Located in the piney woods of east Texas, Corrigan was founded about 1860 by landowner and settler James B. Hendry, who donated property for the original townsite. When the Texas & New Orleans Railroad was built through the area in the early 1880s, a prosperous timber-based economy developed there. The town was named for T. & N.O. official Pat Corrigan. In 1884 the Trinity & Sabine Timber Company platted the town, and soon a hotel, blacksmith shop, several stores, and a 10-pin bowling alley appeared. Today lumber, ranching, and farming undergird the economy.