Kirtley was located on Hwy. 71 of La Grange near the Bastrop County line. It was originally called Primm after an early colonist, Dr. William Primm. However, after a train wreck that resulted from a misunderstanding in communications regarding the switching of trains between Plum and Primm, the railroad changed the name to Kirtley, the name of the postmaster of Primm. There once was a post office and schools for the white and Negro children, grades one through seven. In 1934-35, there were 35 white students and 38 Negro students enrolled in their respective schools.
There was a grocery store owned by a Mr. Inge and a saloon and a cotton gin owned by Anton Elias. The businesses were located across the railroad tracks from the main road from La Grange to Smithville.
In addition to the Inge and Elias families, some of the early settlers were the families of Tom Mikulenka, Jim and Bill Richards, Henry Miller and Henry Tanecka. They were predominantly farmers who raised cotton, corn and sugar cane.
There was a family cemetery located on land originally owned by Dr. Primm that had some of the family members buried there, including his wife Seelia, and son, St. John. It was surveyed by Joe Cole in 1958 and Norman Krischke in 1965 and only six graves were found. It is felt that more persons were buried there, however, nothing could be found at the site in 1986, but a large gravel pit. The Primms are listed as owners of large herds of cattle.
At Fayetteville, No 6 received an order to meet No 5 at Prim, which was the railroad name for Primm. No 5 was the restricted train and had not received this order yet, but the operator had copied it to be delivered to the C&E of No 5 before departing. The crew on No 5 was in a hurry to get out of town and glanced through their orders. Reading and writing was a required skill for railroading, but some of the old timers relied more on habit than on what they would see, and the engineer of No 5, C. Farris saw Prim as Plum, so he was highballing his little local freight to make a run at West Point Hill. Conductor Rice was busy with his paperwork. No 6 was drifting down West Point Hill working no power. No 5 crossed Barton Creek and made the curve to the left. Coming out of the curve, there was No 6 coming out of the other curve at the top of the hill. Both trains “big holed and joined the bird gang”, a collision followed with no casualties, just scratched up from the briars and with hurt egos, because everyone knew someone done messed up. After the investigation, and going over the train orders, it was determined Prim and Plum were too closely related, so Prim was changed to Kirtley. The little depot survived into the 50s along with the cotton gin, which all are gone by the wayside now. Other accidents have happened along the railroad, not all as lucky as this, and from each loss, there is a new rule. Now the Union Pacific trains run over this route, and these youngsters will never know of what went before them.
