These conditions prevailed for twenty years, but at length a harbinger of better times appeared in the shape of a railroad, the Houston East and West Texas, connecting Houston and Shreveport. It was a narrow-gauge road, burning wood for fuel and creeping along at an extremely low rate of speed, but it was the first road to pass through East Texas, where formerly the wagon and the two-horse hack formed the sole means of transportation. It brought new business, new people and new ambitions to the place which soon began to be built up in brick in place of the old wooden houses of the earlier years. Soon cotton wagons assembled, bearing bales of wealth, and in the autumn season the streets were filled with people from surrounding counties selling their crops and buying supplies. There was no boom. The town grew gradually and slowly. Greater business enterprises were undertaken and accomplished and various kinds of improvements were effected in the way of conveniences of living. For many years the village spirit remained among the people. Everybody knew everybody else, and each was interested in the welfare of all. New churches were erected and a new court house and also, sad to relate, a new jail. A large lumber mill was erected on the east side of town which added to the prosperity of the place. Finally, after the World War, when a number of new teachers colleges were authorized by the Legislature, the enterprising spirit of the citizens secured the location of that one named for Stephen F. Austin in Nacogdoches, and the promise of cultured prosperity evinced in the days of the Republic, but sadly interrupted by war, was at length realized. Nacogdoches had now become one of the fairest of the little cities of Texas and bids a hearty welcome to all comers within her borders. And so we close the story of Nacogdoches under nine flags: The Lilies of France with LaSalle in 1685; the Flag of Castile and Aragon of Spain in 1716; the green flag of the Magee-Guitierrez Expedition in 1813; Long’s flag of the First Republic of Texas in 1819; the white and red flag of the Republic of Fredonia in 1826; the flag of the Mexican Republic—1821-1836; the Lone Star Flag of the Republic of Texas; the Stars and Bars of the Southern Confederacy—1861-1865; and finally the Stars and Stripes forever. _Historical Sites in Nacogdoches County_ [Illustration: THE OLD STONE FORT The above drawing was made from the earliest photograph of the Old Stone Fort. The original picture has been re-photographed and the reproduction forms a treasured scene in many homes of the city.] For one hundred fifty years tradition has thrown a veil of romance around the old building that formerly stood at the corner of Main and Fredonia streets, facing the northeast corner of the Plaza Principal in Nacogdoches, where the two main branches of El Camino Real merged.