Everything Gilmer is known for
Songs written about the waterways and highways that run near Gilmer.
Gilmer, Texas. It's a name that might not ring a bell for everyone, but around here, it's synonymous with Friday night lights and sweet potato pie. You can feel the small-town charm just driving in, past the piney woods and rolling hills that rise up from the East Texas Timberlands. It was named for a Secretary of the Navy way back in '46, and while it's remained a quiet place in many ways, Gilmer has produced a few folks who've gone on to make a real name for themselves.
Gilmer, Texas, has a history marked by both growth and tragedy. Founded in 1846, the city was named after former Secretary of the Navy Thomas Walker Gilmer. It was located on the Old Cherokee Trace, a trail used by the Cherokee Indians, and to this day, arrowheads and other Native American artifacts can be found with little to no digging. A dark chapter in the city's history occurred in 1919 when Chilton Jennings, a 28-year-old African American man, was lynched in Gilmer’s town square by a mob of about 1,000 White residents.
The location of Gilmer was determined by a flood on Little Cypress Creek. Initially located near the creek, residents decided to change locations because of frequent floods. This geographical feature played a crucial role in shaping the city's development and its current location.
Freddie King, blues musician, was born Freddie Christian in Gilmer, Texas, on September 3, 1934. He was the son of J. T. Christian and Ella Mae (or May) King. At the age of six he began playing guitar with his mother and an uncle, Leon King. As a youth he purchased a Roger's acoustic guitar with money he had earned picking cotton. He moved to Chicago with his family in 1949. At the age of sixteen he snuck into a Chicago blues club and sat in with the house band, which included Howlin' Wolf. King developed his style under the influence of Lightnin' Hopkins , T-Bone Walker , B. B. King (not a relative), Louis Jordan, and others. He married Jessie Burnett by 1952. By day he worked in a steel mill, and he played shows at night. King formed his own band, the Every Hour Blues Boys, which included Eddie Taylor, Jimmy Rogers, Jimmy Lee Robinson, and Sonny Scott. He recorded songs on the Parrot Label in 1953. During the 1950s King played local clubs and also worked with the Sonny Cooper Band and Earlee Payton's Blues Cats. In 1960 he signed with King/Federal, a label that had other impressive artists such as pianist Sonny Thompson who collaborated with King on a number of recordings. Some of King's classic songs were "Have You Ever Loved a Woman," "Woman Across the River," and "Hide Away," which became a major crossover hit from blues to pop. King toured the United States and appeared in concert halls, night clubs, and at jazz and blues festivals. Weary of her husband's brutal recording and touring schedule, King's wife Jessie and their six children moved to Dallas in 1962. King left Chicago and moved to Dallas and back to his family in spring 1963. There he worked on perfecting his own soulful vocal style. In 1966 he made a series of appearances on The !!!! Beat , a weekley rhythm-and-blues Dallas television program whose house band was headed by Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown . He signed with Cotillion in 1968 and recorded two albums, Freddie King is a Blues Master and My Feeling for the Blues . That same year he toured England. In 1969 he was one of the headlining acts at the Texas International Pop Festival . Like many blues artists in the late 1960s and early 1970s, King had close ties to rock-and-roll . Musicians such as Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck recorded his songs, and King toured with Clapton in the mid-1970s. In 1971 he recorded the first major live album ever made in Austin at Armadillo World Headquarters , known sometimes as "the House That Freddie King Built." He regularly played at the club and returned periodically for fund-raisers. His recordings with Shelter Records brought him recognition throughout the state as a "top notch Texas bluesman." King died on December 28, 1976, of bleeding ulcers and pancreatitis at the age of forty-two. He was buried in Hillcrest Memorial Park, Dallas. In 1982 he was inducted into the Blues Foundation's Blues Hall of Fame. Texas Gov. Ann Richards declared September 3, 1993, as "Freddie King Day," and in 2003 Rolling Stone ranked King twenty-fifth among its list of the 100 greatest guitarists. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2012.
On this Cherokee Trace site he had visited 25 years earlier, when he lived with the Indians, Sam Houston twice spoke as the leading Texas statesman-- on June 10, 1857, as U. S. Senator, and early in 1861 as governor. At both times he spoke against secession and in favor of the Union.
Near this site the Cherokee Indians blazed an early Texas trail. They wanted a road from their settlements near Nacogdoches to their home reservation on the White River in Arkansas. About 1821 they selected a man known for his uncanny sense of direction. Mounting a horse and dragging buffalo skins behind him, he set a northward course. A group of Indians followed, blazing the trees to mark the trail. Another group cleared away the heavy underbrush and trees. A third group established camping grounds by springs and planted Cherokee roses which still mark the route today. Sam Houston, friend of the Cherokee, travelled it on his first Texas visit. David Crockett and other Texas revolution fighters as well as thousands of settlers from northeastern United States first saw Texas from the road, many establishing homes nearby. The Cherokee remained peaceful as long as friend Sam Houston was President of the Republic. In June 1839 they were ordered from Texas because of raids and intrigues with Mexican agents. A two-day battle ensued on the Neches River where their chief was killed. The tribe retreated, fighting, leaving Texas by the famous trail they made.
(Star and Wreath) Civil War supply and activity center. Men and boys served in the Confederate army on many battlefronts and in state troops protecting Texas from invasion. 3 military training camps were set up. Vital needs for military and civilians met with production of hats, shoes, saddles, harness, cloth, iron and pottery in factories in Gilmer and Ore City. A Quartermaster Depot was established on the home front, women, joined by old men, children and loyal slaves, ran the farms producing grain, meat and cotton for army, giving much, keeping little. Home county of southern heroine Emma Sansom Johnson (1847-1900). "Sunbonnet heroine" of the Confederacy. Buried Little Mound Cemetery, 11 miles west. On May 2, 1863 Gen. N. B. Forrest, with 600 C. S. A. Cavalry, in pursuit of 1,700 Federals bent on destroying vital supplies was halted by a burned bridge on Black Creek near Gadsden, Alabama. Forrest asked about another crossing, Emma Sansom volunteered to show way to little-known ford. Forrest swung her up behind his saddle. Bullets pierced here calico dress, but the 15-year-old waved her bonnet defiantly and pointed out the crossing, enabling troops to surprise, capture enemy. Feat recognized by note from Forrest, a gold medal from C. s. A. Congress and "The Ballad of Emma Sansom." She married Confederate veteran C. B. Johnson and moved to Texas in 1876. Texans with Forrest were 1st Legion, Willis Cav. Bn., 34d, 6th, 9th Cav. regts.
