SHERMAN, SHREVEPORT AND SOUTHERN RAILWAY. The Sherman, Shreveport and Southern Railway Company was chartered on February 28, 1893, to acquire and operate the former East Line and Red River Railroad Company. The East Line and Red River, operating between Jefferson and McKinney, had been sold to Henry V. Poor, trustee for the bondholders, on January 31, 1893. Poor, in turn, deeded the property to the Sherman, Shreveport and Southern on March 8, 1893. The charter gave the company authority to build lines from McKinney to Decatur in Wise County, from McKinney to Whitesboro in Grayson County, and from Jefferson to the eastern boundary line of Texas to connect with a railroad to Shreveport, Louisiana. Only track east of Jefferson was built. The location of the business office was in Greenville, and the capital was $3 million. Members of the first board of directors included Jacob J. Frey, Thomas H. King, William A. Williams, and William J. Atkins, all of Greenville; William M. Giles of Mineola; Tom Randolph of Sherman; and William B. Munson of Denison. In 1895 the Sherman, Shreveport and Southern owned ten locomotives and 127 cars and earned $67,470 from passenger revenue and $298,590 in freight revenue. Nearly thirty miles of track was built from Jefferson to Waskom in 1900. Trackage rights were obtained over the Vicksburg, Shreveport and Pacific Railroad from Waskom to Shreveport. On May 6, 1901, the company was sold to the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railway Company of Texas (Katy). With the reorganization of the Katy in 1923, the track from McKinney to Waskom was sold to the Louisiana Railway and Navigation Company of Texas on April 1, 1923.
