Van Zandt County, Texas

Everything Van Zandt County is known for

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Music in Van Zandt County

Songs About Van Zandt County

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Artists From Van Zandt County

V
Vincent Neil Emerson
country Pop: 43

Rivers & Roads in Song near Van Zandt County

Songs written about the waterways and highways that run near Van Zandt County.

Interstate 20 13 songs Sabine River 13 songs Kickapoo Creek 4 songs Trinity River 10 songs Interstate 45 7 songs

History of Van Zandt County

Canton, TX RoadyGoat

Canton is renowned for its First Monday Trade Days, the largest flea market in the world. This tradition, which began with the swapping of surplus stock by barter, has grown to include casual bargaining for or swapping of a wide variety of items on a 30-acre grounds. The event is so popular that Canton's population swells from 5,100 to over 30,000 during each First Monday weekend. This significant local industry has not only brought economic prosperity to the city but also made Canton a destination for thousands of visitors each month.

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Canton, TX RoadyGoat

Canton was founded in 1850 by settlers moving from Old Canton in Smith County, Texas. The community stands on the original survey of Jesse Stockwell, an early settler in the area. The town was laid out and named by these settlers, who were drawn to the area for its potential for settlement and development. The first district courthouse opened in 1850, the same year a post office was established, marking the beginning of Canton's growth as a significant town in Van Zandt County.

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The Gusher That Built a Town RoadyGoat

Imagine it's October 1929. Van is a sleepy farming town of a few hundred people. Then, acting on geological surveys, the Pure Oil Company drills a well on a local cotton farm. The land belonged to W.T. Jarman, who had died the year before. On October 13th, that well-the Jarman No. 1, named for the deceased landowner-roars to life, spewing black gold. The news spreads like wildfire. Van is sitting on a colossal oil field. The boom is on. The town's population swelled to nearly nine hundred as tents and shacks popped up overnight. The railroad that once carried cotton now carries drilling pipe and roughnecks. But Van's boom was different. Instead of a chaotic free-for-all, the Pure Oil Company organized the field's development, creating a more stable 'company town' atmosphere. This single event transformed Van from a tiny dot on the map into an oil town whose name became known across Texas.

10.2 mi away

Neches, Battle of the

1839

The battle of the Neches, fought on July 15 and 16, 1839, was the principal engagement of the Cherokee War , a conflict that began when President Mirabeau B. Lamar announced that the time had come for an "exterminating war" on Native Americans in Texas. Under Lamar's leadership, the Republic refused to recognize earlier treaties with the Cherokees who lived in East Texas and, after accusing them of planning to join Mexico in an insurrection, sent troops commanded by Gen. Thomas J. Rusk to occupy their lands. The Cherokee leader, Chief Bowl (Duwali) led an evacuation of their main town, but they were attacked a few miles west of present-day Tyler at dusk on July 15. The first day's battle proved indecisive, but on July 16, Texas troops led by Rusk and Edward Burleson overwhelmed the Cherokees and their allies, the Kickapoos , Delawares , and Shawnees , in a fight on the headwaters of the Neches River in present-day Van Zandt County. Chief Bowl entered the battle on horseback, but when his mount was wounded and he was shot through the thigh, he dismounted. After being wounded again, he sat on the battlefield where a Texan soldier shot him in the head. Approximately one hundred Native Americans died in the fight; Texan losses were reported as five dead and twenty-eight wounded. Most of the Cherokees and their allies who survived the battle fled to the Indian Territory. Only the Alabamas and Coushattas remained in significant numbers in East Texas. A Texas Historical Marker was erected on the site of the battle in Van Zandt County in 1968, and an annual Cherokee reunion took place in the county.

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John H. Reagan

1839

John H. Reagan John Henninger Reagan was born in 1818 to Timothy Richard and Elizabeth Reagan in Sevier County, Tennessee. He worked at his father's tannery and on the family farm, attending school sporadically, until leaving the state in 1838. Reagan came in 1839 to Nacogdoches, Texas, where he met with Martin Lacy, Indian agent for the Cherokee Tribe in present day Cherokee and Smith Counties. He helped deliver a message from Texas President Mirabeau Lamar to the Cherokees, threatening force if the tribe did not move north of the Red River. Reagan was assigned to Gen. Thomas J. Rusk's regiment of the Texas militia, which engaged the Cherokees in July 1839. The last skirmish was the Battle of the Neches, fought in today's Van Zandt County, resulting in the deaths of Chiefs Bowles and Big Mush, and the removal of the Cherokees to Indian Territory. After his work with the militia, Reagan studied surveying, working in the Nacogdoches Land District. As part of his survey work, he petitioned the creation of Henderson, Van Zandt and Kaufman Counties, suggesting the names for each. Reagan also studied law and became a state representative and then district judge in East Texas, presiding over the court in Canton from 1853 to 1857, after which he was elected to congress. During the Civil War, Reagan served as Postmaster General for the Confederacy. He was captured and imprisoned, as was Pres. Jefferson Davis, in 1865. After returning to Palestine, Reagan was reelected to congress in 1875 and helped frame the 1876 Texas constitution. He served as U.S. Senator, 1887-1891, then became first Texas Railroad Commissioner, a position he held until 1903. He died in 1905 and was buried in Palestine. 									(2002)