John Lafayette Camp, Jr., judge, was born on September 23, 1855, in Gilmer, Texas, the son of Mary Ann (Ward) and John Lafayette Camp . After graduating from the Gilmer Academy, Texas Military Institute (San Antonio), and Trinity University he served in the Texas Senate from 1887 to 1891 and then moved to San Antonio, where he established a legal practice. In 1897 Governor Charles Allen Culberson appointed Camp judge of the Forty-fifth District Court. He continued to be reelected for seventeen years, usually without opposition. Among his most notable decisions was that which enabled the preservation of the Alamo chapel. "Care and custody" of the shrine had been granted to the Daughters of the Republic of Texas by a state law of 1905. In 1912, however, the state legislature, at the prompting of Governor Oscar Branch Colquitt , appropriated $5,000 to "improve" the Alamo. Colquitt's true intention was to turn the Alamo into a state park. When the DRT filed suit to halt the dismantling of the historic structure, Camp ruled that the 1912 law had not overturned that of 1905 and that the Daughters maintained custody of the property. An appellate court concurred. In 1913 President Woodrow Wilson appointed Camp United States district attorney for western Texas. In that position he was chiefly responsible for the arrest, on June 27, 1915, of former Mexican president Victoriano Huerta for the violation of United States neutrality laws. Huerta was released on bond but rearrested on July 3 and confined at Fort Bliss, where he died six months later. In 1916, when Judge Thomas Sheldon Maxey retired from the bench, the eighteen Texas representatives and two senators endorsed Camp as his successor as federal judge of West Texas, but President Wilson demurred, thinking that no one over the age of sixty should hold such a position. Wilson did, however, appoint Camp to a second term as district attorney. In 1881 Camp married Lamartine Felder, the daughter of J. L. Felder, a Leesburg physician. Camp died in San Antonio on August 10, 1918. He was survived by his wife, five daughters, and two sons.
William Pierson, associate justice of the Texas Supreme Court, the son of Marshall S. and Roxana (Ryan) Pierson, was born at Gilmer, Texas, on March 12, 1871. After the death of his mother when he was ten years old, Pierson moved with his father, a prominent banker, to Haskell, where he attended high school. He entered Baylor University in 1891 and graduated in 1896 with a degree in literature and oratory. He spent the next two years studying law at the University of Texas in Austin. After graduating in the summer of 1898, Pierson opened a law practice at Greenville, the county seat of Hunt County. Three years later he married Lena Haskell. The couple had three children, two sons, and a daughter. Pierson was a life-long Democrat, a Baptist, a Mason, and an officeholder in the Woodmen of the World and many other civic organizations. He was elected to the Texas House in 1901 and served on the judiciary and education committees. He sponsored a bill to establish the College of Industrial Arts for Women (now Texas Woman's University) at Denton and state normal schools at Denton and San Marcos. After the completion of his term, he returned to his law practice at Greenville. In 1912 he campaigned successfully for the office of judge of the Eighth Judicial District. Pierson served as district judge for Hunt, Rains, Delta, and Hopkins counties until 1921. His decisions in seven brewery cases brought to the court by the state influenced political policymakers concerned with the controversial issue of prohibition . As a result of these decisions and his handling of other cases, Governor Pat M. Neff appointed Pierson associate justice of the state Supreme Court in 1921. Pierson was also a member of the Texas State Historical Association and served on the board of trustees of Burleson College in Greenville. He served on the bench for fourteen years. A week before his death he lamented the increasing number of cases involving violence and murder that came before the court. On April 24, 1935, William and Lena Pierson were murdered by their twenty-year-old son, Howard, the youngest of the couple's three children; Howard confessed to the crime. Family members and relatives of the young man believed that he had been emotionally unstable for a number of years. Pierson and his wife are buried in the State Cemetery in Austin.
Most recent: 28-26 over Bellville · 2023 4A Division 2 final
Gilmer High School, a familiar name in Texas high school football, holds a distinguished record in Class 4A competition. The Buckeyes have consistently demonstrated their strength on the field, bringing pride to their East Texas community. Their program is a notable part of the local sports scene, reflecting the dedication found in high school athletics across the state.
The school's football program has achieved significant milestones, including a UIL 4A Division 2 State Championship. This accomplishment stands as a highlight for Gilmer, showcasing the team's ability to compete at the highest levels of Texas high school football. The achievement is a point of local celebration, underscoring the success of the Buckeyes.
Gilmer High School secured the 2023 4A Division 2 State Championship by defeating Bellville 28-26.
277 stories, landmarks & places within ~20 miles — the nearest 200 are listed here — the same local lore RoadyGoat plays as you drive through.
