Sanger began in 1886 at mile post 392.16 as a water stop on the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railway route running north from Fort Worth to Purcell, Indian Territory, now Oklahoma. Its location near north Denton County cattle ranches and the Chisholm Trail led the railroad to build a side track, cattle pens, a loading chute, and a depot. Mrs. Elizabeth Bullock Huling, who had sold the property for the stop, soon hired surveyors to plat a surrounding townsite and donated land for a wagon yard, well, school, town square, cemetery, and Methodist church. A saloon, blacksmith shop, and the Ready Hotel, which housed the first post office, opened soon afterward. Originally called Huling and later New Bolivar, the town was officially named for Sanger Brothers, a prominent Texas dry goods firm, and it was incorporated in 1892. After a fire in 1890 destroyed much of Sanger, the railroad rebuilt with expanded facilities. The founding of the Sanger Mill and Elevator Company in 1897, home of Silk Finish Flour, helped shift Sanger toward farming, though cattle remained central to the economy until meat packing plants were built in Fort Worth around 1900 and ranchers began trucking cattle to market. During World War II, rail traffic at the depot increased and women took over operations as men went to war. Although passenger rail service later ended, Sanger continued to grow and prosper from its beginnings as a railroad water stop.