Diboll, TX RoadyGoat
This East Texas city has been home to individuals who made their mark on the national stage.
10.2 mi away
Everything Lufkin is known for
Lufkin, Texas, located in the Piney Woods region of East Texas, is home to a notable collection of musical talent. Eight artists call Lufkin home, spanning genres from country to gospel and Latin. Among them are country artists Dave Fenley and Bob Luman, as well as rock artist J. Frank Wilson. The city is also mentioned in three songs, including "Lufkin" by Truck-T and "Love from Lufkin" by Rita Bliss. Lufkin has been recognized as a Music Friendly Texas Certified Community, demonstrating a commitment to its local music economy.
Songs written about the waterways and highways that run near Lufkin.
This East Texas city has been home to individuals who made their mark on the national stage.
Nacogdoches calls itself the oldest town in Texas, formally established in seventeen seventy-nine — more than fifty years before the Texas Revolution. While the rest of Texas flew six flags, Nacogdoches flew nine. It declared independence from Mexico not once, not twice, but three separate times. In eighteen thirteen, the Gutierrez-Magee Republic declared Texas free and was crushed by Spanish forces. In eighteen nineteen, James Long's Republic of Texas tried again and failed. In eighteen twenty-six, the Fredonian Rebellion declared the Republic of Fredonia out of Nacogdoches and collapsed within weeks. Three attempts, three failures. Then in eighteen thirty-five the rest of Texas finally caught up, and on the fourth try it worked. Nacogdoches also claims the first operational oil well in Texas, drilled in eighteen fifty-nine — forty-two years before Spindletop made anyone pay attention.
This East Texas city has been home to a remarkable array of influential figures. Sam Houston, a pivotal leader who served as president of the Republic of Texas, once called this place home. The city also boasts a Medal of Honor recipient, Oscar P. Austin, recognized for extraordinary heroism. In the realm of politics, Albert Thomas and Lera Millard Thomas both served as U.S. Representatives, contributing to national policy.
Charles Nesbitt (Charlie) Wilson, Texas state representative, Texas state senator, and United States representative, was born on June 1, 1933, in Trinity, Texas. He was the son of Charles Edwin Wilson and Wilmuth (Nesbitt) Wilson. He attended local schools and graduated from Trinity High School in 1951. While a student at Sam Houston State Teachers College (now Sam Houston State University), he received an appointment to the United States Naval Academy and graduated from the Academy in 1956. Wilson recalled that he first became interested in politics when his dog died in 1946. A neighbor, who happened to be a local elected official, was upset that Wilson's dog had apparently soiled his garden and had put finely-grained glass into the dog's food to kill it. Wilson, in an act of revenge, doused his neighbor's yard in gasoline and set it on fire. Wilson then borrowed his family's car, drove voters to the polls, and told them that while he didn't want to tell them how to vote, they should know that this particular local official had killed his dog. The man who killed Wilson's dog lost the election. Wilson confronted the man and suggested that he shouldn't be harming anyone else's dogs. While in the United States Navy from 1956 to 1960, Wilson served on a destroyer and later as a staff officer at the Pentagon. He achieved the rank of lieutenant. It was during his Pentagon service that Wilson volunteered for the presidential campaign of John F. Kennedy and decided himself to seek elected office as a Democrat to the Texas House of Representatives from his East Texas district. His family and friends campaigned hard for Wilson, who won the election and took office in 1961. As a state representative, Wilson was the sponsor of the original 2 percent sales tax. Wilson was elected to the Texas Senate in 1966 and served until 1972, when he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from the Second Congressional District, which was centered around Lufkin and much of East Texas. Wilson was often called "Good Time Charlie." Divorced for much of his political career, he enjoyed the company of attractive women and was known to enjoy his share of alcohol. He was also at one time investigated for cocaine use by then United States Attorney Rudy Giuliani, later the mayor of New York City. Yet he won a spot on the powerful House Committee on Appropriations and hired a staff that earned respect for attention to constituent issues with Social Security, Veterans Administration benefits, and other federal government services. His local accomplishments included the establishment of the Big Thicket Preserve and a United States Veterans Administration clinic in Lufkin, which today bears his name. On a larger scale, Wilson is best remembered for his leadership in securing funding and support for the resistance to the Soviet Union invasion of Afghanistan in 1979. Working with CIA agent Gust Avrakatos, Houston socialite Joanne Herring, his congressional colleagues, and the Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush presidential administrations, Wilson secured U.S. government funding for supplies and weapons used to fight the Soviet Army. The efforts were successful, and the Soviet Army withdrew from Afghanistan in 1989. Wilson's work on this issue was chronicled by CBS News on its 60 Minutes program. The CBS News producer of that story, George Crile, conducted further research on the story with Wilson's support, and wrote a book, Charlie Wilson's War . The book was the basis for a 2007 movie of the same name. The actor Tom Hanks portrayed Wilson. In a television interview, Wilson said he loved the movie and thought it was loyal to Crile's book. However, a friend and former colleague said the book and movie did Wilson a disservice by unfairly characterizing Wilson as a playboy. Wilson retired from Congress in October 1996 and became a lobbyist for Pakistan before retiring to Lufkin. He donated his congressional papers to Stephen F. Austin State University. In 199
Mary Louise Roberts Wilson, U. S. Army nurse and first woman to receive the Silver Star, was born on September 18, 1914, in Hollyridge, Louisiana. The daughter of Charles Maury Roberts and Mary Lee (McCommon) Roberts, she was the eldest of six children and grew up mostly in East Texas after her family moved there when she was very young. She attended Lufkin High School in Lufkin, Texas, and graduated in 1930, the same year her father died. Her mother moved their family to Mississippi to be closer to relatives, and, in order to support them, Mary went to work in a local laundry. The owners dismissed her when they discovered that she was only sixteen years old, but fortunately her mother was able to take the job in her place. In 1932 she decided to go to nursing school. She attributed her choice to the fact that nursing was one of the few job choices for women at that time, and she needed money to help her family. The Hillman Hospital School of Nursing in Birmingham, Alabama, was a three-year nursing program she was able to pay for with a Kiwanis Club loan. After she graduated in 1935, she worked in several hospitals across the South. The 1940 census recorded her as a nurse working at Valley View Hospital in Chickasaw, Oklahoma. She soon went to work for Dallas's Methodist Hospital and was eventually named operating room supervisor. She sent money back to her family and ultimately invited them to move to Dallas, where all members lived with her in a small apartment. With the U.S. entry into World War II , Mary Louise Roberts volunteered for service and was assigned to the U.S. Army Fifty-sixth Evacuation Hospital , which had been activated on March 29, 1942. She later commented, "I thought it was my patriotic duty to do it." Commissioned a second lieutenant on May 19, 1942, she trained at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio and was named operating room supervisor. She served overseas from April 15, 1943, to October 4, 1945. The Fifty-sixth Evacuation Hospital initially landed at Casablanca, Morocco, and followed the Thirty-sixth, Eighty-eighth, and Ninetieth Infantry divisions, Fifth Army, through North Africa and then Italy. She was promoted to first lieutenant on November 5, 1943. Roberts landed in Anzio after the Allied invasion there began on January 22, 1944. She later recalled that patients were brought in "straight from the battlefield," and medical teams worked in twelve-hour shifts. Chief nurse and operating room supervisor, Roberts became known as the "Angel of Anzio." When asked if she and her fifty nurses wanted to be evacuated, she declined. On February 10, 1944, German shrapnel tore into the operating tent where she was in charge. Through approximately thirty minutes of constant shelling, Roberts calmly continued their surgeries and encouraged other medical staff. For her bravery under fire, along with two other nurses, Second Lt. Rita Virginia Rourke and Second Lt. Elaine Arletta Roe, First Lt. Mary Roberts received the Silver Star in a brief field ceremony on February 22, 1944. Because she had seniority rank, she was designated first and thus became the first woman to receive the Silver Star, but in her humility, she later stated, "Everybody in our group deserved the medal." Another Fifty-sixth Evacuation Hospital nurse, Second Lt. Ellen Ainsworth, who was killed in the shelling, was posthumously given the Silver Star. After combat at Anzio was over, her unit followed the Fifth Army north through Italy and provided medical support. She was in Bologna when the announcement came that the war in Europe had been won by the Allies. During the course of her twenty-nine months stationed with the Fifty-sixth Army Evacuation Hospital, Roberts nursed more than 73,000 wounded soldiers. She also received an EAME (European-African-Middle Eastern) Campaign Ribbon with Four Bronze Service Stars for her work in North Africa. She was promoted to captain on December 29, 1945, and was honorably discharged from active duty on January 18
