Everything Jacksonville is known for
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Songs written about the waterways and highways that run near Jacksonville.
Area production and shipping of tomatoes gained Jacksonville the title 'Tomato Capital of the World'. The impressive red iron ore rock Tomato Bowl, built by Works Progress Administration workers during the Great Depression, is home to the Jacksonville High School 'Fightin' Indians' football and soccer teams. Annual events include the 'Tops in Texas Rodeo' held in May and the 'Tomato Fest' celebration in June.
A notable event in Jacksonville's history was the 2000 meatcutters' unionization attempt at the local Walmart. Despite never having organized unions in any Walmart stores before, meatcutters working at the Jacksonville Walmart voted in favor of organizing under the wing of the United Food and Commercial Workers union. During a flurry of subsequent legal actions, Walmart discontinued store-level meatcutting and started shipping in packaged meat to their stores. When all the hearings and appeals were exhausted, courts decided that the local meatcutters did not embody the characteristics of a group that could bargain since they were not specialized.
This town started as Gum Creek. In 1847 Jackson Smith built a house and a blacksmith shop on the east bank of the creek, and a post office called Gum Creek opened in 1848. When residents surveyed a townsite in 1850, they named it Jacksonville, honoring both Jackson Smith, whose land it sat on, and Dr. William Jackson, one of the first to build inside the survey. The post office name changed from Gum Creek to Jacksonville that June. Then, in 1872, the International and Great Northern Railroad was laid through Cherokee County and missed the town by a couple of miles. Rather than be bypassed, residents cut a deal, and in the fall of 1872 most of old Jacksonville was picked up and moved about two miles east to sit on the tracks. That new site is downtown today.
Clarence Albert Poindexter, country singer known as Al Dexter, was born in Jacksonville, Texas, in 1902. While working as a house painter, Dexter began performing in local bars and clubs. In the early 1930s he put together a band to perform in the outskirts of Longview, Texas. He signed a recording contract with American Record Corporation in 1936. Dexter's "Honky Tonk Blues," which he wrote with James B. Paris, was the first country song to use the term honky-tonk . In the late 1930s Dexter owned a honky tonk himself, the Roundup Club in Turnertown, Texas. Through his experiences there and in other roadhouses, Dexter developed the idea for his future hit, "Pistol Packin' Mama." Art Satherley, Dexter's producer, helped him by arranging a recording session with Gene Autry 's backup band, for which Dexter had expressed admiration. Dexter recorded "Pistol Packin' Mama" and "Rosalita" with them at Columbia's Hollywood studios. The record was released in 1943 and in its first six months sold a million copies. The song "Pistol Packin' Mama," a controversial number due to its lyrics, remained at Number One on Billboard Magazine's best sellers chart for eight weeks. In 1944, when Billboard started its "Most Played Juke Box Folk Records" chart for country music, "Pistol Packin' Mama" was still at the top. "Rosalita" also had a week at Number One, and Dexter received such widespread recognition that he launched national tours. From 1944 through 1948 Dexter recorded other country hits, including "Too Late to Worry," "Wine, Women and Song," and "Calico Rag." The popularity of his honky tonk sound decreased over time. Although he recorded other songs with King, Decca, and Capitol, he never had another hit. In 1971 Dexter was inducted into the Nashville Songwriter's Hall of Fame. He had invested in savings and loan, motel, and real estate businesses in Texas and died a wealthy man. On January 28, 1984, Dexter died from a heart attack at his home on Lake Lewisville in Lewisville, Texas. He was inducted into the Texas Country Music Hall of Fame in 2010.
Oldest junior college in Texas. Founded in Kilgore by Dr. Isaac Alexander, pioneer educator. In 1875 it became property of the East Texas (now the Texas) Conference of the Methodist Church. It was moved to Jacksonville in 1894. A junior college since 1912, renamed Alexander College (1916), it was retitled in 1924 to honor Pittsburg (Tex.) banker R. A.(Lon) Morris. First junior college in Texas with a Phi Theta Kappa scholarship fraternity; Also member Southern Association of Colleges longer than any other junior college in the state.
On October 5, 1838, eighteen members of the Killough family were killed near Jacksonville in the largest Native American attack on settlers in East Texas.
Jackson Smith, a Republic of Texas soldier and scout who first explored the Gum Creek area in 1838, returned in 1847 and built a house and blacksmith shop where F.C. Hardgraves, James G. Earle, David Templeton and others had started a community. Smith became the first postmaster of Gum Creek in 1848. Two years later, the name changed to Jacksonville. Smith platted a town which eventually grew to dozens of stores and houses plus churches, schools and a hotel. In 1871, the International Railroad Company surveyed their new line a mile to the northeast of Jacksonville. Sarah Fry sold the railroad 75 acres providing that a depot would be located on the tract at Fry's Summit. Most residents and businesses in what became Old Jacksonville bought lots and moved to the new townsite.
