organizations · updated 2026-08-29
San Antonio, Uvalde and Gulf Railroad Company
confidence: single-source weakest: ev-0039
The railroad whose route through Live Oak County drew Charles Tips to the site where he founded Three Rivers
The railroad whose route decision is the literal reason the town of Three Rivers exists where it does. Its newly surveyed line south of San Antonio drew Charles Tips to the site.
Surveyed and graded a line through Live Oak County shortly before 1913 [ev-0039]. Under the deal Annie Hamilton and her son Thornton negotiated, the Hamiltons would pay the railroad a $5,000 bonus to build the line through their property; the railroad in turn agreed to construct a depot station and name the new town “Hamiltonburg” [ev-0039]. The bonus was ultimately paid by the investment group Tips organized, which bought the 200-acre depot tract from the Hamiltons [ev-0039]. The first train reached the new depot on June 5, 1913 — Tips’ twenty-first birthday [ev-0039].
See Also
- Annie Hamilton — landowner who negotiated the depot-naming deal with the railroad
- Charles R. Tips — drawn to the site by the railroad’s new line