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Roberts, Oran Milo

1815

(July 9, 1815 - May 19, 1898) A South Carolina-born Alabama legislator, Oran M. Roberts came to San Augustine, Texas in 1841. He served in district and state judicial positions, including the first district court in Canon in 1850, and was president of the Secession Convention in 1861. After service as a colonel in the 11th Regiment, Texas Infantry, his postwar career included a second turn as a state Supreme Court judge; he made the 1877 ruling that ended the Van Zandt County Seat War. Roberts was elected governor of Texas in 1878. He was a law professor at the new University of Texas until 1893. Roberts helped form the Texas State Historical Association in 1895. (1998) Incise on base: Researched by Annette Herndon Plemmons

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Dixie Hotel

1915

On September 2, 1915, the Canton Herald announced plans for a new hotel. Its site along the Dixie Highway gave the hotel its name and a prime location to attract travelers and residents. The hotel’s square floor plan included two full floors with wraparound gallery porches, and dormer windows and a half-floor in the attic. Sheriff John Kellis, the owner and contractor, sold the hotel for $2,750 to Mrs. A. R. Maume and her daughter, Mamie, on October 18, 1916. Mamie became the hotel manager. In 1919, she oversaw construction of a two-story annex. The Dixie Hotel became known regionally for its lodging and meals. Maggie Bowles, and later Aarona Maxie and her sister, Nannie Hambrick, were the renowned cooks. For 85 cents on weekdays, or a dollar on Sundays, a customer could eat all he wanted. U.S. Senator Lyndon B. Johnson arrived by helicopter to sample some of Aarona’s good cooking. The Dixie had two dining rooms, one public and one private. The private room was used by juries during long trials. The hotel was also visited by politicians, businessmen, and such celebrities as Will Rogers, Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker. When the Van oil field drew hundreds of men and women in the 1920s and 1930s, the Dixie was always full, and cots were even placed on the porches to accommodate all the people. Pure Oil Company contracted with Miss Mamie for a separate office space and living quarters behind the hotel. Dallas and Fort Worth newspaper articles about the hotel brought motorists to Canton, while residents enjoyed Sunday singing, organization meetings, and Aggie Muster at the Dixie. Miss Mamie operated the hotel until May 5, 1954, the day she died. The Dixie closed for good that night.

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Jordan's Saline, TX

1834

Jordan's Saline (Jordan Saline), on U.S. Highway 80 thirteen miles northeast of Canton in northeastern Van Zandt County, was named for John Jordan, who developed the Saline Prairie, which had been named by local Cherokee Indians. Indians first made salt in the area by evaporating water from the salt-marsh surface, which lay over a giant salt dome that extended over a thirty-square-mile area; it was said to have enough mining potential to last 300 years. Indians acquired the land by treaty in 1834 and sold salt to merchants in Nacogdoches. Jordan marked a trail from Nacogdoches to the prairie and on December 17, 1845, agreed with Allen T. McGee to acquire title to the land, construct a saltworks, and name the site Jordan's Saline. The community, designated Van Zandt county seat on March 20, 1848, served as the seat of government until 1850, when part of Van Zandt County was made into Wood County. In 1848 the community had a county courthouse, a hide tannery, and a manufacturing plant. The first county school was taught in 1849 by James J. Kuykendall on Saline Creek, five miles south of Jordan's Saline. A post office opened in 1849, and McGee became the first county postmaster. In January 1850 Jordan and McGee leased their interests to Frederick J. Hamm, who purchased them outright in December 1857. When Samuel Q. Richardson arrived from Kentucky in January 1859, he acquired title to some 4,000 acres of Hamm's property, including the saltworks. There he made salt until he enlisted to fight in the Civil War , leaving the operation to be run by his wife. The Confederate government next took over the saltworks and ran it until after the war, when Richardson returned. In 1872, when the Texas and Pacific Railway passed through the community on its way from Marshall to Dallas, a depot was erected north of the railroad from Jordan's Saline, and the new town was named Grand Saline. Two of the original kettles used for boiling salt from brine were placed on U.S. Highway 80 at the east and west entrances to Grand Saline as a reminder of the original saltworks. As Grand Saline expanded, Jordan's Saline diminished, losing its post office in 1872 and eventually disappearing.

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Things to Do in Van Zandt County

food 24.5 mi away
LaCascio's Scratch Italian

Italian fine dining in tiny Lindale at 75 Miranda Lambert Way — named for the town's famous daughter. Scratch kitchen, fresh-baked bread, upscale-casual…

Everything Near Van Zandt County

204 stories, landmarks & places within ~20 miles — the same local lore RoadyGoat plays as you drive through.

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