 The International Railroad Company platted a new townsite, donating lots for churches and schools, and donating Block 153, bounded by Bolton, Main, Rusk and Larissa streets, to the citizens of Jacksonville as a public square. In 1883, tracks were built diagonally across the square for the narrow-gauge Kansas & Gulf Shortline Railroad. The alignment, later part of the Cotton Belt system, is still seen in a depression running through the park after the rails were removed. Over many years, several park improvements became part of the square's cultural landscape. Early enhancements included tree planting in the 1880s, and a frame bandstand and city water tower completed in the 1900s. A WWI doughboy statue dedicated in 1928 and later memorials recall the sacrifices of local veterans. New Deal projects from the 1930s included a stone bandstand, demolished in the 1960s to make room for a fire station; and a public library, which later became the Vanishing Texana Museum. Later dedicated as Hazel Tilton Park, Jacksonville's Public Square continues to be a focal point for gatherings, celebrations and special events. (2021)
Jacksonville is an incorporated town on U.S. Highway 69 in northeastern Cherokee County. It began on the east bank of Gum Creek in 1847. That year Jackson Smith built a house and a blacksmith shop in the area; he was appointed postmaster when the Gum Creek post office was authorized in 1848. Soon after, Dr. William Jackson built an office near Smith's shop. In 1850 Smith had a townsite and square surveyed near his home. Since the townsite was on Jackson Smith's land and Dr. Jackson was among the first to build inside the boundaries of the survey, the name Jacksonville was chosen by local citizens for the new town. The post office name was changed from Gum Creek to Jacksonville in June 1850. In 1872 the International-Great Northern Railroad was built through Cherokee County and missed Jacksonville by a few miles. Jacksonville inhabitants worked out an agreement with railroad officials to survey a new townsite on the railroad. In the fall of 1872 most of the original Jacksonville was moved two miles east to the new site on the tracks. The first churches in Jacksonville were built by the Baptists and the Methodists before 1849. During the 1850s a Masonic lodge was organized at the community. The Cherokee Sanitarium was founded in 1919 and continued to serve the city as the Newburn Memorial Hospital in the late 1980s. Jacksonville's first school, opened in 1846, was the second school in the county. The Jacksonville Collegiate Institute, a private school, was opened in 1873. In 1881 a public school, which took over the assets of the institute, was organized. By 1892 Jacksonville had a public school system. Jacksonville College opened in 1899, and a Baptist theological seminary opened in 1957. Lon Morris College (founded in 1854 near Kilgore as the New Danville Masonic Female Academy) operated in Jacksonville until it was closed in 2012. The first newspaper published in Jacksonville, the Texan Intelligencer (begun in 1873), was followed by the Cherokee Argonaut (begun in 1881). In 1910 the Daily Progress was started. By the late 1980s both the Jacksonville Daily Progress and the Cherokee County Banner were being published there. Early in Jacksonville's history, agriculture was the main focus of the local economy. Jacksonville was a leading center of peach production from the 1880s to 1914; thereafter, tomatoes were the primary crop until the 1950s, and the town was dubbed the "tomato capitol of the world." Livestock was-and in the 1980s remained-an important aspect of the economy. In the mid-1980s the manufacture of plastics was the leading local industry. In 1983 a new library and a museum were completed at Jacksonville. In 1904 Jacksonville's population was reported as 1,568. By the 1930s the figure had reached 6,000, and by the late 1950s, some 10,000. During the 1980s it reached 12,000, and in 1990 the town reported 12,765 residents. In the 1990s Jacksonville's economy included tourism, as well as light manufacturing enterprises, retail stores, agricultural businesses, two colleges, a seminary, a hospital, and a clinic. By 2000 the population grew to 13,868. In 2010 the population was 14,544 and in 2016 it was estimated at 14,518.
Love's Lookout, a scenic ridge two miles north of Jacksonville in north central Cherokee County (at 32°02' N, 95°17' W), has an elevation of 720 feet above sea level and rises 240 feet above the surrounding terrain. The ridge is part of a long, flat-topped hill that extends for nine miles. The east side of the hill is a steep escarpment offering vistas into a wide valley below. Mud Creek, a main tributary of the Angelina River, parallels the ridge ten miles to the east. On the ridge's western side the land rises gradually from the Neches River, twelve miles to the west. Conifers and grasses grow in the area's deep, fine sandy loams. During the antebellum Texas period Love's Lookout was a popular recreation spot for townspeople at Larissa, 3½ miles to the northwest. With the advent of the automobile, the area became a favorite site for outings. After 1910 the bluff became known as Love's Lookout, after Wesley Love, who in 1904 bought much of the surrounding area and planted a 600-acre peach farm. After Love's death in 1925 his wife donated a twenty-two-acre tract to the state of Texas for a state park. The state, however, failed to develop the park, and in 1934 the city of Jacksonville purchased an additional twenty-five acres from Love's heir and developed the two tracts of land as a city park. The Work Projects Administration constructed roads and trails, an amphitheater, picnic facilities, a concession stand, and walls along the brink of the hill. Later, an Olympic-sized swimming pool was constructed there with private funds. In 1967 the Love family turned the original tract over to the state highway department, which has since developed it into a roadside park. In 1978 the Texas Historical Commission placed a marker at the site.
268 stories, landmarks & places within ~20 miles — the nearest 200 are listed here — the same local lore RoadyGoat plays as you drive through.