Gilmer, Texas. It's a name that might not ring a bell for everyone, but around here, it's synonymous with Friday night lights and sweet potato pie. You can feel the small-town charm just driving in, past the piney woods…
On this Cherokee Trace site he had visited 25 years earlier, when he lived with the Indians, Sam Houston twice spoke as the leading Texas statesman-- on June 10, 1857, as U. S. Senator, and early in 1861 as governor. At…
Near this site the Cherokee Indians blazed an early Texas trail. They wanted a road from their settlements near Nacogdoches to their home reservation on the White River in Arkansas. About 1821 they selected a man known…
(Star and Wreath) Civil War supply and activity center. Men and boys served in the Confederate army on many battlefronts and in state troops protecting Texas from invasion. 3 military training camps were set up. Vital…
You're driving through Gilmer, Texas, right where the Confederacy was keeping its horses shod and its armies moving. During the Civil War, this area was home to vital leather factories. One plant churned out shoes for…
You're driving through Gilmer, where the Looney School once stood just a few blocks north. From 1860 to 1870, this place was known for its high academic standards, drawing students from all over East Texas. Boys and…
You're driving through Gilmer, and right here is the home of the Gilmer Mirror, the oldest continuous business in Upshur County. It started way back on January 1st, 1877, as the 'Upshur County Democrat.' Over the years,…
You're driving past the old Gilmer Post Office, a handsome building designed by James A. Wetmore and completed in 1926. It served the town until 1991, then sat vacant until local groups saved it for use as a museum.…
You're driving past Brumley Crossroads Cemetery, established by the Mt. Gilead Primitive Baptist Church back in 1848. It's the final resting place for pioneer settlers and local residents, with the oldest legible stone…
You're driving past the site of the first full-time hospital in Upshur County, opened in 1933 by the Ragland family. For nearly fifty years, this clinic-hospital served Gilmer and the surrounding areas, even training…
You're driving past First Baptist Church of Gilmer. First congregation was organized in a log cabin in 1846 as the Gilmer Missionary Baptist Church of Christ. In 1854 the congregation consisted of 22 members and the…
Freddie King, blues musician, was born Freddie Christian in Gilmer, Texas, on September 3, 1934. He was the son of J. T. Christian and Ella Mae (or May) King. At the age of six he began playing guitar with his mother…
John Lafayette Camp, Jr., judge, was born on September 23, 1855, in Gilmer, Texas, the son of Mary Ann (Ward) and John Lafayette Camp . After graduating from the Gilmer Academy, Texas Military Institute (San Antonio),…
William Pierson, associate justice of the Texas Supreme Court, the son of Marshall S. and Roxana (Ryan) Pierson, was born at Gilmer, Texas, on March 12, 1871. After the death of his mother when he was ten years old,…
You're driving through Harrison County, near Gilmer, where a remarkable man named Meshack Roberts once lived. Born into slavery, Roberts was given land after the Civil War and built a home for his family. But in the…
You're cruising through North Texas, maybe not too far from Gilmer, where a musical legacy began. Back in 1924, brothers Virgil and Frank Stamps founded the Stamps Quartet. They weren't just singers; they were…
You're driving through East Texas, perhaps near Gilmer, where John Lafayette Camp made his home. When the Civil War broke out, Camp, already a lawyer and planter, answered the call. He rose to become colonel of the…
You're driving through East Texas, perhaps near Gilmer. Back in the late 1800s and early 1900s, this area was home to a remarkable institution: the Dickson Colored Orphan's Home. It was spearheaded by Reverend William…
You're driving through Upshur County, not far from Gilmer, the home of Cullen Redwine Earp. He was a Confederate officer who fought in over twenty engagements, including Chickamauga and Atlanta. Earp was promoted to…
You're driving through Upshur County, near Gilmer, the site of the Looney School. Established in 1861 by Morgan H. Looney, this wasn't just any school. It was a bustling academy, averaging 200 students annually. They…
Right here, south of Gilmer in Upshur County, you're passing the site of the State Colored Orphans' Home. It began in 1900, founded by African American Baptists who wanted to create a safe haven. Initially known as the…
You're driving past the site of an early Cherokee village, established right here at the start of the 1800s. This settlement was a home for these Native Americans and their associated tribes for decades. But by 1839,…
You're driving through Gilmer, Texas, a town with a name that came from a tragic accident way back in 1844. Right here, in what is now Upshur County, the county seat was to be named for Thomas W. Gilmer. He was a…
You're driving through Upshur County, near Gilmer, where Jesse Martin Glasco made his mark. Born in Tennessee in 1818, Glasco arrived in Texas and became a key figure in this region. For decades, he served as Upshur…
Right here in Gilmer, you're driving past the site of a school that had a few names and a few owners! It started in 1851 as the Gilmer Masonic Female Institute, founded by the local Masons. When their lodge disbanded,…
You're driving through Gilmer, passing a business that's served this community for over a century. Back in 1890, J.F. Croley bought a hardware store, and saw a need for more than just nails and hammers. He added…
You're driving past the site of the Robert Potts Bros. hat factory, a crucial Confederate operation during the Civil War. In just one year, they churned out 600 hats for the army, using 300 pounds of wool and valued at…
You're driving through Upshur County, named for a Secretary of State under President John Tyler. This area has been home to people for thousands of years, from Paleo-Indians to Caddoan and Cherokee tribes. But it was…
You're driving past a beautiful example of early 20th-century architecture in Gilmer. This house, built in 1912, was inspired by the Prairie School and Arts and Crafts movements. Notice its overhanging eaves and the…
You're driving past the site of Gilmer's First United Methodist Church. Organized around 1852, this congregation established both a men's and a women's academy in the 1850s. The church has occupied this site since 1881,…
You're driving through Upshur County, Texas, where in 1881, David Abner Jr. made history. Right here, he became the very first African American to graduate from a Texas institution of higher learning, earning his degree…
You're driving through East Texas, not far from where Matthew F. Locke established the town of LaFayette back in 1850. Locke wasn't just a planter; he was a Confederate Colonel who raised the Tenth Texas Cavalry.…
Coffeeville is south of State Highway 155 and five miles west of Lake O' the Pines in the pine country of northeastern Upshur County. One account of the origin of the community's name claims that an early traveler…
Kelsey, on Farm Road 1795 seven miles west of Gilmer in central Upshur County, was named for Dr. W. H. Kelsey, one of the earliest settlers in the county; a nearby creek also bears his name. During the antebellum period…
LaFayette (Lafayette), at the junction of Farm roads 993 and 1975, thirteen miles northeast of Gilmer in extreme northern Upshur County, was first settled in the late 1850s and was named for LaFayette Locke, the son of…
Bettie, at the junction of U.S. Highway 271 and Farm Road 2088, six miles north of Gilmer in north central Upshur County, was established in the early 1880s as a stop on the newly constructed Texas and St. Louis…
Glenwood, at the junction of State Highway 300 and Farm Road 726, eight miles southeast of Gilmer in southeastern Upshur County, was established as a plantation before the organization of the county in 1846. The…
Grice, at the junction of Farm roads 852 and 1002, twelve miles west of Gilmer in western Upshur County, was established in the late 1880s or early 1890s near a heavily wooded area known as the Big Woods. The community…
Latch, on Farm Road 1795 eight miles west of Gilmer in western Upshur County, was established in the late 1880s and originally named Know. The name was changed to Latch when a post office opened in 1894, after L. A.…
Rosewood is on State Highway 154 eight miles west of Gilmer in western Upshur County. It was probably first settled in the late 1880s or early 1890s and was originally known as Double Springs. Its name was changed to…
Simpsonville, also known as Thomas, at the junction of Farm roads 2088 and 556, twelve miles northwest of Gilmer in northwestern Upshur County, was first settled in the late 1850s. The community was originally known as…
West Mountain, at the junction of U.S. Highway 271 and Farm Road 726, eight miles southeast of Gilmer in southeastern Upshur County, was founded by Isaac Moody, one of the earliest Anglo settlers in the county, and…
You're driving past Gilgal Baptist Church, a place with roots stretching back to 1865. Led by the Rev. John Baptist, the founding members built a brush arbor and chose the name "Gilgal" – the Israelites' first…
Gilmer High School (Gilmer, TX): Most recent: 28-26 over Bellville · 2023 4A Division 2 final.