The son of an early industrial engineer, W.C. Trout (1874-1947) came to Lufkin in 1905 and joined Lufkin Foundry & Machine Co. as a shareholder and company secretary. Already a successful inventor, Trout led the diversification of the shop from equipment repair to production and sales. In 1926, he patented a design for a counter-balanced pumping unit that became a standard in the oil business worldwide and contributed significantly to the success of the Texas oil and gas industry. Eventually holding more than 30 patents for his innovative designs, Trout served as company president from 1931 until his death in 1947, a period of marked expansion for the business. 						(2002)
Ernest Kurth, East Texas lumberman, was the second of five sons of Hattie Martin Glenn and Joseph Hubert Kurth, Sr. He was born at Kurth Station in Polk County on July 25, 1885, and attended local schools and Southwestern University, from which he graduated in 1905. He then joined the family business, the Angelina County Lumber Company . Working in various capacities to learn all phases of the business, he served as clerk, bookkeeper, sales manager, and then as general manager of the corporation. Upon his father's death on 1930 he advanced to vice president and took over the direction of the company when Eli Wiener retired in 1936. He married Isla Kinsolving of Corsicana, and the couple had two children. Kurth took a well-established but modest company and expanded it into a great complex of enterprises. He acquired additional timberlands in neighboring counties and constructed new mills at choice locations in East Texas and Louisiana. He supported the Texas Forestry Association and favored the establishment of the Texas State Department of Forestry (now the Texas Forest Service ). Under his direction the company experimented with direct seeding to reforest its cut-over lands in 1925, scattering some 100 pounds of longleaf pine seed. In 1929 Kurth served as president of the Texas Forestry Association, and he was president of the Southern Pine Association from 1935 to 1937. During the New Deal Kurth joined National Recovery Administration efforts to promote business recovery and conservation. He served on the lumber-code authority for the southern pine industry and tried, without success, to bring some order out of the chaos in the lumber industry . Like most southern lumber entrepreneurs, he welcomed the demise of the NRA and the lumber codes in 1935. While many companies closed their mills during the Great Depression , Kurth took the lead in planning for the future; the company continued operations, and Kurth followed state forest-service recommendations to develop selective cutting and sustained-yield programs. In 1937 the company employed Paul Hursey, the first graduate industrial forester in the state of Texas, as company forester. Kurth's greatest business venture was his decision to manufacture quality newsprint from southern yellow pine, a process that had never been attempted commercially. He brought together fellow lumbermen, publishers, and other paper users to organize the Southland Paper Company, the first factory to use the laboratory process developed by Georgia chemist Charles H. Herty. The newsprint mill, located near Lufkin, began operation in 1940 and soon grew into a multimillion-dollar corporation. The original mill expanded and additional paper mills sprang up in Texas and other parts of the South. Eventually as much southern pine timber went into wood pulp for paper products as into saw logs. As a result of the success of the "Herty gamble" the press hailed Kurth as a leading industrial statesman, and many organizations heaped honors upon him. One governor addressed him as "Mr. East Texas." Kurth was an aggressive business leader who dominated the southern lumber industry during the decades before and after World War II . Like his father, he was active in a variety of civic affairs and philanthropies. He served as Southwestern University trustee, president of local and regional chambers of commerce, Texas Planning Board member, and Lufkin hospital and radiation center founder; he was awarded the Order of the Aztec Eagle by the Mexican government. He died on October 26, 1960, and was buried in Lufkin. His son, Ernest L. Kurth, Jr., then served as president of Angelina County Lumber Company until 1966, when Owens-Illinois Corporation bought the company and its supporting land and timber base.
First plant to turn southern pines into newsprint. Mill here revolutionized paper industry in the southern United States. Seeking local paper rather than foreign supplies, Southland was incorporated in 1938 and began operations, 1940. Its mills made possible use of southern pine (earlier rejected for newsprint because of its high resin content). In 1942, additional facilities were built to supply bleached pulp. Success of this pioneer complex gave Texas an avenue for aiding world in supply of vital paper. (1968)
By the 1930s, radio had become an established medium for commercial advertising. In 1938, commercial radio came to Angelina County when Redland Broadcasting Association received the first license in the area. Station manager Darrell Yates financed, built, and launched KRBA-AM on May 3, 1938 with the understanding that he would assume full ownership from investors in five years. Programs were initially only broadcast during the day and the station operated at a frequency of 130 kilocycles at a 100-watt power level. KRBA originally operated from Cash Drug Store in downtown Lufkin. Since 1948, broadcasts have originated from 121 Cotton Square and the transmission site has been at what is now 2105 Spence Street. Early KRBA programming included broadcast news, drama, music, and sermons. The station also covered sports, beginning with Lufkin Panther football in 1938. During World War II, the station employed a number of women to take the place of male employees. By the 1950s and 1960s, new programs included "The Song and Dance Parade," a prelude to rock-n-roll programming, and "Tunes and Tempos," which introduced African-American radio to local audiences; Spanish programming began in the late 1960s with "Sabado Alegres." ? Through the years, the station has made a major impact in the area. KRBA-AM has sponsored a number of charitable activities in Lufkin. The station has also served as a launching pad for a number of noted radio and broadcast personalities. Today, under the direction of Yates Media, historic KRBA continues to be directly involved in community and regional events, and continues to serve the public as a viable broadcasting institution into the 21st century. (2009)
On August 2 1832 a group of East Texas settlers had finally had enough of Mexican military rule. They grabbed their hunting shotguns and squirrel rifles and…
In 1836 Sam Houston sat down with Cherokee Chief Bowles right here in Nacogdoches and signed a treaty promising the tribe a permanent homeland in East Texas.…
In the winter of 1826 an empresario named Haden Edwards got into a land dispute with the Mexican government and decided the reasonable response was revolution.…
Long before Austin or San Antonio were anything more than frontier outposts the Caddo people had been living on the red hills of East Texas for nearly a…
Everyone knows the story of Spindletop — the 1901 gusher near Beaumont that launched the Texas oil boom. But thirty-five years before that famous blowout a man…
Adolphus Sterne ran a respectable mercantile shop in Nacogdoches but behind the bolts of cloth and barrels of flour he was running one of the Texas Revolutions…
Built in 1779 as a simple trading post the Old Stone Fort in Nacogdoches became the most politically fought-over building in Texas. It served as rebel…
Most Texans know the six flags that flew over their state but Nacogdoches raises that number to nine. Beyond the familiar six this town also flew the banner of…
3 alumni who reached major-college or pro sports
Lufkin High School, a Class 5A powerhouse, has a proud tradition of developing athletes who excel beyond high school. The Panthers have sent numerous talented individuals on to compete at major collegiate programs and in professional sports. This consistent pipeline of talent reflects the dedication of both the student-athletes and the Lufkin coaching staff, fostering an environment where athletic potential can be realized at the highest levels.
