the shops. Iron debris is from that explosion can still be found readily, both above and underground. It is very common to dog up explosion relics during new construction and infrastructure renovations, for example.

The shop explosion started an inevitable decline in the town, and dealt a crippling blow to an already struggling railroad.
Soon afterwards, the H&TC was bankrupt. It assets were scooped up by the Missouri-Kansas-Texas RR, also known as "the Katy." The Katy operated a busy rail line through here that diminished in importance as the interstate highways were built. When Lake Whitney was built in the late 1950s, the handwriting was on the wall for the MKTRR through this entire area. The MKTRR ceased operations through Walnut Springs around 1960.

However snall the town is or was, the fact remains that Walnut Springs sent men to fight in both WWI and WWII, and not all pof those men came home alive. The town erected a simple engraved gray granite monument to their brave dead of those wars in a small roadside park near the historic Walnut Springs that catalized creation of the town.

Type of Memorial: Multi-War Memorial Wars mentioned (Multi-war only): WWI and WWII In Honor Of: The Gallant Dead of WWI and WWII Marker Text: [wreath] IN MEMORY OF THE GALLANT DEAD WORLD WAR I Russell Moseley, Inf Joe Lail, Inf Lafayette Webb, Inf WORLD WAR II Harold Adams, A.A.F. Moffett C. Cook, P.R.C.H.T. Trp. John Clifford Cook, C.C. Norval R. McCarthy, Inf Charley Freeman M.M. Alfred James Capps, U.S.N. Date of dedication: unknown -- probably around 2000 Who Put it Here?: unknown -- not listed Description of Memorial: The gray granite memorial is located between two state historic markers in a small roadside park on the turnout off of State Highway 144 to Katy Park

Visit Instructions:
Visited Logs must contain, at least, a picture of the monument and your GPSr. Preferably YOU at the monument with your GPSr, but we understand that some people are camera-shy.
It is suggested you please include something about your visit here, as well.

Recent Visits/Logs:

Date Logged Log   08/06/2016 Beetlebub visited it 09/12/2015 WalksfarTX visited it 02/04/2015 2Nutz visited it 01/26/2013 Benchmark Blasterz visited it

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