howe

Howe is at the intersection of U.S. Highway 75, State Highway 5, and Farm Road 902, on the Southern Pacific line ten miles south of Sherman in southern Grayson County. The first settlers in the area arrived around the time of the Texas Revolution in 1836. In 1843, it is said, the last Indian battle in Grayson County was fought in the area. The first settlers of Howe were Jabes and Harriet Haning and Jabes's brother John. They received land through the Peters colony after their arrival from Pennsylvania before 1850. The Houston and Texas Central Railway built through the area in 1873, and a railroad switch was located in the community. It was called Summit because at 810 feet above sea level it was supposed to be the highest point between the Red River and the Gulf of Mexico. In 1873, when Summit received a post office, two businesses were located at the switch: a general store and a saloon. Several houses were built to the east of the switch. Jabes Haning persuaded the railroad to establish a depot on his land by donating every second lot in his newly platted town to the railroad. The name of the depot, the store, and the post office was changed in 1876 to Howe, after F. M. Howe, who worked for the Houston and Texas Central. Howe had three saloons until around 1900, when the town voted to go dry. Its first one-room school building opened in 1877 and was replaced by a two-story building in 1884.