Among Lufkin's notable alumni are several names familiar to football fans. Dez Bryant went on to play as a wide receiver for Oklahoma State University and later for the Dallas Cowboys. Keke Coutee, another wide receiver, played for Texas Tech University and is currently with the Houston Texans. Reggie McNeal, a former Texas A&M University quarterback, also played wide receiver for the Cincinnati Bengals and spent time as both a wide receiver and quarterback in the Canadian Football League.
Reggie McNeal played as a wide receiver for the Cincinnati Bengals.
240 stories, landmarks & places within ~20 miles — the same local lore RoadyGoat plays as you drive through.
Lufkin, nestled amongst these rolling hills and towering loblolly pines, has a history that runs deeper than you might expect. While it's true that healthcare and manufacturing keep the town humming today, and…
By the 1930s, radio had become an established medium for commercial advertising. In 1938, commercial radio came to Angelina County when Redland Broadcasting Association received the first license in the area. Station…
You're driving through Lufkin, and right around here is where the Hoo Hoo Band used to rehearse. At the turn of the 20th century, a group of Lufkin men formed a town brass band. It became known as the Hoo Hoo Band after…
You're driving past the site of a Lufkin mystery! On the evening of March 2nd, 1913, a massive explosion tore apart the Houston, East & West Texas Railroad depot right here. It cut off the town's lifeline for trade and…
You're driving past the site of the Martin Wagon Company, a Lufkin business that helped fuel the lumber industry. Daniel Webster Martin and his sons started a small wagon shop right here in 1908. Martin was an inventor,…
You're driving past the Collins-Shotwell House in Lufkin, a unique piece of local history built in the early 1920s. Attorney Chester Collins built this two-story bungalow, using lumber provided by Lillian Knox. He'd…
The son of an early industrial engineer, W.C. Trout (1874-1947) came to Lufkin in 1905 and joined Lufkin Foundry & Machine Co. as a shareholder and company secretary. Already a successful inventor, Trout led the…
You're driving through Lufkin, and right here is the birthplace of a Texas industrial giant: the Lufkin Foundry and Machine Company. It started in 1902, not with massive machines, but as a humble repair shop for local…
You're driving by the original site of Lufkin's oldest church building, St. Cyprian's Episcopal. The first Episcopal service here was held way back in 1893, serving just a couple of families. A mission was established a…
You're cruising through Lufkin, a town born from the trees! Founded way back in 1882, Lufkin quickly grew into a bustling sawmill community. It's named for E. P. Lufkin, who led the railroad survey through here. Since…
You're driving past the historic Mantooth Farm, a place that was central to Lufkin's growth for over a century. The Mantooth family first arrived in Angelina County way back in 1858. By 1909, Albert "Eddie" Mantooth…
You're driving past Stranger's Rest Cemetery, a place with a name that hints at its history. Acquired in 1905, this African American cemetery first officially recorded burials in 1901. It was originally called Frost…
Charles Nesbitt (Charlie) Wilson, Texas state representative, Texas state senator, and United States representative, was born on June 1, 1933, in Trinity, Texas. He was the son of Charles Edwin Wilson and Wilmuth…
Mary Louise Roberts Wilson, U. S. Army nurse and first woman to receive the Silver Star, was born on September 18, 1914, in Hollyridge, Louisiana. The daughter of Charles Maury Roberts and Mary Lee (McCommon) Roberts,…
Ernest Kurth, East Texas lumberman, was the second of five sons of Hattie Martin Glenn and Joseph Hubert Kurth, Sr. He was born at Kurth Station in Polk County on July 25, 1885, and attended local schools and…
You're driving through Lufkin, Texas, the hometown of J. Frank Wilson. He was a one-hit wonder, but what a hit it was! In 1964, Wilson and his band, The Cavaliers, recorded "Last Kiss." It was a teenage-death melodrama…
You're driving through Lufkin, the birthplace of Jacques Abram, a concert pianist who showed incredible talent from a very young age. By the time he was six, Abram was already performing as a soloist with a Houston…
You're driving through East Texas, and right here in Angelina County, you're passing through the heart of a timber empire built by Joseph Hubert Kurth, Sr. He arrived in Texas in 1878, a German immigrant who learned…
You're driving through Lufkin, the home of Lufkin Industries, a company that's been a powerhouse in East Texas since 1902. It started as the Lufkin Foundry and Machine Company, built by lumbermen to fix sawmill…
You're driving through Lufkin, Texas, a town born from a railroad dispute. Legend has it that back in 1881, railroad surveyors got into a bit of trouble with a constable in the old county seat of Homer. After a night in…
You're driving through East Texas, and right here in Lufkin, you're passing through the birthplace of Allan Shivers. He wasn't just any politician; Shivers became governor of Texas in 1949, taking office after the…
You're driving through Lufkin, Texas, a town that owes a bit of its medical history to Dr. Thaddeus A. Taylor. He arrived here in 1908, a physician specializing in anesthesia and internal medicine. But Dr. Taylor wasn't…
You're driving through East Texas, and right here in Lufkin, Texas, was born James Edward "Pete" Runnels, a baseball player who became one of the most unlikely batting champions in American League history. After serving…
You're driving through Angelina County, a place named for a legend. Spanish missionaries in the late 1600s heard tales of an Hainai Indian girl who helped them navigate these East Texas forests. According to legend, she…
You're driving through East Texas, near Lufkin, where Washington Lafayette Denman made his mark. He wasn't just a politician, serving multiple terms in the Texas Legislature representing counties like Angelina and…
You're driving through East Texas, and right here in Lufkin, you're passing through the hometown of Marguerite Fairchild. She wasn't just a civic leader; she was a fierce advocate for the University of Texas. In 1935,…
You're driving through East Texas, and right here in Lufkin, Dr. James Everett Peavy Jr. was born in 1911. He dedicated his life to public health, eventually becoming the Texas Commissioner of Health in 1959. For…
You're driving through East Texas, and right here, the Angelina and Neches River Authority has been working for decades to manage our water resources. Originally established in 1949 as the Neches River Conservation…
You're driving through Lufkin, the home of Angelina College. This two-year institution opened its doors in the fall of 1968, born from a vision by the Angelina County Chamber of Commerce. They wanted to bring vocational…
You're driving near Lufkin, and right here is a story about a young man who made a big name for himself in Texas newspapers. Walter Raymond Beaumier, known as Beau, was born in Hallettsville in 1906. By the time he was…
You're driving through Angelina County, near Lufkin. Right here, William H. Bonner Jr. tried to establish a town called Bonners Mills in 1877. He even served as the first postmaster! But this venture didn't pan out.…
You're driving through East Texas, perhaps near Lufkin, where John Sayers Redditt made his mark. He wasn't just a businessman and lawyer; Redditt served in the Texas Senate from 1933 to 1941. He was instrumental in…
You're driving through East Texas, right where the Lufkin Land and Lumber Company once ruled. Back in 1900, they chartered the Texas and Louisiana Railroad, not for passengers, but to haul timber. They laid track from…
Hey road trippers, look to your right! You're passing a piece of East Texas history that's pretty darn unique. This cart, built in 1950 for the W. T. Carter & Brother lumber company, is one of the last of its kind.…
You're driving through Lufkin, and you're about to pass some serious history from East Texas's booming lumber days. Look for remnants of the Carter-Kelley Lumber Company's operation. They bought this steam locomotive,…