Area production and shipping of tomatoes gained Jacksonville the title 'Tomato Capital of the World'. The impressive red iron ore rock Tomato Bowl, built by Works Progress Administration workers during the Great…
This town started as Gum Creek. In 1847 Jackson Smith built a house and a blacksmith shop on the east bank of the creek, and a post office called Gum Creek opened in 1848. When residents surveyed a townsite in 1850,…
You're driving past the site of the First Baptist Church of Mixon. It began in 1853 as an ecumenical church, then became the Union Baptist Church in 1866 with 15 members. Renamed Pine Springs Baptist Church in 1881,…
Imagine having to move your entire town. Not just your family, but your house, your business, your church. That's exactly what happened here in 1872. The place started in 1847 as a settlement called Gum Creek and took…
Why is Jacksonville called the 'Tomato Capital of the World'? In the early 20th century, farmers here found the local sandy soil was ideal for tomatoes. The town had been a peach center up through 1914, but after that…
Jacksonville's title as 'Tomato Capital' wasn't an accident. It was a convergence of soil, science, and technology. The key was the ground itself: deep, sandy, well-drained loam over a clay subsoil, exactly what…
Just north of town on Highway 69 you will find Love's Lookout, a bluff with one of the best views in East Texas - thirty-odd miles of rolling, pine-covered hills falling away in front of you. The name belongs to Wesley…
Jacksonville proves that big talent can come from small towns. Take Margo Martindale. She grew up here, was a cheerleader at Jacksonville High School, and even won the title of 'Football Sweetheart' in 1969. Today,…
Jacksonville led East Texas peach growing from the 1880s until about 1914, then went all in on tomatoes. By the 1920s and 1930s, Cherokee County farmers had nearly 15,000 acres in tomatoes, and roughly 3,000 rail cars…
The reddish stone in the Tomato Bowl walls is not imported granite. It is local iron ore, quarried from area farms and nicknamed giraffe rock for its blotchy pattern. Cherokee County sits in the East Texas iron ore…
Jackson Smith, a Republic of Texas soldier and scout who first explored the Gum Creek area in 1838, returned in 1847 and built a house and blacksmith shop where F.C. Hardgraves, James G. Earle, David Templeton and…
You're driving past what's believed to be the oldest home still standing in Jacksonville. Construction on this Texas colonial-style house began way back in 1857. The main structure you see was added in 1874 by W. A.…
You're driving past Jacksonville, where Chaplain Nicholas A. Davis served during the Civil War. He wasn't just a preacher; he was a caregiver, a mailman, and a published author, writing 'Campaign from Texas to Maryland'…
You're driving through Jacksonville, a town that's valued education since its earliest days. A school was here as early as 1846, and by 1873, residents established their first public school after moving closer to the…
You're driving past Nan Travis Memorial Hospital. Originally known as the Cherokee Sanitarium, this hospital began in 1919 as a nine-bed facility in a small Jacksonville apartment house. In 1925, a larger facility was…
You're driving past the site of Jacksonville's First United Methodist Church. This congregation started in 1845 near Gum Creek, with circuit rider Henderson D. Palmer as its first pastor. The church moved to the new…
You're driving past the site of Jacksonville's very first free public school! Built right here in 1885, this two-story schoolhouse served the community for five years before a devastating tornado ripped through in 1890.…
You're driving past the site of Sweet Union Baptist Church, organized in 1887 by former slaves led by the Rev. T.B. Johnson. Members met in a schoolhouse before building their own structure in 1894, eventually moving to…
Clarence Albert Poindexter, country singer known as Al Dexter, was born in Jacksonville, Texas, in 1902. While working as a house painter, Dexter began performing in local bars and clubs. In the early 1930s he put…
Jacksonville is an incorporated town on U.S. Highway 69 in northeastern Cherokee County. It began on the east bank of Gum Creek in 1847. That year Jackson Smith built a house and a blacksmith shop in the area; he was…
Love's Lookout, a scenic ridge two miles north of Jacksonville in north central Cherokee County (at 32°02' N, 95°17' W), has an elevation of 720 feet above sea level and rises 240 feet above the surrounding terrain. The…
You're driving through East Texas, maybe heading towards Dallas. Right here, in places like Jacksonville and Dallas, you're in the heartland of a musical revolution. V. O. Stamps, born in Upshur County back in 1892,…
You're driving through East Texas, near Jacksonville, where a musical empire was born. In 1924, V. O. Stamps founded the Stamps-Baxter Music and Printing Company, becoming a titan of gospel music publishing. They didn't…
You're driving through Washington County, and right here, you might have passed the site of Jacksonville, one of the earliest towns in this area. Founded around 1839 or 1840, it was named for one of the pioneering…
You're driving through North Texas, and right here in Jacksonville, Texas, a future president of the American Medical Association was born. Milford Owen Rouse, born in 1902, contracted meningitis as a child while…
You're driving through East Texas, perhaps near Jacksonville, where Samuel Moore Templeton was born in 1853. He wasn't just any minister; Templeton dedicated his life to the Presbyterian church and education. He taught,…
John Calvin Box, judge, legislator, and Methodist minister, was born near Crockett, Texas, on March 28, 1871. He attended rural schools in Houston County and subsequently studied law at the Alexander Institute ( see LON…
You're driving past the home of John Wesley Love, better known as "The Peach King" of Jacksonville. Born in 1858, Love became famous for his sprawling peach orchards. In 1902, he and his wife, Texanna, built this grand…
You're driving past the Newburn-Rawlinson House, built in 1903. It's a beautiful example of Victorian architecture with classical revival touches. This home served a unique role in Jacksonville, even acting as a…
You're driving through Jacksonville, the site of a Baptist college founded in 1899 by the East Texas Educational Society. They picked this spot for its three railroad lines and good roads. The first building here was…
Oldest junior college in Texas. Founded in Kilgore by Dr. Isaac Alexander, pioneer educator. In 1875 it became property of the East Texas (now the Texas) Conference of the Methodist Church. It was moved to Jacksonville…
You're driving through Jacksonville, where in 1936, attorney John C. Box Jr. launched Sea Scouts Ship 400. For 15 years, this program taught local boys maritime skills like knot-tying and signaling, meeting in unique…
On October 5, 1838, eighteen members of the Killough family were killed near Jacksonville in the largest Native American attack on settlers in East Texas.