Gilmer is picked third in District eight, four-A Division Two. The Buckeyes had a disappointing season a year ago, but with seventeen returning starters the preview says do not expect them to be down for long — in a…
You're driving past the site of a truly unique Texas institution: the Pioneer Dickson Orphanage. For thirty years, from 1900 to 1929, this was the *only* home in Texas specifically for African American orphans. Founded…
You're driving through Upshur County, past the site of the Ben Phillips Place. Built in 1872, this home was a hub for political talk and news, with a reputation for welcoming strangers. Ben F. Phillips himself, a Church…
Every October, Gilmer transforms for a festival born out of desperation and sweet potatoes. By the 1930s, the cotton industry that built the town was collapsing. Looking for a new cash crop, farmers found that the…
Gilmer is the birthplace of a blues giant. In 1934, Freddie King was born here. Though his family moved to Chicago when he was a teenager, his East Texas roots were part of his story. In Chicago, King developed a…
The reason Gilmer throws a party for the sweet potato every October comes down to soil science. The dirt here in the East Texas Piney Woods is mostly sandy loam. Pick some up and you will notice it is loose and does not…
Gilmer's surprising musical heritage doesn't stop with rock and blues. In 1935, one of the most iconic voices of the 20th century entered the world here: Johnny Mathis. His father worked as a chauffeur and handyman, and…
As you drive along Highway 271, imagine this quiet, agricultural landscape suddenly turning into a chaotic boomtown. In 1930, the discovery of the massive East Texas Oil Field, just south of here, changed everything…
You're cruising through Gilmer, a town that got its start way back in 1846. It's named for Thomas W. Gilmer, a big deal in Washington D.C. who pushed hard for Texas to join the U.S. During the Civil War, Gilmer was a…
You're driving past the site of early Gilmer, right where the Cherokee Trace used to run. Imagine this spot in 1845 – an oak tree served as the very first Upshur County courthouse! Just a year later, in 1846, Judge O.…
You're driving past Morris Cemetery in Gilmer, and right here, you're looking at the final resting place of an Unknown Soldier. This is the first grave in this cemetery, and it belongs to a Confederate soldier who died…
You're driving through Bettie, and right here is the site of the Bettie Methodist Church. Organized in 1892, this sanctuary was built mainly by the Parish brothers, Jeff and Hillard. It's said to be one of the first…
You're driving through Enon, where Latter-Day Saint families from Alabama settled near Kelsey Creek in the late 1890s. By 1901, they established the area's first branch and school, with Manasseh J. Blackburn as teacher.…
You're driving through Kelsey, a town with roots in faith and community building. Back in 1898, brothers John and Jim Edgar bought this timber land, paving the way for a Mormon settlement. By 1901, Sunday School and…
You're driving through Gilmer, and just off the road here is the site of the Pritchett Normal Institute. Opened in 1901 by the Maberry brothers, this place wasn't just a school; it was a teacher-training powerhouse. It…
You're driving past the site of Enon Baptist Church, organized way back on May 13, 1848, in the home of M. S. Long. Charter members included the Davis and Knight families. The original log building was replaced by this…
You're driving past the site of the Oak Hill Missionary Baptist Church. Organized around 1870, this was the very first Baptist congregation in the Gilmer area. Services kicked off in a humble log schoolhouse nearby. In…
You're driving through Gilmer, and you're passing the final resting place of Alex Earp. Now, this isn't that Earp, but he was a lawman in his own right. Born in Alabama in 1832, Alex moved to Texas with his family, who…
You're passing Rosewood Cemetery, born from a railroad boom and a family's grief. When the Marshall and East Texas Railroad cut through here in 1907, the town of Rosewood was organized. A four-year-old boy, Denny Dell…
You're driving past West Mountain Cemetery, established in the mid-1850s by plantation owner Alpha Phillips. His father's grave, marked by a stone cairn, was the first here. Originally called Old Phillips Cemetery, it…
You're driving past the site of Rosewood Baptist Church, originally organized in 1872 as Double Springs Baptist Church. When the railroad came through and a town was platted, it was renamed Rosewood Baptist Church in…
You're driving past the site of the Parson McClelland School, built around 1869 by Reverend William Henry McClelland. He was a Baptist minister and educator who ran this private school, with both day and boarding…
You're driving through Upshur County, near Glenwood. Following the Civil War, freedmen and their families established communities like East Springfield. Though the congregation formed in the late 1800s, East Springfield…
You're driving past the site of New Hope Missionary Baptist Church. Organized in 1855 with 15 members, meetings were initially held in a log schoolhouse. The church received its first building in 1872, and the…
You're driving past Mattox Cemetery, a chronicle of Upshur County's pioneers. The first recorded burial here was Milla Ann Greer Oliver in 1861, though oral history suggests slaves were interred even earlier. The land…
You're driving past a key junction on the old Jefferson-Quitman Road, one of the three pioneer routes that helped build Upshur County. This road was the highway for freighters and settlers heading west, and for hauling…
You're driving through Enon, and right here is the site of Harmony Independent School District. Imagine the effort back in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1929</say-as> to bring together rural schools from Wood…
You're driving past the site of the Upshur County Discovery Well, the J. D. Richardson No. 1. Completed on May 6th, 1931, this well kicked off a massive oil boom in the area. It was the very first of over 2,000 wells…
You're driving past Soules Chapel Methodist Church, a name with a direct link to one of Methodism's founding figures. <break time="400ms"/> Bishop Joshua Soule, the first bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South,…
In 1930 this was a quiet crossroads of farmland and pine forest — a school, a couple of churches, a cotton gin, and not much else. Then, about thirty miles south of here in Rusk County, a wildcat driller named Dad…
The reason East Mountain exists is because of a perfect geological accident that happened millions of years ago, right beneath your feet. The oil here is stored in a porous layer of rock called the Woodbine Sandstone.…