You're driving through Lufkin, a town that played a unique role in the World War II effort. As American men went off to fight, labor shortages hit hard, even in Texas's vital timber industry. To fill the gap, the U.S.…
Lufkin High School (309 South Medford Dr., Lufkin, TX), home of the Panthers, is where Dez Bryant emerged as a star receiver. Over his junior and senior seasons he caught 101 passes for 2,232 yards and 37 touchdowns and…
You're driving past Whitehouse Cemetery. Local tradition says it's named for the 19th-century Cole family home, which stood out with its whitewashed exterior. While the oldest marked grave is from 1893, earlier burials…
First plant to turn southern pines into newsprint. Mill here revolutionized paper industry in the southern United States. Seeking local paper rather than foreign supplies, Southland was incorporated in 1938 and began…
You're driving through Redland, a community named for the rich, red soil of its ridge. Long before it was a town, this spot was a vital crossroads for trade routes connecting the Texas coast to Nacogdoches and Anglo…
You're driving past the site of Redland Baptist Church. It began as Liberty Baptist in 1859, reorganizing as Redland Baptist in 1895. The congregation built its first sanctuary in 1924 and has since expanded multiple…
You're driving near the site of the old Fairview School. Created in the late 1800s, this one-room schoolhouse served a wide rural area, with its first five-month term starting in 1898. After meeting at a local church…
You're driving past the site of Homer, Texas, also known as Angelina. This was the third county seat for Angelina County, serving from 1858 to 1890. Imagine this spot bustling with activity as the center of county…
You're driving past the site of Homer, Texas, a town that once served as the county seat for Angelina County. It all started back in 1854, when W.W. Manning opened a drugstore and sawmill, naming the new community after…
Central, Texas, nestled amid the rolling hills and dense pine forests of Angelina County, carries echoes of its past. The region’s early settlers, largely of Anglo-American stock migrating westward in the 19th century,…
You're driving through Angelina County, and right here is Burke. This town owes its very existence to the railroad. Founded in 1881, it was originally named Rhodes, after the general store owners. But just a few years…
You're driving through East Texas, passing near the site of Lindsey Springs. Back in 1899, this spot was the very first logging camp for the Southern Pine Lumber Company. By 1900, it was a bustling community of about…
You're driving through East Texas, near Lufkin, and you're crossing a piece of history. This spot was once a vital crossing on the Bedias Trail. For centuries, this path connected Indian camps on the Trinity River to…
Pollok Central (Pollok, TX) placed on the 3A Texas high school baseball stat leaderboards for the 2026 season: Hunter Matchett (0.458 avg).
Angelina County, nestled in the South Central Plains of East Texas, owes its name to a Hasinai woman who played a crucial role in early Spanish-Indigenous relations. "Angelina," meaning "little angel," was bestowed upon…
You're driving through Angelina County, not far from Diboll, where you'll find the site of Ryan Chapel. This Methodist congregation got its start in 1866, thanks to Rev. Isaac Ryan, who held a revival in his home before…
You're driving through East Texas, maybe near Lufkin, and you might be passing over land that was once Homer. Back in 1887, Homer was a thriving community, and Dr. James Addison Abney, a local physician and businessman,…
You're driving through East Texas, and right here, you're passing through the heart of what was once the Angelina County Lumber Company. Founded in 1890 by Joseph H. Kurth, Sr., this wasn't just a sawmill; it was a…
You're driving through what used to be Cheeseland, Texas, way out in Angelina County. Back in 1844, Jacob Humphrey built a home and stockade right here, on a mail road. But the real story starts a few years later. A…
You're driving through Angelina County, near Lufkin, and right here used to be the town of Ewing. This community sprang up around a massive hardwood lumber mill, built in 1920. It was a powerhouse, employing 250 men and…
You're driving through Angelina County, and right here is the site of Homer, once the third county seat. In 1858, folks here voted to make Homer the county seat, even renaming it Angelina for a spell. But the name…
You're driving through Angelina County, and right here is the site of Jonesville. This town was the second county seat, holding the title for just a few years in the mid-1850s. It was named for Martin William 'Gobbler'…
You're driving through Angelina County, near Lufkin, where the town of Keltys once stood. It all started with Charles Louis Kelty's sawmill, built to supply railroad ties in the late 1800s. But it was Joseph H. Kurth, a…
You're driving through Angelina County, and right here, you're passing the site of Manning, a lumber town that boomed between 1903 and 1934. It all started when W. T. Carter and G. A. Kelley built a massive, modern…
You're driving through Angelina County, near Lufkin, where a grand plan once took root. In the early 1900s, Boston investors poured money into the Angelina Orchard Company, envisioning thousands of acres of peaches,…
You're driving through East Texas, a region that once hosted the Biloxi Indians. Though first recorded in Mississippi, by 1828, some Biloxi families had settled here, near what's now Biloxi Creek in Angelina County.…
You're driving through Angelina County, heading towards Lufkin, and right here is Clawson. This community owes its existence to sawdust and timber. It all started in the 1880s when the first sawmill popped up,…
You're driving through Angelina County, and right here was Durant, the last sawmill town built on the Cotton Belt line. Around 1909, Louis C. Odum built a small mill, and the town became known as Odum's Town. Odum was a…
You're driving through East Texas, likely on a route that follows the ghost of an old Spanish highway: the Liberty-Nacogdoches Road. Established by Spanish authorities back in 1756, this was a vital communication line…
You're driving through northwestern Angelina County, and right here is Pollok. It sprang to life in the 1880s as a sawmill center. The railroad arrived, and a station called Bodan was set up. But in 1886, the post…
You're driving through East Texas, near Keltys, where the Angelina and Neches River Railroad got its start. Chartered in 1900, this line began as a narrow-gauge tram road built by a lumber company. It was converted to…
You're driving through East Texas, where a giant lumber mill once stood. In 1900, the Eastern Texas Railroad was chartered, connecting Lufkin to Crockett. Its main purpose? To serve the massive Texas-Louisiana Lumber…
You're driving through Angelina County, not far from Central, and right here is the Lufkin State School. What's interesting is that this facility wasn't built for education or care. It started life as the Lufkin Radar…
You're driving through Angelina County, not far from Zavalla. Right here used to be the lumber camp of Nancy, established around 1923 by the Angelina County Lumber Company. It started as Dunkin, but was renamed Nancy to…
You're driving through East Texas, perhaps near Lufkin, where Edward Livingston Robb made his home. Robb was a lawyer and farmer, but when the Civil War broke out, he traded his law books for a rifle. He served as a…
You're driving through Angelina County, and right here is the story of the Shreveport, Houston and Gulf Railroad. Authorized in 1906 to build all the way to Houston, this short line's real purpose was to serve the…
You're driving through Huntington, Texas, a town that sprang to life thanks to the railroad and the timber industry. It was established back in 1900 and named for Collis P. Huntington, the big boss of the Southern…
This East Texas city has been home to individuals who made their mark on the national stage.