You're driving through Jacksonville, home of Judge H.T. Brown. Born in 1885, he started his career young, teaching in a country school at just twenty years old. His sharp mind led him through several important roles:…
You're driving past Jacksonville, a town that owes its name to a blacksmith and a scout named Jackson Smith. Smith came to Texas in the 1830s, fought in the War for Independence, and scouted this very area for the…
You're driving past Jacksonville, where Thomas Jefferson Dean left his mark. Born in 1883, Dean became pastor of the First Christian Church in 1909, even before graduating from Texas Christian University. He wasn't just…
You're driving through Cherokee County, where David Greene Templeton settled around 1846. He became a prominent landowner and civic leader, serving as a trustee for the Presbyterian College at Larissa and as part of the…
You're driving past the site of Jacksonville's First Baptist Church. The congregation's roots go back to the town's founding in 1872, with deacons purchasing lots for a Baptist church in 1873. The church was officially…
You're driving past the site of Jacksonville's Central Baptist Church. It was organized in 1906 by 22 charter members, and a revival led by the famous preacher George W. Truett added 32 more just two weeks later. The…
You're driving past the Grimes Cemetery, a resting place that began with a family's sorrow. In 1883, Benjamin Franklin Grimes, a Confederate veteran and freight wagon operator, buried his daughter Cassandra Gabriella on…
You're driving past the old Neches Saline Road, a route that's seen centuries of Texas history unfold. Originally an Indian trail, it gained importance in the 1820s as the main path for hauling salt from the Neches…
You're driving past the former route of the Rusk Tramway, a quirky piece of Texas industrial history. Opened in 1875, this wasn't your typical railroad. Its pine rails warped easily, and it often moved slower than a…
You're driving past the site of Craft Baptist Church, organized in 1891. Originally called the Baptist Church of Christ at Shiloh, it was renamed several times before becoming Craft Baptist Church of Christ in 1899. The…
You're driving through Craft, Texas, a town that was once the tomato capital of the state. It started as Independence in the 1890s, but by 1891, it was renamed Craft to honor its first postmaster. By 1917, this area was…
You're driving through Fry's Gap, a place that was once a vital crossroads in Cherokee County. This natural ridge gap was a trail for Kickapoo Indians long before the Fry family settled here in the 1840s. Imagine the…
Two miles north of downtown on U.S. 69, a ridge rises to about 720 feet, standing roughly 240 feet above the land around it, with clear-day views reaching some 30 miles east. It is Love's Lookout, named for Wesley Love,…
You're driving through East Texas, approaching Love's Lookout. This nine-mile-long ridge offers stunning views, stretching 30 to 35 miles across the landscape. Back in 1846, this valley was a crucial pass, known as…
You're driving past Earle's Chapel Cemetery, set aside in 1858 by Elijah Earle and his wife. Elijah picked his own burial spot, carving his initials in a tree, and was the first buried here on New Year's Day 1881. The…
You're driving through the Earle's Chapel community, settled as early as 1838 by Texas War for Independence veteran W. J. Ragsdale. Elijah Earle arrived in 1846, and by 1859, he and his wife donated land for this church…
You're driving through Cherokee County, near Jacksonville. In 1850, Devereux and Polly Ann Jarratt settled here. By 1858, their sons had set aside land for this cemetery, with the first burial being a transient worker…
You're driving past the site of Corinth Baptist Church, organized in June of 1881 with just 12 members. The congregation built its first sanctuary around 1900, and the current building was constructed in 1950. The…
You're driving past the site of the Cove Springs United Methodist Church. It began in December 1856 as the Sand Hill Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and has been in continuous operation for over 130 years. The…
You're driving past Union Grove Cemetery, established in 1868. The first soul laid to rest here was Mary Ann Patton, wife of John F. Patton. John served as Jacksonville's postmaster and fought as a Confederate officer…
You're driving past Benge Cemetery, established in 1861 by George Clinton Benge on his property. His wife Nancy was the first to be buried here after her death that year. The cemetery remains a testament to this noted…
You're driving through Dialville, and you're passing the birthplace of George Washington Slover. Born in Tennessee in 1816, Slover wasn't just a Baptist minister and carpenter – he's also said to have built the Atlanta…
You're driving through Cherokee County, passing the site of Dialville. This town owes its start to Confederate veteran John J. Dial, who settled here in 1866. For years, it was just a farm. But in 1882, the railroad…
You're driving past Rocky Springs Missionary Baptist Church, organized in 1848 by settlers in the home of Thomas J. Lindsey. The first pastor was the Rev. George Washington Slover, who may have built the Atlanta Hotel…
You're driving past the site of Old Larissa College, established way back in 1848 as a log hut school. By 1855, it was under the control of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church and chartered the next year. This college…
You're driving past Jacksonville, and if you look closely, you might imagine the smoke and heat of a Civil War iron works right here. In 1863, the Chapel Hill Manufacturing Company built a plant on this site to churn…
You're driving through the rural Corine community, just outside Jacksonville. For over a century, Friendship Baptist Church and its adjacent cemetery have been central to this area. The church itself was founded way…
You're driving through East Texas, and right here, you're near where country music legend Johnny Horton grew up. Born in California, he moved back and forth to East Texas with his family and graduated high school in…
You're driving through Gallatin, Texas, a community born from a railroad and a desire for a market. Back in the late 1840s, this area was settled, but it wasn't until 1902, when the Texas and New Orleans Railroad pushed…
You're driving past the site where Sheriff Bill Brunt met his end in 1939. A young sheriff at 26, Brunt had earned a reputation for honesty, cleaning up Alto before winning the county sheriff election. His downfall came…
Gallatin's history began in the late 1840s with the first settlers, but it wasn't until 1902 that a community developed when the Texas and New Orleans Railroad was built through the area. The town was named Gallatin…
While you might see mostly pastures and pine trees around Gallatin today, this area was once at the heart of a fruit and vegetable empire. In the early 20th century, farmers discovered that the region's sandy,…
You're driving through Cherokee County, near Rusk. This is the Jones Cemetery, established on land bought by John and Mary Jones when they arrived from Alabama in 1853. John was the first buried here in 1857, followed…
You're driving through Cherokee County, not far from Maydelle. Look around you – this was once Gent Village, settled in the 1850s by families seeking good farmland. They built stores, mills, and cotton gins, making it a…
