A. S. Fischer and W. C. Belcher platted Granger in 1884 in anticipation of development along a rail line laid two years earlier, and the town plan featured a 100-foot-wide main street named Davilla where businesses and dwellings soon appeared. By 1910 Granger was booming as an important regional cotton marketing and shipping point, with a cotton compress and cottonseed oil mill, an ice factory, waterworks, churches, banks, and schools. Davilla Street’s great width became a serious problem after rainstorms, when it turned into a vast mud puddle, and the rising popularity of the automobile made the issue even more pronounced. In the summer of 1912, the street was paved with bricks, and Granger promoted itself as a progressive community through annual good roads and pavement celebrations. Ironically, the spread of the automobile reduced the importance of the railroad that had helped create Granger’s prosperity, and the town began losing population to larger cities and towns. The remaining brick streets recall Granger’s early prosperity and its role as a center of commerce.