You're driving through East Texas, and right here in Diboll, you're passing through a community shaped by the remarkable Fannie Farrington. Arriving in 1903 with her husband and baby, Fannie wasn't just a resident; she…
You're driving through Diboll, a town born from pine trees and railroad tracks. In 1894, Thomas Lewis Latane Temple built a sawmill right here, kicking off a company town that would shape the lives of generations. For…
You're driving through East Texas, the heart of a timber empire built by T.L.L. Temple. He arrived in Wayne, Texas, in 1887, and by 1893, he'd organized the Southern Pine Lumber Company. At Diboll, he built a massive…
You're driving through East Texas, an area built on timber. Right here, near Diboll, you're passing through the heart of what was once Temple Industries. It all started in 1893 when Thomas Temple bought 7,000 acres of…
You're driving through East Texas, and right here, in Diboll, you're passing the heart of the Texas Southeastern Railroad. Chartered way back in 1900 by T. L. L. Temple, the founder of the Southern Pine Lumber Company,…
You're driving through East Texas, and right here is the area where the Temple family built a lumber empire. Arthur Temple Sr. took over the family business in the depths of the Great Depression in 1935. He faced tough…
You're driving past the Old Diboll Library, a building with a story as varied as its occupants. Built around 1908 by T. L. L. Temple, it was originally for his Southern Pine Lumber Company employees. Imagine this place…
You're cruising through Diboll, and right here was the heart of a company town. This commissary, built around 1894, served the Southern Pine Lumber Company. It wasn't just a store; it was a lifeline for lumberjacks and…
You're driving through Angelina County, right where the town of Jonesville used to be. It was the county seat for a short, but important, time. Jonesville officially became the county seat on August 22nd, 1854. But its…
You're driving past Pollok Cemetery, a resting place for the people who built this town. Back in the late 1800s, Richard Blair fired up the first sawmill here, kicking off Pollok's vital lumber industry. By 1899, the…
You're driving past the site of Diboll's First Methodist Church. This congregation started around 1897, soon after Diboll became a sawmill town. Early services were held in a local schoolhouse, and they built their…
Nestled among the rolling hills and pine forests of Angelina County, Pollok retains a distinct East Texas character, shaped by its early settlers. Predominantly of Scots-Irish and Southern American descent, these…
You're driving through Angelina County, near where the community of Prairie Grove began to take shape way back in 1845. It started as a simple gathering place for early settlers. But the real heart of Prairie Grove…
You're driving past Emporia Cemetery, a quiet resting place that actually predates the timber boomtowns that would later spring up around it. The land was first set aside as a family burial ground, with the earliest…
You're driving through what used to be Emporia, a company town that sprang up in 1893. The Emporia Lumber Company bought thousands of acres here, and built a whole town from scratch. Imagine it: sawmills, logging camps,…
You're driving past the site of Pine Grove Missionary Baptist Church, organized in 1872 by ten members. This church was the founding location for the Angelina Missionary Baptist Association in 1875.
The rolling hills around Bonaldo, typical of the South Central Plains, were once carpeted almost entirely in loblolly pine. Timber defined the local economy for generations, and the rhythmic buzz of sawmills was the…
You're driving through Nacogdoches County, past the site of Harmony Cemetery. It all started in the 1870s when James Norvel Pitts arrived from Mississippi. By 1877, his wife, son, and five of his brothers, along with…
You're driving through Nacogdoches County, near where the Angelina River once flowed with commerce. Look for the spot where Pattonia, also known as Patton's Landing, once thrived. Founded in 1844 by brothers Robert and…
You're driving past the site of Ewing, a Texas boom town that rose and fell with the timber industry. Named for plantation owner James A. Ewing, this settlement sprang to life in 1919 when H. G. Bohlssen built a sawmill…
You're driving through Angelina County, near Diboll, where I. D. Clark established a vital ferry crossing on the Neches River back in 1856. It was a crucial link between Angelina and Polk counties. After Clark's death…
Nacogdoches County, nestled in the rolling hills of East Texas, owes its origins to the Caddo people, who had long called this part of the South Central Plains home. Spanish missionaries arrived in the early 18th…
You're driving past the site of the Primitive Baptist Church of Wells. Before 1890, folks here had to travel to Angelina County to worship. That all changed when Francis Marion Sessions arrived and started holding…
You're driving past Wheeler Cemetery, which began in 1875 when Jefferson and Hannah Wheeler buried their daughter, Vina, here after a hunting accident. They donated an acre for a neighborhood burying ground. The…
You're driving through East Texas, maybe not too far from the town of Wells. Right here, in what is now Cherokee County, lived John J. Bowman. He was one of Stephen F. Austin's original colonists, arriving in Texas back…
You're driving through Wells, Texas, a town that owes its existence to the railroad. Established in 1885 as a stop on the Kansas and Gulf Short Line, it was named for a civil engineer, Maj. E. H. Wells. For a while, the…
You're driving through Trinity County, near where Benjamin Burke settled about 1859. He was a pioneer farmer who first came to Texas around 1829, even receiving a land grant from the Mexican government before Texas…
You're driving through Wells, Texas, and just passed the final resting place of James H. Bowman. Bowman was a soldier in the Army of the Republic of Texas back in 1836, fighting for Texas independence. He was born in…
You're driving through Cherokee County, near Wells, and you're passing the final resting place of John Joseph Bowman. Born in Tennessee in 1807, Bowman came to Texas with his family way back in 1822, settling in Stephen…
You're driving through what used to be Manning, a town that boomed thanks to lumber. It all started back in 1867 when D.W.W. Manning opened a sawmill. The real growth came around 1906 with the Carter-Kelley Lumber…
You're driving through the Angelina County area, near the old town of Manning. Look for this historic home, built around 1904. It was first occupied by W. M. Gibbs, a manager for the Carter-Kelly Lumber Company, and his…
You're driving through rural Trinity County, passing Mount Zion Cemetery. It began serving dispersed communities like Crib Creek and Apple Springs, with the earliest marked stone dating back to 1856. Many veterans are…
You're driving past the site of the Damascus Missionary Baptist Church, organized way back in 1863. The first pastor was Brother J. R. Dowell. The original log building featured split log benches, later replaced by a…
Long before Austin or San Antonio were anything more than frontier outposts the Caddo people had been living on the red hills of East Texas for nearly a…
You're driving past the site of Druso, a town that boomed and busted with the timber industry. In 1900, the Four-C Company built a huge sawmill nearby, and the Eastern Texas Rail Line laid tracks right through here.…
You're driving past the Sam P. Smith house, a fine example of an East Texas farm home built back in 1880. Imagine this place with five rooms, four porches, and an open dog trot! It was built for Samuel Pharr and Mary…
You're driving past Fairview Church Cemetery in Nacogdoches. The earliest marked grave here is from 1851, though earlier burials might exist. The Fairview Cemetery Association was organized in 1964 to oversee the care…
You're driving past the Lindsey House in Nacogdoches, a grand Victorian residence built in 1901. This hilltop home was built by Robert and Emily Lindsey, successful dry goods merchants who were also big supporters of…
You're driving through East Texas, a region that owes part of its name to a remarkable woman named Angelina. Born into the Hasinai Caddo nation, she grew up near the Rio Grande, fluent in Spanish thanks to her time at a…
Pull over, history buffs! You're about to visit a house where Texas history practically drips from the walls. This unassuming home played host to some of the most famous figures in Texas independence, including a future…
You're driving through East Texas, a land where Spanish Franciscans once tried to plant the seeds of faith and empire. Back in 1690, Father Damian Massanet and Captain Alonso de Leon led the first Spanish mission into…
You're driving through East Texas, the very land that Governor Marquis de San Miguel de Aguayo fought to keep Spanish. Back in 1719, with war brewing between Spain and France, Aguayo was appointed governor and tasked…