You're driving through Cherokee County, heading east of Jacksonville on Highway 79. Right here is New Summerfield. It all started in 1895 when Caley Amos Summers donated land for a school. Soon after, Isaac 'Ike' Tipton…
You're driving past Mixon Cemetery, established in the 1850s by settlers from across the South. The oldest marked grave here belongs to Octavio Braly, who died in 1854. Many early graves are marked with local red iron…
Before there was a Cuney, there was simply "Andy." Imagine a settlement of log cabins and small farms in the country near the Neches River, taking root after the Civil War. This was a kind of freedom colony, the sort of…
The town of Cuney owes its shape to the railroad, but the real story is stranger than a straight line of steel. Long before there were tracks, this was a place called Andy, a farming settlement founded by freed families…
Cuney's history began with freed slaves just after the Civil War, when Andrew 'Andy' Bragg, one of the area's first black homeowners, arrived in 1870. The community didn't develop until 1902 when the site became a flag…
You're driving through Cuney, a town with roots stretching back to 1870. That's when former slaves Andrew Bragg and Nelson Sneed, black farmers, settled here. Other freedmen soon joined them, forming a community called…
You're driving through Cuney, Texas, a community with roots stretching back to the very end of the Civil War. <break time="400ms"/> It started as a settlement for freed slaves, once known as Andy, named after Andrew…
You're driving through the site of Cherokee County's first commercial oil field, discovered in 1927 by the Humble Oil and Refining Company. The discovery well here, near Carey Lake, revealed a unique geological link…
You're driving past Helena Dill Berryman. Helena Dill Berryman (September 8, 1804 -- March 13, 1888) first Anglo child born in Texas, according to tradition. Grew up in Nacogdoches when it was ruled by Spain. Married…
You're driving through Cherokee County, past the site of the old Gallatin School. It started in 1910 as a three-room building, quickly expanded, and then burned down in 1917. A new brick building went up in 1918, later…
You're driving past New Summerfield in Cherokee County. The Methodist congregation here was founded around 1878 in the Union Chapel community. It served as a union church for all denominations and even held public…
As you drive through New Summerfield, you're passing through a Texas town the railroad never made. All across this state, towns lived or died by whether the tracks came through. This one grew up as a plain farm-market…
You're driving through east Cherokee County, near New Summerfield. Keep an eye out for the marker honoring Dr. William Reuben Tennison. Born in a log cabin right here in <say-as interpret-as="date"…
You're driving through the area where, from 1913 to 1919, a religious community known as the Burning Bush Colony operated. Founded by the Metropolitan Church Association, this 400-member settlement was built to be…
You're driving through New Summerfield, a town with roots stretching back to the 1850s. Public education here started in the Union Chapel Church, serving as both a place of worship and a community hub. By 1895, a…
You're driving past the Henry Cemetery, a final resting place with roots stretching back to the 1850s. It began in 1852 when Ezekiel Henry buried his 24-year-old daughter, Parolee, right here. Just a year later, Ezekiel…
You're driving through New Summerfield, and right here is the McDonald Cemetery. It began in the 1850s on the Johnson family homestead, with the earliest documented burials in 1856 for two young daughters. After…
You're driving through Cherokee County right now, near Alto, past a place that was once a major ceremonial center for the Caddo people. For centuries, between about 780 and 1260 AD, this was the heart of their world.…
You're driving through Cherokee County, not far from where Old Larissa used to be. It was October 5th, 1838, and the Killough family, who had just moved here from Alabama the year before, thought it was safe to harvest…
You're driving through East Texas, and right here, you're tracing the path of the ancient Nacogdoches-Neches Saline Road. This wasn't just any trail; it was the lifeline for early settlers, winding from Caddo villages…
New Birmingham, once called the "Iron Queen of the Southwest," was a short-lived industrial town near the junction of U.S. Highway 69 and Farm Road 343, two miles southeast of Rusk in central Cherokee County. It was…
Paul Burdett Ragsdale, known as "Rags," was an African-American Texas legislator from 1973 to 1987, civil rights activist, redistricting expert, and one of the first Black legislators elected to the Texas House of…
You're driving through Cherokee County, a place named for the Native Americans who once called this land home. But by the late 1830s, tensions between the Cherokee and encroaching Anglo settlers reached a breaking…
You're driving through what was once Cherokee County, Texas, near the area where Julia Francis Daniels spent her childhood. Born into slavery in Georgia around 1850, her family was brought to Texas by their enslaver,…
You're driving through East Texas, the heartland of the Hasinai people. The name 'Texas' itself comes from their greeting, 'Tejas,' meaning 'friend.' The Hasinai Confederacy was a sophisticated society, centered in the…
You're driving through East Texas, a region shaped by men like Joseph Lewis Hogg. Born in Georgia in 1806, he moved to Texas in 1839, quickly becoming a voice in the Republic's Congress and later the Texas Senate. He…
You're driving through East Texas, and right here is a place connected to Martin Parmer, a signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence. Parmer was a man of many roles – legislator, judge, and even a colonel in the…
You're driving through what is now Cherokee County, and right here, a Cherokee village called Striker Town once stood. It was established sometime after 1819, when Cherokee refugees began arriving in East Texas. This…
You're driving through East Texas, not far from where James Rather Taylor began his Civil War service. He was born in Alabama, but came here to attend Larissa College in Cherokee County. On February 15, 1862, he…
Craft, formerly known as Independence, is on U.S. Highway 69 two miles south of Jacksonville in northern Cherokee County. The community was called Craft after a local post office was established in 1891 and named Craft…
Larissa is a rural community off Farm Road 855 twenty miles northwest of Rusk in northeastern Cherokee County. The area was first settled by Isaac Killough, his wife, and the families of his four sons and two daughters,…
Sweet Union, also known as Hogjaw, is a farming community on Farm Road 1247 near Larrison Creek and twenty-two miles south of Rusk in southern Cherokee County. It was founded in 1865 by freed slaves from the nearby…
Talladega was an early settlement off Farm Road 855 twenty miles northwest of Rusk in northeastern Cherokee County. The area was first settled by Isaac Killough, his wife, and the families of his four sons and two…
You're driving through Cherokee County, not far from Rusk. Right here, in late 1839 or early 1840, stood Cook's Fort. Named for landowner Joseph Thomas Cook, this primitive fort and stockade was built by a military…