You're driving through East Mountain, a community that owes its boom times to a surprising discovery. Established in the 1870s near a rise called East Mountain, this town was a quiet farming community. But in the 1930s,…
You're driving through Union Grove, a place that really grew up around its schools. Back in 1888, a public school kicked off here with J.H. Sheppard at the helm. Fast forward to 1907, and the Union Grove Common School…
You're driving past Little Mound Baptist Church and Cemetery, a place with roots stretching back to the 1860s. The oldest marked grave here belongs to E. Hoggue, who died in 1877. Just a year later, in 1878, the…
You're driving through Diana, where two railroads once carved paths through Upshur County. The Marshall & East Texas, chartered in 1908, even earned the nickname 'Misery & Eternal Torment' for its passenger service.…
You're driving past Union Grove Cemetery. UNION GROVE CEMETERY HADEN HARRISON EDWARDS (1812-1864), A SOLDIER, MERCHANT AND LEGISLATOR, PURCHASED THIS LAND FROM THE REPUBLIC OF MEXICO IN 1835. EDWARDS SERVED IN THE FIRST…
You're driving past the Edwards Cemetery, a graveyard for settlers as early as the mid-1850s. The earliest burial recorded here was infant Josephine Rucker in 1855. The cemetery is named for James William Cartwright…
As you pass through Big Sandy, it’s hard to miss the enormous, manicured campus just off the highway. For a generation, this was the home of Ambassador College. Evangelist Herbert W. Armstrong had been bringing his…
The railroad tracks cutting through Big Sandy carry more than just freight; they carry the ghost of a sound that shaped American music. Henry Thomas, known as 'Ragtime Texas,' was born in Big Sandy in 1874. A wandering…
The town of Big Sandy is essentially a railroad's afterthought that grew into a crossroads. The Texas and Pacific pushed its east-west line through here in 1873, and a settlement gathered along it almost immediately — a…
Big Sandy's development was significantly influenced by its transportation infrastructure. The town was first known as Big Sandy Switch due to the Texas and Pacific Railroad that was built through the area, intersecting…
You're driving past the site of Rhonesboro, a town that boomed and busted with the timber industry. Founded in 1902, it was named for W. M. Rhone, the sole sawmill operator here before the railroad arrived. Suddenly,…
You're driving past the site of Walnut Creek Baptist Church, organized by pioneer settlers around 1855. The congregation built a sanctuary and cemetery here in 1856, with the oldest marked grave dating to 1870. A new…
Houston. You feel it the moment you arrive – a relentless energy, a mix of cultures bumping elbows, and a scale that can be both exhilarating and a little daunting. It’s a place built on ambition and, well, a lot of oil.
For most of its history, Ore City's fortunes were tied to what could be dug out of the ground. But in the 1950s, its future became tied to water. Just north of town, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers began a massive…
The iron ore that gave Ore City its name came out of these hills — rich red deposits found after the Civil War, mined off and on from the 1860s into the 1900s, then hauled out by the trainload on the Port Bolivar Iron…
You're driving past John O'Byrne Home. Social, cultural, political center. built 1888 in the O'Byrne's Mill settlement that included sawmill, planner, grist mill, cotton gin. O'Byrne, Irish emigrant, father of 13, built…
You're driving past Shiloh Baptist Church in White Oak. It was founded in 1871 by former slave Butcher Christian and Reverend John Baptist. Services started in a log sanctuary on land donated by Christian. For years,…
In 1930, Gladewater was a sleepy village of about five hundred people. Then, on April seventh, 1931, a well came in and everything changed. The discovery of the East Texas Oil Field turned this place into a real-life…
The 1930s oil boom that built Gladewater was also an engineering disaster in the making. With thousands of wells drilled side-by-side, operators pumped oil as fast as possible to beat their neighbors. This competitive…
On April 7, 1931, Gladewater experienced a significant event with the blowing in of its first oil well, located just outside of town in the Sabine River bottom. This oil discovery led to a substantial population…
In 1955, before he was a global icon, Elvis Presley was a regular around Gladewater. He was twenty years old and a rising star on the Louisiana Hayride, the country radio show broadcast out of Shreveport, and Hayride…
You're driving past Pleasant Grove Cemetery, a resting place for many of the pioneer families who settled the Lafayette community in the 1850s. The earliest recorded burial here is little Thomas J. Harrison, who died in…
You're driving past Shady Grove Cemetery, a resting place that began in 1855 with the unknown deaths of two young boys, John Hurt and John Littleton. This land was originally a gift in 1852 for a church and school. Over…
You're driving through the Lafayette community, named for Matthew F. Locke's son. Locke deeded land here for a cemetery in 1858, though it already held two family burials. The oldest marked grave is T. E. Montgomery,…
You're driving through East Texas, and right here is Gladewater, the lifelong home of Dick Burnett. He wasn't just an oilman; he was a baseball entrepreneur! Burnett struck oil in the 1930s, becoming wealthy, but his…
You're driving through East Texas, perhaps near Gladewater, where John Ben Shepperd was born. He became a powerful figure in Texas politics, serving as Attorney General in the 1950s. He took on big fights, like tackling…
You're driving through North Texas, and right here is the hometown of Harding Lawrence, the man who transformed Braniff Airways into an industry icon. Growing up in Gladewater, Lawrence went on to lead Braniff from 1965…
You're driving through Gladewater, a town that owes its boom to a gusher! Founded by the railroad in 1873, Gladewater grew slowly for decades. But on April 7, 1931, everything changed. Right near here, the first oil…
You're passing through Gladewater, a town that exploded overnight! Originally founded as St. Clair back in 1827, it moved to this spot on the railroad in 1872. But the real boom happened in 1931 with the discovery of…
You're driving past the Foshee Family home, built in 1890. Imagine this: the lumber for this house was sawed at a famous local mill, and the chimney? It's made of unique, hand-hewn rock pulled from the stream running…
You're driving past the site of Sherman Chapel Missionary Baptist Church, a testament to the resilience of freedmen in East Texas. Organized in 1870 with support from Reverend Daniel Sherman, this congregation initially…