You're driving through East Texas, near Nacogdoches, where Captain Domingo Ramon led Spain's second attempt to permanently settle this province in 1715. His mission? To establish a presidio and four missions, and…
You're driving through Nacogdoches, and right here is the former home of Adolphus Sterne. Born in Germany in 1801, Sterne became a key figure in early Texas. He served as Alcalde under the Mexican government and later…
You're driving past the site of Rancho San Bernardo del Loco, home to Bernardo D'Ortolan, a French native who became a captain in the Spanish militia. Arriving here in 1796, he farmed this land along El Camino Real.…
You're driving past the site of a pivotal moment in Texas history, thanks to Governor Martin de Alarcon. Back in 1716, Alarcon was tasked with securing the frontier, but got sidetracked investigating a French smuggler…
You're driving through Angelina County, near Huntington. Back in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1846</say-as>, this area was just being organized. Joseph Herrington, a young man from Alabama, was one of the six…
Nacogdoches calls itself the oldest town in Texas, formally established in seventeen seventy-nine — more than fifty years before the Texas Revolution. While the rest of Texas flew six flags, Nacogdoches flew nine. It…
This East Texas city has been home to a remarkable array of influential figures. Sam Houston, a pivotal leader who served as president of the Republic of Texas, once called this place home. The city also boasts a Medal…
On the morning of February 1, 2003, the Space Shuttle Columbia broke apart during reentry at 207,000 feet above Texas, traveling at eighteen times the speed of sound. All seven astronauts aboard were killed. Debris…
On August 2 1832 a group of East Texas settlers had finally had enough of Mexican military rule. They grabbed their hunting shotguns and squirrel rifles and…
Adolphus Sterne ran a respectable mercantile shop in Nacogdoches but behind the bolts of cloth and barrels of flour he was running one of the Texas Revolutions…
Everyone knows the story of Spindletop — the 1901 gusher near Beaumont that launched the Texas oil boom. But thirty-five years before that famous blowout a man…
This is the oldest town in Texas, and it was someone else's land first. The Nacogdoche people, a band of the Caddo Confederacy, had a settlement on this site for centuries before the Spanish arrived. The Caddo were…
You're driving through Nacogdoches, and right here is the site of "Old Soledad." Long before Texas was even a republic, this was the bustling headquarters for William Barr and Samuel Davenport. These weren't just any…
Most Texans know the six flags that flew over their state but Nacogdoches raises that number to nine. Beyond the familiar six this town also flew the banner of…
Late at night in Turner Auditorium at Stephen F. Austin State University the theater students say you are never truly alone. They call him Chester and he has…
You're driving through Nacogdoches, and right here is a marker for General Thomas J. Rusk. Born in South Carolina in 1808, Rusk became a true hero of Texas liberty, fighting bravely at the Battle of San Jacinto. He…
In 1836 Sam Houston sat down with Cherokee Chief Bowles right here in Nacogdoches and signed a treaty promising the tribe a permanent homeland in East Texas.…
You're driving past the final resting place of Charles Standfield Taylor, a true Texas patriot who arrived from London in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1808</say-as>. Taylor was the Land Commissioner of Texas…
You're driving past the final resting place of Elias E. Hamilton, a young man who saw some of the most pivotal moments of the Texas Revolution. Born in Georgia in 1816, Hamilton came to Texas and fought bravely in the…
You're driving through Nacogdoches, and just ahead is the final resting place of John S. Roberts, a true Texian hero. Before Texas even declared independence, Roberts was in the thick of it. He led the Nacogdoches…
You're driving past the final resting place of William Clark, Jr., a signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence. Born in Virginia in 1798, Clark came to Texas and put his name to that pivotal document. He lived a…
You're driving past Oak Grove Cemetery, a final resting place for some of the biggest names in Texas history. Originally called "American Cemetery," this ground dates back to 1826, but the earliest marked grave here is…
Built in 1779 as a simple trading post the Old Stone Fort in Nacogdoches became the most politically fought-over building in Texas. It served as rebel…
You're driving past Nacogdoches, where folks here helped outfit a volunteer force for the Texas War for Independence. These weren't locals, though; they were the New Orleans' Greys! In November of <say-as…
You're driving past the resting place of Kelsey Harris Douglass, a key figure in early Texas history. He was a member of the Second Congress of the Republic and, most notably, commanded Texas forces in a crucial battle…
You're driving past the site of Captain Hayden Arnold's final resting place. A native of Tennessee, Arnold was born in 1805 and came to Texas to fight for its independence. He commanded the Nacogdoches Company during…
You're driving past the resting place of Thomas Young Buford, a veteran of the Battle of San Jacinto. Born in South Carolina in 1814, Buford came to Texas and fought for its independence. Though he survived the pivotal…
You're driving past the site of a pivotal piece of Texas history! In <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1839</say-as>, General Sam Houston, the hero of San Jacinto and the first elected President of the Republic of…
You're driving past the Durst-Taylor House in Nacogdoches, a home that's seen some serious Texas history! This property was owned by Andres de Acosta as early as 1809. Joseph Durst, who was Nacogdoches Alcalde, bought…
You're driving past the route of La Calle Real del Norte, the North Royal Road. This wasn't just any dirt path; it was a vital 18th-century artery connecting the Nacogdoche and Nasoni Indian villages right here in East…
You're driving through Nacogdoches, and right here stood the Old Red House. This wasn't just any building; it was the headquarters for Colonel Jose de las Piedras, the commander of the Mexican garrison right here in…
You're driving past Zion Hill First Baptist, a testament to African American resilience and faith in Nacogdoches. Organized in 1879 by the Rev. Lawson Reed, the congregation first worshipped under a simple brush arbor.…
You're driving past the Roland Jones house in Nacogdoches, a late Victorian residence built back in 1896 and 1897. It was designed by architect D. A. G. Rulfs for the Matthews family, who were railroad executives, and…
You're driving through Nacogdoches, and you might not realize it, but you're passing right by a piece of history that predates even the oldest buildings in town. Mound Street got its name in the 1700s because it was…
You're driving past the site of Nacogdoches University, a beacon of higher learning chartered by the Republic of Texas way back in 1845. It started in temporary downtown buildings before this grand structure opened its…
You're driving through Nacogdoches, and right here is Washington Square, the unlikely birthplace of a Texas college. In 1923, the new Stephen F. Austin State Teachers College wasn't ready for students. So, President…
You're driving past the site of Nacogdoches University, a pioneering co-educational institution that opened its doors in September of <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1845</say-as>. It was incorporated by an…
You're driving through Nacogdoches, and right here is the site of the home of Charles S. Taylor. Born in London, England, in 1808, Taylor came to Texas and became a citizen of Nacogdoches in 1830. He played a crucial…
You're driving past the site of Los Ojos de Padre Margil, or 'The Eyes of Father Margil.' Father Antonio Margil, a Spanish missionary who spent nearly 50 years in the Americas, arrived in East Texas in 1716. By 1717, a…
You're driving past Zion Hill Baptist Church Cemetery, a final resting place for Nacogdoches' African American pioneers. Back in 1878, Reverend Lawson Reed arrived to find no Baptist church for the Black community. He…
You're driving through Nacogdoches, and right here is the site of Mission Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe. Founded way back in 1716 by Father Antonio Margil de Jesus, this Spanish outpost was built to civilize and…
You're driving through Nacogdoches, passing the site where Juan Antonio Padilla once lived. He was a key figure in early Texas, serving as Land Commissioner in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1829</say-as> and…