You're driving through Cherokee County, Texas, right where Andrew Jackson Coupland made his mark. He wasn't just a Presbyterian minister and judge; he was a lieutenant colonel in the Eleventh Texas Infantry during the…
You're driving through East Texas, near where William Gunn Engledow made his home. Engledow, a farmer and merchant, raised his family right here in Knoxville. But when the Civil War called, he answered. In 1862, he…
You're driving through Cherokee County, just northeast of Alto. Right here, you're passing near the site of Forest Hill Plantation. Captain Henry and Helena Berryman settled here in 1847 on land Helena inherited.…
Chanceville, also known as Ward's Store, was five miles northwest of Maydelle in west central Cherokee County. It was established in 1886 by James and Emma Ward, who opened a general merchandise store known as Ward's…
Fastrill, on the Neches River twelve miles south of Rusk in western Cherokee County, was established in 1922 by the Southern Pine Lumber Company as a base for its logging operations in that county. The name Fastrill is…
Maydelle, also known as Camp Wright, is at the junction of U.S. Highway 84 and Farm Road 2138, nine miles west of Rusk in west central Cherokee County. The area was first settled during the 1840s, but a town did not…
You're driving through what was once Cherokee County, Texas, near the community of Taos. Right here, in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1861</say-as>, a grocer named Daniel Egbert enlisted as a private in the…
You're driving through Cherokee County, Texas, a place that was home to James Washington Guinn, a lawyer and state legislator. He arrived here in 1858, joining his brother in Rusk. Guinn went on to serve in the Texas…
Dialville is on Farm Road 347 six miles northwest of Rusk in central Cherokee County. The area, which was part of the Beverly Pool three-league grant, was first settled in the late 1840s, but a community did not grow up…
Forest is on the Old Jim Hogg Highway, better known as Farm Road 1911, ten miles south of Alto in southeastern Cherokee County. The community was established when Wiley Thompson opened the first business—a store,…
Gent (Ghent) was on Gent Mountain, nine miles northwest of Rusk in northwestern Cherokee County. The area was first settled in the late 1840s and early 1850s by pioneers from Alabama and Tennessee. A church and a…
Ironton is six miles southwest of Jacksonville in northwest Cherokee County. C. H. Martin, a Jacksonville immigration agent who named the town after the nearby ruins of the Chapel Hill Iron Manufacturing Plant, began…
Linwood is at the junction of State Highway 21 and Farm Road 241, twelve miles southeast of Rusk in southeastern Cherokee County. The area was first settled around 1832 by Joseph Durst and his wife, Delilah (Dill). A…
Mount Selman, also known as Selman, is at the junction of U.S. Highway 69 and Farm Road 177, twenty miles north of Rusk in northern Cherokee County. The community was established after the Kansas and Gulf Short Line…
New Emmaus, also known as Emmaus, is on Farm Road 856 three miles north of U.S. Highway 79 in northeastern Cherokee County. It began in the mid-1800s on a pioneer road from Griffin in Cherokee County to New Salem in…
Ponta is north of Mud Creek and just east of State Highway 110 nine miles north of Rusk in Cherokee County. A village called Donaho was begun in 1901 on the H. Donaho survey but failed when the Texas and New Orleans…
Reese is on U.S. Highway 175 twenty miles northwest of Rusk in northwestern Cherokee County. The area was first settled around the time of the Civil War , but a community did not develop until a logging camp was…
Wildhurst was a logging community on Farm Road 1911 and the St. Louis and Southwestern Railway one mile north of Forest in southern Cherokee County. The settlement grew up around a lumber mill owned by Milton A. Smith,…
You're driving through Cherokee County, near Rusk. It's the winter of 1819, and Chief John Bowles is leading about sixty Cherokee families from Arkansas into East Texas. Just about here, a leader named Little Bean…
The little town of Troup sits nestled in the rolling hills of Cherokee County, part of the South Central Plains, where the land begins its gentle rise into East Texas. Its name honors George Michael Troup, a governor of…
You're driving through Cherokee County, near Jacksonville, where Chief Samuel Benge led the Cherokee Indians in Texas during the 1830s. In early 1836, Benge was part of crucial negotiations with General Sam Houston,…
You're driving past the site of Pleasant Grove Missionary Baptist Church, organized way back in 1854. It's one of Cherokee County's oldest Baptist churches, with the Rev. G. W. Slover serving as its first pastor. The…
You're driving past the site of Maydelle, a town born from the iron horse! Back in 1906, the Texas State Railroad pushed into this timber-rich area, building a railhead called Camp Wright to feed the Rusk penitentiary's…
You're driving through New Summerfield, a community with roots stretching back to the days of the Texas Revolution. Look for the historical marker dedicated to Robert Graves Stadler. He was a veteran of both the War of…
You're driving past the birthplace of the Texas State Railroad! Back in the late 1880s, prisoners built a short line from Rusk to timber stands, making charcoal for the prison's iron furnaces. This grew into the Texas…
Right here in Rusk, you can find the southern depot of a railroad with an incredible origin story. This isn't just any old train track; it's the Texas State Railroad, and it was built by prisoners. In the late 1800s,…
Just two miles southeast of Rusk lies the ghost of a city built on dreams of industrial glory. Starting in 1887, a sewing-machine salesman named Anderson Blevins and a crowd of investors laid out a town called New…
Luck, Texas, isn’t on most maps, but those who know the Hill Country know the place. It's not a town, really. More like a feeling, a memory etched into the landscape. This area, west of Austin, was always ranch land.…
As you look around the Rusk town square, consider the political weight this small East Texas town has thrown. Rusk has been home to three governors — and not all of them Texas governors. The first was James Stephen…
Rusk, Texas, nestled deep within the Piney Woods, carries its history right there in its name. It wasn't named for a founding father or a geographical feature, but for Thomas Jefferson Rusk, a prominent figure in the…
New Summerfield sits nestled in the South Central Plains of East Texas, where rolling hills meet the western edge of the Piney Woods. The land here is a tapestry of sandy loam soils, nourished by the region's abundant…
You're driving past Ponta, a town that sprang up along the railroad tracks back in 1901. It was first called Hubb, named for the county surveyor, but was soon renamed Ponta, a nod to the Latin word for 'bridge.' This…
Bullard High School in Bullard, Texas qualified for the 2026 UIL state softball championships, reaching the state tournament (final four) in Class four A, Division One.
Bullard (Bullard, TX) placed on the 4A Texas high school baseball stat leaderboards for the 2026 season: Ty Rigsby (9 HR); Jackson Holt (3 HR).