You're driving through Gilmer, Texas, and right near here was Coffeeville. It was a bustling town back in the 1850s, with shops, doctors, churches, and even an academy. But during the Civil War, Coffeeville truly lived…
You're driving through Coffeeville, and just ahead is the resting place of Colonel John Hamilton McNairy. Born in North Carolina in 1804, McNairy lived in Tennessee before making his way to Texas in 1837. He settled in…
You're driving by the Gladewater birthplace of John Ben Shepperd, a prominent Texas lawyer and official. After serving in World War II and leading the national Jaycees, he served as Texas's Attorney General, tackling…
You're driving past the site of New Hope Missionary Baptist Church, founded in 1893 by former slaves seeking new opportunities. This congregation didn't just offer worship; it served as a vital center for the African…
You're driving through Gladewater, where Gladewater Lodge No. 852, part of the Freemasons, was established in 1901. For thirty years, members met in a general store that also housed the post office. They built their own…
You're driving through Gladewater, where a Methodist congregation formed in 1922. Twelve adults and two children met in a private home to organize the church, soon building a simple sanctuary. The church saw significant…
You're cruising through Gladewater, and right here, you're passing the birthplace of Texas public bus travel! Back in March 1925, W. E. Nunnelee started the state's very first franchised motor bus line. Imagine this: a…
You're driving past the Bumpus House in Gladewater. Believed to have been built around the turn of the 20th century, it's a local landmark showcasing Colonial Revival and Craftsman architectural styles. Area sawmill…
You're driving past Rosedale Cemetery, a place with a story as rich as the oil that once flowed beneath it. Back in 1844, John Kettle Armstrong and his wife Sarah were early settlers here. When Sarah passed in 1856,…
You're driving past the former home of Dr. E.L. and Nannie Walker, a remarkable couple who left their mark on early Gladewater. Dr. Walker, a physician and drugstore owner, bought this land in 1895. Their impressive…
You're driving past the Matinburg Cemetery. Local tradition says it started in 1871 when W. P. Jones buried his wife, Delila, here. The land was deeded to Fairview Baptist Church in 1883, and annual spring cleanups…
You're driving past Clarksville City, a community that owes its modern existence to the East Texas oil boom. Right here, in the 1930s, homes and businesses popped up so fast along U.S. Highway 80 that it was nicknamed…
You're driving past the site of the First Baptist Church of Judson. Organized in 1883, the congregation met in a school building until 1894, when they erected their own house of worship on land donated by the Whatley…
The town you're in exists because of a monumental engineering achievement. Discovering the East Texas Oil Field was geology; getting the oil out was pure engineering grit. The field was so vast—43 miles long—and was…
Big Sandy, Texas, has a rich history that began shortly after the American Civil War. The settlement was first known as Big Sandy Switch due to the Texas and Pacific Railroad and the narrow-gauge Tyler Tap intersecting…
Once known as 'Gilead', the area now known as Clarksville City has a rich history. It was first settled before 1845, and a stagecoach stop at William W. Walters' home later became a hub operated by Warren P. Victory.…
If you told a Texan you were headed for Clarksville, they'd probably picture a different place — the original, up in Red River County, laid out by James Clark in 1833. That one's got deep roots: Charles DeMorse printing…
Clarksville City might seem like just a quiet suburb, but its roots are soaked in oil, and they run deeper than that. People settled here before 1845, in a place called Gilead, and the post office that opened in 1852…
You're driving through Upshur County, near Ore City. This place owes its name to rich iron ore deposits discovered here before the Civil War. But it wasn't until 1911 that a real push began to industrialize the mining.…
You're driving past the Phelps Home in Big Sandy, a house built around 1905 by merchant J. B. Rowe. It was purchased in 1909 by Ashley W. and Ruth Phelps, who ran a local dry goods store. After Ashley's death in 1922,…
The East Texas Oil Field made White Oak — the community had grown up around an 1887 schoolhouse, but it was the 1930s boom that filled it. And that field should have died in the 1940s. Here's the science of why it…
In most Texas towns, high school mascots are animals or historical figures—Eagles, Bulldogs, Warriors. Here in White Oak, it’s an oilfield worker: the Roughneck. And that’s not just a mascot; it’s a mission statement.…
Every town has its success stories, but White Oak’s is a perfect reflection of its identity. Kelcy Warren, the billionaire founder and CEO of pipeline giant Energy Transfer Partners, is a graduate of White Oak High…
You're driving through North Texas, and right here in Big Sandy is where Homer 'Wick' Fowler got his start. He became one of Texas's most colorful journalists, a crime reporter, a highway patrolman, and even an…
The area has been home to several notable athletes who made their mark in professional sports. Mike Barber, a tight end, played for the Houston Oilers and later became involved in prison ministry. Byron Hunt also played…
Most oil boomtowns follow the same arc. They explode, they burn bright, and they vanish when the easy money is gone. White Oak refused. There was a settlement here long before the derricks, farms and sawmills in the…
You're driving through East Texas, and right here near Big Sandy, you're passing through the birthplace of Henry 'Ragtime Texas' Thomas. Born in 1874 to former slaves, Thomas hated cotton farming and hit the road around…
You're driving through Ore City, a town that owes its modern existence to a railroad that pushed through around 1911. This wasn't just any line; it was the Port Bolivar and Iron Ore Railway, connecting the ore fields of…
You're driving through Big Sandy, a town that owes its very existence to the railroads. Back in the early 1870s, the Texas and Pacific Railway cut through this area. Then, around 1880, another line, the Tyler Tap,…
You're driving past what used to be Point Pleasant, a community that thrived from about 1850 to 1871. It started as Gilead, with a post office and a ferry crossing the Sabine River. In 1852, the name changed to Point…
You're driving past Elmira Chapel Cumberland Presbyterian Church. Pine Tree Cumberland Presbyterian Church began sponsoring Sunday School classes in the Spring Hill Schoolhouse after 1887. The Rev. W. M.