You're driving through Nacogdoches, a town with roots stretching back to the early 1700s. It all started when the French governor sent Louis Juchereau de St. Denis to trade with the local Caddo Indians. He marked a…
You're driving through Texas, and right here is where a defender of the Alamo met his fate. Anthony Wolf, born in 1782, was an experienced scout and interpreter before joining the Alamo garrison. Some accounts say he…
You're driving through East Texas now, a land that saw fortunes made and lost. Right here, in Nacogdoches, Peter Samuel Davenport built an empire. In 1798, his firm, House of Barr and Davenport, secured a monopoly on…
You're driving through East Texas, and right here, you might be passing near the route of John Marie Durst, the Paul Revere of the Texas Revolution. In 1835, Durst was in the Mexican state legislature when he learned…
You're driving through East Texas, maybe near Nacogdoches, and right here is where a bold, if short-lived, rebellion kicked off. It's December 1826, and Benjamin Edwards, taking charge of his brother's colony, felt…
You're driving through East Texas, near Nacogdoches, where Haden Edwards, a wealthy land speculator, tried to carve out a new empire. He was granted land in 1825 to bring 800 families to Texas. But there was a problem:…
You're driving through Nacogdoches, and right here, you're passing through the stomping grounds of William Goyens. Born free in North Carolina in 1794, Goyens arrived in Texas in 1820 and became a successful blacksmith…
You're driving through Texas, but back in 1812, this land was the target of a filibustering expedition. The Gutiérrez-Magee Expedition, a group of adventurers and Mexican rebels, marched into Spanish Texas with dreams…
You're driving through East Texas, and right here, in what is now Marion County, lived Robert Potter. He was a signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence and a leader in the Republic of Texas. But Potter had a wild…
You're driving through East Texas, perhaps near Nacogdoches, where John H. Reagan got his start. Born in Tennessee in 1818, Reagan came to Texas seeking opportunity, and he found it, first as a deputy surveyor and…
You're driving through what's now Hamilton County, but back in 1833, this was the edge of the Texas frontier. James W. Robinson arrived here with a letter to Stephen F. Austin, settling in Nacogdoches. He quickly became…
You're driving through Nacogdoches, and right here is where a man known as Richard Parmalee began a new life. But before he arrived in Texas in 1836, he was Richard P. Robinson in New York City, embroiled in one of the…
You're driving through East Texas, maybe near Nacogdoches, and you might be passing the resting place of a French soldier of fortune named Louis Rose. Rose fought for Napoleon in Europe, but ended up in Texas by the…
You're driving through Nacogdoches, the site of a dramatic moment during the Texas Revolution. In 1835, Mary Frances 'Polly' Cleveland Rusk moved here with her husband, Thomas J. Rusk, fleeing Georgia after he pursued…
You're driving through East Texas, perhaps near Nacogdoches, where Thomas Jefferson Rusk landed by accident, but stayed to become a giant of Texas history. He came here in 1835 chasing swindlers who stole his mining…
You're driving through what is now Smith County, Texas, but back in the 1840s, this area was a frontier. You're passing through land once owned by General James Smith, a veteran of the War of 1812 and a key figure in…
You're driving through Nacogdoches, and right here is where Adolphus Sterne, a man who came to Texas seeking fortune, found himself in a fight for his life. Born in Germany, he fled military conscription and landed in…
You're driving through Nacogdoches, a town that played a key role in Texas history, and right here is where Charles Stanfield Taylor made his mark. Born in England in 1808, Taylor arrived in New York in 1828, eventually…
You're driving through East Texas, and right here, you're passing through the territory that was once Trammel's Trace. This rough road was carved out by Nicholas Trammell, a frontiersman whose life was as wild as the…
You're driving through Nacogdoches, and right here, you're passing through the hometown of Madison G. Whitaker. He fought in the Battle of San Jacinto, that pivotal moment in Texas history. You can even see him in…
You're driving through Nacogdoches, home of a woman who turned women's college basketball into a national powerhouse. Sue Gunter arrived at Stephen F. Austin State College in 1964, when women's sports were often…
Andrew Jackson (John) Spradley, lawman and political figure, son of Patrick Henry and Dicey (Williamson) Spradley, was born near Westville, Mississippi, on March 8, 1853. His father was an illiterate, although…
You're driving through Nacogdoches, the oldest town in Texas, and right here is where Hayden S. Arnold made his mark. He arrived in late 1835, just in time to join the fight for Texas independence. By March of 1836, he…
You're driving through East Texas, maybe near Nacogdoches, and right here is a place that saw action from Isaac Watts Burton. He arrived in Texas in 1832, fighting in the Battle of Nacogdoches. Later, he served as a…
You're driving through East Texas, near Nacogdoches, where in the summer of 1838, a plot threatened the young Republic of Texas. It was called the Córdova Rebellion. What started as a local dispute over stolen horses…
You're driving through Nacogdoches, a place that saw some real frontier drama thanks to early settlers like James Dill. Born in Pennsylvania in 1766, Dill eventually landed here in East Texas around 1799. He became a…
You're driving through South Texas, maybe near Kenedy County, and right here James H. Durst made one of the earliest large land purchases in the Nueces Strip. He bought fourteen leagues of the La Barreta grant in 1852,…
You're driving through Nacogdoches, a town that was once a hotbed of revolutionary activity. Right here, John Forbes, an Irish immigrant, found himself thrust into the heart of Texas independence. Arriving in 1835, he…
You're driving through East Texas, maybe not far from Nacogdoches, where you'd find Robert Kemp Goodloe. He was a doctor from Virginia, but he headed to Texas in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1836</say-as>,…
You're driving through East Texas, and right here in Nacogdoches, you're passing through a place that played a key role in the early days of Freemasonry in the Lone Star State. John Henry Holland, a prominent lawyer and…
You're driving through East Texas, the land that Antonio Gil Ybarbo fought to resettle. In the late 1700s, Spanish authorities ordered settlers out of East Texas, but Ybarbo, a leader among them, wouldn't give up. He…
You're driving through East Texas, and right here is the area where David Spangler Kaufman made his mark. A lawyer by trade, he also fought on the frontier, even being wounded in the 1839 encounter that claimed the life…
You're driving through East Texas, and right here in Nacogdoches, a rockabilly legend got his start. Bob Luman was born here in 1937, picking up his first guitar at age thirteen. After seeing Elvis Presley in 1955,…
You're driving through what was once the heart of the Republic of Texas, and right here, James Shannon Mayfield was a key player. Arriving in Nacogdoches County in 1837, he served as a lawyer and legislator, even acting…
You're driving through East Texas, and right here near Nacogdoches, you're passing through a place with deep roots. In 1716, Spanish explorers established the very first settlement in this area. This wasn't just any…
You're driving through Nacogdoches County, a place with deep roots. Back in 1716, Spanish explorer Domingo Ramón arrived here, finding Caddo Indian villages. He established three missions, including Nuestra Señora de…
You're driving through Nacogdoches, and right here, you're passing through the territory where Sister Josephine spent the last twenty years of her life. Born Renée Ernestine Françoise Potard in France in 1822, she came…
You're driving through East Texas, likely near Nacogdoches. Right here, you're passing through the territory that was home to Henry Wynkoop Raguet. He wasn't just a local merchant, he was a Confederate officer who saw…
You're driving through East Texas, perhaps near the Milam community in Sabine County. Back in 1826, this was the wild frontier. Harriet Fenley Roberts, a woman of considerable means, found herself in a dangerous…
You're driving through what was once the Texas frontier, a land of constant negotiation between settlers and Native American tribes. Right here, back in the mid-1800s, Luis Sánchez was a key player. Born around 1804,…
You're driving through East Texas, maybe near Nacogdoches, and you might be passing by the old stomping grounds of Jacob Snively. In 1843, Snively, a Republic of Texas officer, got permission to lead a partisan command.…
You're driving through Nacogdoches, where Franklin Jefferson Starr met his end. Starr, a law partner of William B. Travis, came to Texas in 1835. He took his Mexican citizenship oath and formed a law practice with…