You're driving past Myrtle Springs Cemetery, a final resting place for folks from the old town of Lone Star and surrounding settlements. It began in the 1860s, serving homesteaders and a union church that lasted into…
You're driving past the site of the old Rusk Penitentiary, a place built not just for punishment, but for profit. Back in 1875, Texas leaders saw the iron ore in this region and decided to build a state prison right…
You're driving past the site of Griffin, a town founded by settlers from Georgia in the early 1850s. It flourished for a time and was the birthplace of John Benjamin Kendrick, who became a famous Texas cowboy, then a…
You're driving through Cherokee County, heading past the old Blackjack community. Look for the marker telling the story of Samuel Smith, a Swiss immigrant who came to Texas in 1849. He and his wife Oney brought six of…
You're driving past Elm Grove Common School. Elm Grove, a Freedmen's community, was part of the county school system by 1884, when 69 school districts were set up by the Commissioners Court. Classes were held in a local…
You're driving through Bullard, and right here is the site of the town's historic water well. Established in 1883, when the railroad came through and the town was named for postmaster John Henry Bullard, this well was…
Bullard, Texas, sits comfortably in the Piney Woods of Cherokee and Smith counties, a place where the scent of pine needles hangs heavy in the air. It wasn't always the quiet bedroom community it is today. Its story is…
You're driving through Cherokee County, passing the Sardis-Edgefield Cemetery. This resting place for early settlers began around 1857, possibly during a measles epidemic. The earliest marked burial here was Rebecca…
You're driving through Bullard, a town that started as a whisper and grew with the railroad. Originally settled around 1850, this area saw its first post office, Etna, open in 1867. But it was the arrival of John H.…
In 1930, Troup was a respectable town built on farming, shipping tomatoes and roses by rail. But that fall, everything changed. A wildcatter named 'Dad' Joiner struck oil just a few miles away, discovering the colossal…
The story of Troup's greatest transformation is not about people. It is about rocks. Deep under the piney woods lies the Woodbine, a porous Cretaceous sandstone laid down when a shallow sea covered this part of Texas.…
Troup is situated between two very old Choctaw, Chickasaw, Cherokee, and Creek intertribal settlements of Nanih Shinuk and Ofunlo Hina. Descendants of these peoples still live there as part of the state-recognized Mount…
You're driving past the site of the Ferguson-Ford Mill, a testament to Cherokee County's industrial past. James Ferguson built the first mill here in 1847. Later, Charles E. Ford bought it, modernized it, and by 1880,…
You're driving through Rusk, and just ahead is the site of Rusk Public School No. 2, a vital educational hub for the town's African American students. Around <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1895</say-as>, a small…
As you cross the railroad tracks in Bullard, take a moment to appreciate that they are the reason the town is here at all. The original community was Etna, with a post office opened back in 1867 west of where you're…
In the 1920s and 30s, the railroad tracks in Bullard were lined with crates of bright red tomatoes. The local sandy loam and rail access put this town in the heart of the East Texas tomato belt, with Jacksonville just…
Just south of Bullard on FM 344, you'll find a surprising piece of international culture in the East Texas landscape: Kiepersol Estates. This winery, distillery, and restaurant is the dream of Pierre de Wet, who…
You're driving past the site of a Confederate gun factory, built right here in Rusk back in 1862. John L. Whitescarver and the Campbell brothers set up shop, but they ran into trouble getting parts to make rifles. So,…
You're driving past Union Hotel/Bracken House/Acme Hotel. The first hotel to occupy this site was the Union Hotel, a wood frame building erected in 1849. Renamed Bracken House for a subsequent owner, it continued to…
You're driving past the site of the Freeman Farm, a self-sustaining operation that was once a hub for the Kickapoo area. William Franklin Freeman and his wife Elizabeth arrived here in 1849, building a homestead with…
You're driving through East Texas, and right here is the legacy of the Texas State Railroad. It started not for passengers, but as a workhorse for the state's own iron foundry near Rusk, built back in 1884. They laid…
You're driving through Rusk County, where you might not realize one woman's harrowing story of survival was recorded. Susan Merritt, born enslaved here, survived unimaginable brutality. Her enslaver's wife, Jane Watt,…
Joseph Idelbert Durham, known as A. D. Lloyd, "geologist" for the oil well Daisy Bradford No. 3., the discovery well for the East Texas oilfield , was probably born in 1854. He left studying medicine and clerking in a…
You're driving through Anderson County, not far from Frankston, where a pivotal moment in Texas frontier history unfolded. On October 16, 1838, General Thomas J. Rusk led 200 Texans into battle right here. Their…
You're driving through East Texas, not far from Rusk. Right here, in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1861</say-as>, James J.A. Barker, a lawyer who’d just set up practice in town, volunteered for the Confederate…
You're driving through East Texas, and right here in Rusk, Texas, a guitar legend was born. Maurice Cameron Hill, who dropped his first name, grew up around music. By the time he was a teenager in the 1930s, he was…
You're driving through East Texas, not far from Rusk, where the state once tried to strike it rich with iron. From 1883 to 1917, the Rusk Penitentiary wasn't just a prison, it was an industrial complex. Convicts mined…
You're driving through Cherokee County, Texas, a place that saw major railroad development after the Civil War. Charles Glidden Young, a businessman who moved his operations from Louisiana to Texas in 1863, was a key…
You're driving through Maydelle, and just a few years ago, this area was booming with lumber production. From 1908 to 1912, the Mewshaw State Sawmill here churned out an incredible 35,000 board feet of lumber every…
You're driving through Rusk, Cherokee County, where you're passing the site of two important speeches by none other than Sam Houston. The first, in 1855, was a heated debate with politician Frank Bowden. Houston, a…
You're driving through Rusk, where in 1902, fifteen young single women started a library club with fewer than fifty books. This group, believed to be the first public library in Cherokee County, eventually donated…
You're driving past the site of the Rusk Cherokeean newspaper, a publication that can trace its roots all the way back to the Cherokee Sentinel, first published in 1850. This paper has seen some notable figures pass…