You're driving past the site of Ore City's first bank, the Guarantee State Bank. Organized in 1911 and built right here in 1912, it helped the town through tough times after its iron mill plans fell through. They even…
You're driving past the County Line Cemetery, a final resting place for early settlers of this crossroads community. Folks like Eli Henderson McCoy, who arrived from North Carolina in 1859, and Jeremiah Brisco Ormes,…
Spring Hill, over in Longview, is picked fifth this fall in District eight, four-A Division Two — a brutal East Texas district with Carthage, Texarkana Pleasant Grove and Gilmer all picked ahead of them. The full…
You're driving past White Oak, a community that grew up around a one-room schoolhouse back in the 1880s. After a fire destroyed the first building, locals rebuilt, using the new school for Sunday services too. By the…
You're driving past the site of White Oak Baptist Church. It traces its history back to a congregation founded in 1889, formally organizing in 1910. The Satterwhite family donated land for a building in 1935, and church…
You're driving through Longview, the heart of the East Texas oil boom! Look around you, because this area was transformed by wells like the F. K. Lathrop A-1. After years of searching, B. A. Skipper, Sr. assembled a…
You're driving through Ore City, and right here is the site of a true Texas pioneer of education: the Murry Institute. Founded in 1853 by Rev. Joshua Clark and Wm. L. Coppedge, this was the very first school in Upshur…
You're driving through White Oak, near the site of the Shiloh School. This school was established by newly freed African Americans right after the Civil War. After a one-room building was demolished, classes moved to…
You're driving through Wood County, near Yantis. This area was once known by several names, including Singleton Crossing and Black Jack. But in 1893, a post office opened, and the community was temporarily called Mapes,…
Holly Lake in Holly Lake Ranch, Texas, is a man-made lake created by damming Holly Creek. Dams work by blocking the flow of water, raising the water level and creating a reservoir. This process is essential for water…
You're driving past the Angus, Dundee home, built by Dr. J. N. Allison, a pioneer physician. He even brought some building materials all the way from Virginia! But the real story here is the discovery right nearby that…
You're driving through East Texas, right where history was carved into the landscape. Back in 1821, Cherokee Indians blazed this trail, slashing trees and clearing a path all the way from Nacogdoches to Arkansas. They…
You're driving past Summerfield Methodist Church, named after a church the founding Brown family attended in Alabama. This building, established in 1869 on land donated by Parson B.W. Brown, is the only remaining…
You're driving past the site of Tarver's Ferry, a vital crossing on Big Cypress Creek that helped settlers push west into Texas. Imagine wagons pulled by oxen, loaded with hopes and provisions, stopping at the nearby…
You're driving through Camp County, near Pittsburg, where a story of freedom and community unfolds. Back in the 1850s, Ebenezer and Martha Bolton were major plantation owners here. But after Ebenezer's death in 1877,…
You're driving past the site of Holly Springs Baptist Church. It formed in 1903 from a merger of two earlier churches, with Reverend B. H. Sims as its first pastor. The congregation built its first sanctuary here before…
Perryville, Texas, isn't known for skyscrapers or bustling city life. What defines us is the land, and what comes from it. Ranching and farming have been the heartbeat of this town since its very beginning. Situated at…
You're driving past the site of the Perryville Baptist Church. It began in 1884 as the County Line Missionary Baptist Church, with five founding neighbors and their first pastor. The congregation officially became…
You're driving past the site of Perryville Methodist Church, organized in 1879 as Marvin Chapel Methodist Episcopal Church with 38 charter members. The Reverend A. K. Hughes was the first pastor. Land was donated in…
You're cruising along near Big Sandy, and right here you're passing the site of Walters' Bluff Ferry. This crossing on the Sabine River was a vital link for settlers heading north or south into Upshur and Smith…
As you drive through Longview, look for this marker. During the Civil War, from 1861 to 1865, this site was a vital home industry. Joseph M. Sparkman, despite suffering from arthritis, ran a shoe factory for the…
You're passing the Rock Springs Schoolhouse, built way back in 1849. Imagine this one-room schoolhouse, powered by a single teacher, serving students until the 1930s. It wasn't just for lessons, though. This building…
You're driving past Riley Cemetery, a final resting place for many early Camp County settlers. The oldest marked grave here belongs to Louise Gillum, dating all the way back to 1859. The land officially became Riley…
Here in Pittsburg, you're in the home of one of aviation's most curious tales. In 1902, a year before the Wright Brothers' famous flight at Kitty Hawk, a local inventor and Baptist minister named Burrell Cannon claimed…
You are in the hometown territory of an American icon, a man who changed the world of performance cars forever: Carroll Shelby. Born in nearby Leesburg in 1923, Shelby kept a place here in Pittsburg in his later years,…
The Ezekiel Airship wasn't just a local legend; it was a fascinating, if flawed, piece of early 20th-century engineering. Inventor and Baptist preacher Burrell Cannon rejected the fixed-wing designs of his…
The story of modern Pittsburg is inseparable from the story of two brothers and a feed store. In 1946, Aubrey and Lonnie 'Bo' Pilgrim opened the Pilgrim's Feed Store just off the main square. They sold feed and 100 baby…
Take a look at the buildings around downtown Pittsburg. Notice how they're almost all brick, and almost all cut from the same turn-of-the-century cloth? That is not an accident — and it isn't the scar of some single…
You're driving past the site of the Pine Tree Cumberland Presbyterian Church, founded way back in 1847. That makes it the very first church in Gregg County, and one of the oldest continuously serving churches in all of…
You're driving past Longview, a town named for a 'long view' from a hilltop when surveyors laid out the townsite way back in 1870. It quickly became a railroad and lumber center, but listen to this: in 1894, it was the…
You're driving through Pittsburg, Camp County, where a community faced a problem in 1879: no place to bury their dead. Counce Reeves, a Civil War veteran, and his wife Selina stepped up, donating land for both a church…
You're driving past Fisher Cemetery, originally designated before 1860 by A.T. Castleberry II on his land. It serves as a burial place for early Pine Tree Cumberland Presbyterian Church members and families, eventually…
You're driving past Hawkins, where a vital part of Texas's African American history took root. Back in 1904, the Texas Negro Disciples of Christ and the Christian Women's Board of Missions joined forces to create a…
You're driving past Pittsburg, but just a few miles back, you might have seen the site of Center Point. This community started in 1865, founded by Black Freedmen just after the Civil War. They built more than just…
You're driving through North Texas, and right here is a place that gave us Carroll Hall Shelby. Born in Leesburg in 1923, Shelby was a legendary race car driver and designer. He battled a heart condition his whole life,…
Longview High School (Longview, TX): Most recent: 35-34 over Beaumont West Brook · 2018 6A Division 2 final.
