In 1880, the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad built a line from Pierce City to "Herdsville". Arriving trains were loaded on a turntable and rotated manually to return to Pierce City. The company also gave of land for the purpose of building a town, and also designed its streets, complete with names. At this time, the town consisted of only one whiskey and drug store, and the population consisted mostly of railroad workers, but this store was later joined by a general store operated by Woodridge Anabel, and a hardware store operated by Drew Wilkerson.