You're driving through Rusk, Texas, the county seat of Cherokee County. This town owes its existence to a legislative act back on April 11, 1846. The lawmakers wanted a new county seat, named in honor of General Thomas…
You're driving through Rusk, Texas, a town that sent off one of the very first Confederate volunteer companies in the state. Samuel Benton Barron was there, a lawyer who joined up in May of <say-as interpret-as="date"…
You're driving through East Texas, near Rusk, where Thomas Reuben Bonner got his start. He came here from Mississippi as a boy and by age twelve, he was already an apprentice printer. After farming and serving as a…
You're driving through Cherokee County, and right here is Rusk, where Benjamin Bartlett Cannon settled in 1847. He came to Texas from Tennessee with his family, seeking land and a better climate for his wife. Cannon…
You're driving through what is now Cherokee County, Texas, a place that was home to J. Patrick Henry. He was a prosperous farmer and slaveholder, but when the Civil War broke out, he answered the call. On April 5, 1862,…
You're driving past Jim Hogg Park, just outside of Rusk. This 178-acre park in the piney woods holds a piece of Texas history. It includes land from the old Mountain Home Plantation, the very birthplace of Governor…
You're driving through East Texas, near Rusk, the hometown of John Benjamin Long. He was a man of many hats: newspaper publisher, Congressman, and even president of what is now Texas A&M University. Long served with…
You're driving through East Texas, near Rusk, where brothers Daniel and Anton Oppenheimer started their business journey in 1858. They began as small merchants, but when the Civil War ended, they moved to San Antonio…
You're driving past the former home of Dr. I. K. Frazier, a typical Texas house built in the 1850s. Dr. Frazier served in the 3rd Texas Cavalry during the Civil War. After the war, he bought this property and became a…
You're driving past the Cherokee County Courthouse, the fourth one built for the county. It was constructed in 1940 and 1941 with help from the Federal Works Progress Administration. Look for its distinctive moderne…
You're driving through Cherokee County, a land first explored by the Spanish and home to Native American tribes. By the 1820s, the Cherokee Nation had migrated here, only to be expelled in 1839. After its formal…
You're driving through East Texas right now, near Rusk, where James Monroe Anderson made his home. He was a lawyer and a legislator, but in 1861, he answered the call to defend the Confederacy. He enlisted as a private…
You're driving through North Texas, maybe near Fort Worth, where Dr. Frank Douglas Boyd spent much of his career. Born on Christmas Eve, 1867, in Rusk, Boyd became a renowned eye, ear, nose, and throat specialist. He…
You're driving through East Texas, near Rusk, where D. B. Martin lived before and during the Civil War. He started as a merchant, but when the war broke out, he answered the call. Martin served the Confederacy in…
You're driving through Rusk, Texas, the birthplace of James Iley McCord. Born in 1919, McCord became a prominent clergyman and educator. He taught theology at Austin Seminary before heading Princeton Theological…
You're driving through Rusk, Texas, a town that saw Richard M. Wynne grow up. He was a lieutenant in the Tenth Texas Regiment during the Civil War, fighting at battles like Murfreesboro and Nashville. He was wounded and…
You're driving past the birthplace of James Stephen Hogg, right here in Rusk. Born in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1851</say-as>, Hogg made Texas history as the first native-born Texan to serve as governor. He…
As you drive through Rusk, imagine this town as a vital hub for the Confederacy during the Civil War. Cherokee County wasn't just sending soldiers; it was building the war machine. Right here, a gun factory churned out…
You're passing through the site of Lone Star, a Texas town that started life with a rather unusual name: Skin Tight! It was renamed Lone Star in 1883 when the post office opened. In its heyday, Lone Star was a hub for…
You're driving past the site of a law firm that's been serving Texas for over a century. It all started in 1898 when Wyatt Norman and William Shook opened their doors right here on the Courthouse Square. The firm,…
You're driving past the site of Rusk's historic footbridge, a vital link for folks east of the valley. First built in 1861 to help residents reach town during the rainy season, it was rebuilt in 1889 by the engineer…
You're cruising through Rusk, a town founded way back in 1846 and named for the important Texas statesman Thomas J. Rusk. This spot served as a key industrial site and supply depot during the Civil War. Keep an eye out,…
You're driving past the site of Hatchett's Ferry Inn. In 1847, Hubbard Hatchett built a cabin here, and by 1850, he was operating the Rusk Ferry on the Angelina River. The family added a second story to their home,…
You're driving past the former home of a prominent Rusk legal and political family. Attorney James N. Thomas built the original one-story section before 1851. Later, in 1893, James I. Perkins, a district attorney,…
You're driving through Rusk, where the story of this town's Presbyterian church began way back in 1847 with just four members. Two congregations eventually joined forces in 1906, and by 1913, they'd built what became…
You're driving through Cherokee County, near Rusk, where settlers started arriving in the late 1840s. Local legend says this cemetery, Lowe's Chapel, began in the early 1850s when a child from a passing wagon train died…
You're driving past the site of the First Baptist Church of Rusk. It was organized in 1853, with early services held in a shared Union Church building. The congregation eventually moved and built new sanctuaries over…
You're driving through the Sardis community, where Baptist settlers from South Carolina organized the Sardis Baptist Church in 1854. For decades, the church served as a community hub, even housing a school in its second…
You're driving past First United Methodist Church of Rusk. Organized in 1849, this congregation was first served by the Rev. Henderson D. Palmer (1812-1869). A circuit riding minister, Palmer received his license to…
You're driving past the site of the First Baptist Church of Rusk's new location. In 2002, the church purchased 16 acres here, built a new sanctuary, and moved in December of 2006.
In 2002, First Baptist Church purchased 16 acres at this location, built a new sanctuary and moved in December 2006.
You're driving through Cherokee County, not far from Rusk. This stretch of road was once the site of Camp Rusk, a Confederate training ground during the Civil War. Picture this: a bare field, but with water from Pryor…
You're driving past one of the oldest homes still standing in Rusk, the Gregg Family Home, built way back between 1847 and 1848. Look for that classic dog-trot style, built with local pine. This house has seen a lot of…
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