You're driving through East Texas, near Pine, where a young man named Lonnie Alfred "Bo" Pilgrim got his start. Born in 1928, he grew up poor, working his grandmother's farm and raising his first chickens. After a stint…
Harvard, also known as Harvard Switch, is in the bottomlands of Big Cypress Creek on U.S. Highway 271 and the St. Louis Southwestern Railway, four miles north of Pittsburg in northern Camp County. The community…
You're driving through Camp County, and right here, Prairie Creek flows. Back in 1928, a man named A. W. Smith had a big idea to connect Prairie Creek with another nearby creek, Greasy Creek. He dug a mile-and-a-half…
You're cruising past the site of the Ferndale Club, originally called Fern, Fin and Feathers. It started in 1908 as a hunting and fishing club, with members from Pittsburg buying land, building a dam to create Ferndale…
You're driving past the New Mine Cemetery, established by the New Mine Baptist Church. Land was deeded in 1892, but the congregation didn't start its own burial ground until 1930, with James M. Quillin as the first to…
County Line is on Farm Road 557 some thirteen miles from Pittsburg in far southeastern Camp County. It was named for its proximity to the Upshur and Morris county lines. The settlement was in existence by 1884.…
Ebenezer is on Farm Road 557 five miles southeast of Pittsburg in southeastern Camp County. Settlement in the area began in the 1850s when Israel Braden Rape, Robert Devenport, and Thomas DeLaney (later shortened to…
Leesburg is on the Louisiana and Arkansas Railway and State Highway 11, seven miles west of Pittsburg in western Camp County. It was named for the John Lee family, early settlers in the area. In 1874 Leesburg was one of…
Pine is between the St. Louis Southwestern Railway and the junction of Farm Road 1522 and U.S. Highway 271, six miles south of Pittsburg in southern Camp County. Settlement in the area began in the late 1830s, and when…
Union, an unmapped rural community in northwestern Camp County, is marked along Farm Road 1519 by the county line in the west and by Leesburg Cemetery in the east. Union was named for Union School, the first school in…
Yellow Bush was ten miles southwest of Pittsburg in southwestern Camp County. It grew up in the 1870s around a school built by settlers who lived in the area. Although the community is referred to as Yellow Bush in Camp…
You're driving past the site of the New Mine Baptist Church. This congregation was officially organized on September 11, 1892, after Mr. and Mrs. G. O. Hart gave land for a new building. The church was founded so…
You're driving through Pittsburg, heading into what was once the heart of a thriving African American community called Center Point. It started around <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1865</say-as>, with the…
Imagine driving through Hawkins in the fall of 1940. It's a sleepy farm town of about two hundred people. Now, imagine coming back a year later. The population has jumped to around twelve hundred. The quiet streets are…
Just outside town lies the reason Hawkins is more than an oil town. In 1910 a white Fort Worth attorney, Major J. J. Jarvis, and his wife, Ida Van Zandt Jarvis, deeded 456 acres here on one condition: that the land…
The Hawkins Oil Field wasn't just a lucky strike, and its long life was a marvel of petroleum engineering. The oil was trapped thousands of feet down in a faulted anticline — a dome-shaped fold in the Woodbine sandstone…
If you head just northwest of town, about three miles out, you'll find one of Hawkins' most popular spots: Lake Hawkins. But this beautiful lake isn't a natural feature. It's a product of civic engineering from the…
You're driving past Ebenezer Cemetery, officially established in 1857 when Israel B. Rape deeded land for the burial ground. The oldest known burial here is infant Pairlie Clementine Bailey, who died in September 1870.…
You're driving past the site of the Alpine Presbyterian Church in Longview. Founded on December 2, 1881, by evangelist J. DeWitt Burkhead, the congregation first held services in Tyron School. Members built their own…
You're driving through East Texas, maybe near Longview, where Karen Silkwood was born. She became a union activist at the Kerr-McGee nuclear plant in Oklahoma, where she discovered dangerous leaks and missing plutonium.…
You're driving through Gregg County right now, and you might not realize it, but you're passing through the heart of a boomtown story that changed Texas forever. Back in 1931, just as the Great Depression was hitting…
You're driving through Longview, Texas, a city born from a single, breathtaking vista. Right here, in the mid-1800s, Ossamus Hitch Methvin, Sr. settled on a prominent hill. He built his home on Rock Hill, a spot that…
You're driving near Longview, and right here is the site of the legendary Reo Palm Isle! Opened in 1935 as the Palm Isle, this place was built to be the largest and most elaborate nightclub in the South. Imagine a…
You're driving through East Texas, perhaps near Longview, where George Benton Turner was born. He wasn't always a hero. After leaving college early, he worked in California. But when the call came in World War II, he…
This entry is currently being revised and the new version will be available soon! LONGVIEW RACE RIOT . The Longview Race Riot occurred during the Red Summer, as May to October of 1919 has been called. It was the second…
Roy Herdine Williams, Dallas civil rights activist and co-plaintiff in the Williams v. City of Dallas (1990) lawsuit, which led to the Dallas city council adopting a 14-1 election plan, was born on August 20, 1942, in…
You're driving through Hawkins, Texas, home to Jarvis Christian College. What's amazing is that this school, founded in 1912, was the only historically Black college still operating that was founded by the Christian…