(The Standard Blue Book of Texas 1909-1910, Vol. 3, p. 43. Houston: The Standard Blue Book Company of Texas)

"In 1884, Houston businessman Paul Bremond (1810-1885), and other investors began planning for a new railroad to connect Houston and Shreveport, Louisiana. Surveys soon began along the proposed route, and in 1885 the town of Timpson was founded, named for Paul C. Timpson, the railroad official who laid out the town. The Houston, East and West Texas Railroad, a narrow gauge system, was soon a reality, and the first passenger train arrived in the new town on August 1, 1885. The first businesses in the new town were two stores, separated by a pine thicket which would later be cleared for use as the town square. Within a year, the population had grown to 1,000. Within the first year of Timpson's founding, a school was begun, and churches and fraternal organizations were organized. Many businesses were established, including a newspaper; grocery, drug, and other retail stores; an ice company; factories; and banks. The town became an important East Texas lumber, cotton, and rail center, as well. Railroads continued their important role in Timpson until the 1940s, when development of state highways decreased the use of rail shipments. Texas Sesquicentennial 1836 - 1986" (Historical marker, Park Plaza on SH 87, Timpson, TX)

The encantation of town names ... Teneha, Timpson, Bobo and Blair ... comes from the Houston, East and West Texas railroad, where the train passed through them one after the other in Shelby County. They are famed in song (Tex Ritter) and in gambling (dice) as a call for double five. But only Timpson had a national bank.