You're driving through Montgomery County, and right here is where John Marshall Wade landed in Texas, arriving in Nacogdoches in October of 1835. He joined up to fight for Texas independence, but got sick and ended up…
You're driving through East Texas, perhaps near Nacogdoches, and you might be passing the final resting place of Jesse Walling. He fought in the Battle of San Jacinto, the decisive fight for Texas independence,…
You're driving through Nacogdoches, the oldest town in Texas, and right here, William Whitaker was a key player in its early days. He arrived around 1833 and quickly became involved in the local Committee of Vigilance…
You're driving through East Texas, passing through Nacogdoches, a town that played a crucial role in the Texas Revolution. In 1835, Richard Sparks, a recent arrival from Mississippi, found himself at the heart of the…
You're driving through East Texas, a region that saw some of the earliest action in the Texas Revolution. Stephen Franklin Sparks arrived here with his family in 1834, just a year before the fight for independence. He…
You're driving through Nacogdoches, where William Sparks settled after a long life of service. Born in North Carolina in 1761, he fought in the American Revolution at just seventeen, serving as a mounted rifleman. His…
You're driving through Nacogdoches, and right here is where Willie Lee Dorothy Campbell Glass made her mark. Born in 1910, she was a trailblazer in home economics and education, even earning a graduate degree from Iowa…
You're driving through Nacogdoches, a town that was home to Bennett Blake, a man who arrived in 1835 with just twenty dollars and a dream. Blake didn't just become a merchant and farmer; he became the unofficial banker…
You're driving through East Texas, maybe near Nacogdoches, where William Clark, Jr. lived. He was a lawyer and a legislator. When Governor Sam Houston called for a special session to discuss secession, Clark voted…
You're driving through East Texas, perhaps near Nacogdoches or Newton County. Imagine this land centuries ago, before paved roads. You're traveling a route once known as the Coushatta-Nacogdoches Trace. This was the…
You're driving through East Texas, perhaps near Nacogdoches, where Haden H. Edwards made his mark. He wasn't just a soldier in the Texas Revolution, fighting at the Siege of Bexar, but also a businessman, driving…
You're driving through East Texas, maybe near Nacogdoches, where Peyton Forbes Edwards earned a colorful nickname. During his time in the Texas Senate, from 1876 to 1879, he was known far and wide as the 'Red Rooster of…
You're driving through East Texas, maybe near Nacogdoches, and right here is where William Baxter Pendleton Gaines started his Texas adventure. He arrived in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1835</say-as>, just as…
You're driving through East Texas, and right here, Archibald Hotchkiss was surveying land and acting as an interpreter back in the 1830s. He came to Texas representing land companies, even working for the Galveston Bay…
You're driving through Nacogdoches, a town that was home to Robert Anderson Irion, a physician who also served as the Republic of Texas's Secretary of State. After practicing medicine in Mississippi, Irion moved to…
You're driving through Texas, a land that saw many men build new lives. Allen Carter Jones arrived in Nacogdoches in 1826, a man already on his third marriage and with a passel of kids. But he didn't just settle down;…
You're driving through Nacogdoches, Texas, a town that played a crucial role in Texas's fight for independence. Right here, in November of 1835, David E. Lawhon arrived from Louisiana. He was a printer by trade, and…
You're driving through East Texas, perhaps near Nacogdoches, where John Thomson Mason found himself in a whirlwind of land deals and revolution. Back in 1830, Mason arrived as an agent for a massive land company, aiming…
You're driving through Texas, and right here, in the early 1830s, a man named Angus McNeill was buying up huge tracts of land. He arrived in Texas in the late summer of 1835, just as the winds of revolution were…
You're driving through Texas, a land where faith took root alongside the earliest settlements. Back in 1716, Spanish explorers planted the seeds of Catholicism here, founding missions and towns like Nacogdoches. But the…
You're driving through Nacogdoches, a town with a history as bumpy as this road! Back in 1825, Samuel Norris was elected alcalde, essentially the town's mayor. But his opponent, Chichester Chaplin, didn't agree.…
You're driving through East Texas, maybe near Nacogdoches, and right here is where Moses Lockhart Patton made his mark. He arrived in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1835</say-as>, a merchant who also got caught…
You're driving through Nacogdoches, a town that owes part of its early boom to a man who arrived with nothing but a story. Henry Raguet came to Texas in March of 1833, after a business failure in Ohio. He met Sam…
You're driving near Nacogdoches, and right here is where a Swiss immigrant named Henry Rueg set up shop. He arrived in Texas in 1821, after a failed colony in Louisiana. By 1831, he and his brother opened a general…
You're driving through what is now Coryell County, but back in the late 1830s, this area was a frontier. Henry Madison Smith, a soldier born in South Carolina, found himself fighting for Texas independence. He arrived…
You're driving through Nacogdoches, and right here is where James Harper Starr, a physician and a key figure in the Republic of Texas, made his home. He arrived from Georgia in 1837, quickly becoming deeply involved in…
You're driving through East Texas, perhaps near Nacogdoches, where Henry B. Stout found himself in a bit of trouble back in 1819. Just arriving in Texas, he was caught up in the collapse of the Long Expedition and…
You're driving through East Texas, near Nacogdoches, where Thomas Jefferson Walling arrived in January 1836. He immediately swore allegiance to the Texas government and joined Captain Peck's company in the Texas…
You're driving through Nacogdoches, the oldest town in Texas, and right here is where Jesse Saul Bledsoe, a man who'd already served as a U.S. Senator in Kentucky, settled in 1835. He was a lawyer, a politician, and…
You're driving through East Texas, the birthplace of Ernie Fields, a jazz legend who started his musical journey right here in Nacogdoches. Born in 1904, Fields initially trained as an electrician before picking up the…
You're driving through Nacogdoches, and right here is where a railroad once connected this East Texas hub to the logging camps. The Nacogdoches and Southeastern Railroad was chartered in 1905, built primarily to serve…
You're driving through East Texas, maybe near Nacogdoches. Right here, a determined nun named Sister Rosalie Pepin arrived in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1870</say-as>, at the request of a bishop. She took…
Right here in Nacogdoches County, you're passing through territory once represented by John Cleveland Rusk. He was a businessman and planter, but in 1861, he answered the call to serve in the Ninth Texas Legislature.…
You're driving through what was once the wild frontier, and right here in Nacogdoches, Charles H. Sims was a key player in keeping the peace. In the chaotic days leading up to and during the Texas Revolution, Sims…
You're driving through what was once Hasinai Caddo country — settled villages of grass-and-cane houses, cornfields, and trading networks that ran all the way to the Great Lakes. In 1686 and 1687, La Salle led desperate…
You're driving past the site of Peter Ellis Bean's home, a man who lived a wild life right here in Texas. He was part of Nolan's Expedition way back in 1800, then got captured and imprisoned in Mexico! But he didn't…
Nacogdoches calls itself the oldest town in Texas, and the only reason it exists at all is the road. The Spanish placed a mission here in 1716 because this was already a logical stop on the Camino Real, halfway between…
You're driving through Nacogdoches, and right here is where Thomas J. Rusk called home. He was a true hero of Texas independence, fighting bravely at the Battle of San Jacinto. After the fighting, Rusk didn't hang up…
Nacogdoches, you know, it's more than just the oldest town in Texas. It's a place that seems to breathe history, and that history is often tied to some pretty remarkable people. You might walk down Main Street, past the…
You're driving through Nacogdoches, and right here is the site of the Old Stone Fort. This wasn't just a house; it was a hub of Texas history. Built by Don Antonio Gil Y'Barbo around 1788, it served as a home, a…
In the winter of 1826 an empresario named Haden Edwards got into a land dispute with the Mexican government and decided the reasonable response was revolution.…