In 1871, the Houston and Texas Central Railroad (succeeded by the Southern Pacific Transportation Company) built through the area and established a flag stop called Glasscock named for George W. Glasscock, a local resident and Republic of Texas soldier who lived in the area in the 1830s. Glasscock was renamed on August 18, 1872, for Robert Morris Elgin, the railroad's land commissioner, following the practice of naming new railroad towns after officers of the company.

Elgin was established. The original plat placed the train depot in the center of a one-square-mile area. The original plan for the Houston and Texas Central Railroad was to have run from McDade, 10 miles (16 km) east of Elgin, southwest to the Colorado River at a point somewhere between Bastrop and Webberville , then to Austin following the river. These plans, however, were thwarted due to a major flood of the Colorado River in 1869, hence the rerouting of the railroad through what is now Elgin.

Elgin was incorporated, received a post office in 1873, and a Baptist Sunday school began meeting in a private home. Much of the town's early population was drawn from nearby Perryville, which the railroad had bypassed. Perryville, or Hogeye

as it was nicknamed, was located 2.5 miles (4.0 km) to the south. The town was known by three different names: the name Young's Settlement was chosen, probably in honor of the Michael Young family; Perryville, possibly for Perry Young, who was Michael Young's son; and Hogeye.

The post office was officially named Young's Settlement, and the churches and

 Masonic Lodge carried the name Perryville. The name Hogeye was given to the stage stop at the Litton home where dances were held and, according to legend, the fiddler knew only one tune: "

Hogeye", which he played over and over as the crowd danced on the puncheon floor.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elgin,_Texas