History
Angelina County
Created and organized in 1846. Originally a part of Nacogdoches County. Bears the name of the river traversing the region. The following towns have served as the county seat: Marion, 1846-1854; Jonesville, 1854-1858; Homer, Feb. 3 - May 17, 1858, when its name was changed to Angelina, 1858 - 1890; Lufkin 1890.
History
Berry Cemetery
In 1850, Samuel and Elizabeth Berry brought their family and slaves here from Limestone Co., Alabama. Samuel's plantation covered hundreds of acres and included a cotton gin and gristmill. Berry Cemetery began in 1863 when Samuel's grandson and namesake died. He and his twin sister Elizabeth, who died in 1869, were buried on the crest of a hill on the Berry plantation.
History
Burke School
The community of Burke was established along the Houston, East and West Texas Railroad in 1882. S. J. and Nancy Arrington conveyed one acre of land adjoining the town on which to establish a public school. The first building, a one-room structure, was enlarged to three rooms within a few years. The 1887 enrollment was about fifty students.
Industry & Science
Camp Nancy
Camp Nancy Camp Nancy began as one of many logging camps established in the Piney Woods of east Texas during the early 20th century. The camp was first created inNacogdoches County, but was moved to the Angelina County community of Dunkin ca. 1918.
History
Central Consolidated School
Central Consolidated School This school traces its origin to five small schools in the Pollok-Central area: Union, Durant, Pollok, Clawson and Allentown. An effort to solve the problem of inadequate funding for each of these rural schools led to their consolidation in 1929 as the Central Consolidated Common School District.
History
City of Lufkin
Founded 1882. Soon became a thriving sawmill community. Named for E. P. Lufkin, chief of crew that surveyed railroad through town. Has been county seat of Angelina County since 1892. Now a regional manufacturing and commerce center. Products include paper and wood products, oilfield pumps, trailers, and foundry castings. (1970)
History
Clark's Ferry and Clark's Ferry Cemetery, Site of
Established by I. D. Clark in 1856, this ferry provided an important crossing on the Neches River between Angelina and Polk counties. When Clark died in 1859, his widow, Ann, operated the ferry with the help of two slaves until her own death in 1863. Ownership of the land remained in the Clark family. In 1881 W. B. Clark was issued a license to operate the ferry.
History
Collins-Shotwell House
Attorney Chester B. Collins (1888-1960) built this house in the early 1920s with lumber provided by Lillian Knox whom he had successfully defended in a murder case. The 2-story bungalow features corbeled brick piers, wide gables with brackets, a corbeled chimney cap, and unusual window patterns.
History
Depot Explosion and Mystery
On the evening of March 2, 1913, an explosion destroyed the Houston, East & West Texas Railroad depot at this site, disrupting the town's vital source of transportation and trade. Although a body was not discovered, it was presumed a railroad employee had been killed in the mishap. He was later declared legally dead and his stepmother collected on his insurance.
History
Diboll
A sawmill established here in 1894 by T. L. L. Temple gave rise to a town that by 1900 contained a commissary, post office, churches, homes, and schools run by the Southern Pine Lumber Company. The town was named for the Diboll family of New Orleans from whom Temple initially purchased timber rights.
History
Don Joaquin Crossing on Bedias Trail
Used by Indians, explorers, traders and missionaries, this trail ran from Bedias Indian camps on the lower Trinity River to Spanish missions near Nacogdoches. Don Joaquin de Orobio y Basterra, captain of the presidio at La Bahia (present Goliad), led reconnaissance troops along the trail in 1746 and gave his name to the Angelina River crossing.
History
Emporia
Emporia Lumber Company co-owners S. F. Carter and M. T. Jones purchased over 5,000 acres of land in south Angelina County and established a company town named Emporia in 1893. The town included sawmill facilities, a railroad spur to ship lumber, logging camps, company houses, schools, churches, stores and a cemetery. In 1906 the sawmill burned and was not rebuilt.
History
Emporia Cemetery
This pioneer burial ground predates later timber towns of the area. The land was originally set aside as a family cemetery, with the first burial for W.E. and Emily Waltman's infant son William in 1882. The Emporia sawmill operated a few hundred yards west from 1893-1906; some sawmill workers and their families are also buried here, mostly in unmarked graves.
History
Equipment Typical of Early Texas Logging
One of last ox-drawn or mule-drawn carts skidding logs to railroad from the forests. Built 1950 for W. T. Carter & Brother, a lumber firm, and replaced 1951 by tractor-powered equipment, this slip-tongue, high wheel cart is a relic of early logging methods. (1972)
History
Ewing
The boom town of Ewing stood for two decades on the west bank of the Angelina River. Named for plantation owner James A. Ewing, the town was located near a rail line and virgin hardwood forests. In 1919 H. G. Bohlssen purchased a 100-acre tract of land and built a sawmill.
History
Fairview School
The Angelina County School Board created Fairview Common School District Number 69 in the late 1800s. A one-room schoolhouse was built that served students from a wide rural area. The first school term, in 1898, was five months long. Fairview School students met at Fairview Baptist Church from about 1905 until 1913, when the county school board reorganized the common school districts.
History
German POWs in the East Texas Timber Industry
The U.S. Army began building POW camps in the United States in early 1942 for captured Axis prisoners. During World War II, the Army shipped almost 425,000 military prisoners to 511 camps in the U.S. Approximately 50,000 of those POWs, primarily Germans, were housed in 70 Texas facilities ranging from 9000-prisoner base camps to small branch camps for 250.
Architecture
Gibbs House
W. M. Gibbs came to the town of Manning in 1904 as a sawmill manager for the Carter-Kelly Lumber Company. Gibbs (1876 - 1938) and his wife, Leannah, were the first occupants of this c. 1904 house, and here they reared their four children. Enlarged in 1927, the house is an American foursquare design with Craftsman influences.
History
Homer Cemetery
In 1854 W. W. Manning established a drugstore and sawmill in this area, and named the community after his former home in Homer, Louisiana. In 1856 Homer was chosen as Angelina County seat, following a mandate from the Texas Legislature to locate a permanent seat of government near the geographic center of each county. County surveyor William G. Lang platted the town of Homer in 1857.
History
Joseph Herrington
When Angelina County was organized in 1846, Alabama native Joseph Herrington (1823 - 89) was one of six men appointed by the legislature who set boundary lines and selected Marion as the first seat of government. That same year, at the age of 22, he was elected the county's first chief justice (county judge).
Industry & Science
Kerr's Inc.
Regarded as the oldest Angelina County business in continuous operation, Kerr's began in 1870 as a general store in the early county seat of Homer (5 mi. SE). It was started by Civil War veteran Capt. Joseph Kerr (B. 1828), a native of South Carolina. The operation was moved to Lufkin in the 1880s, soon after the railroad town was founded.
History
KRBA-AM Radio Station
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.
History
Lindsey Springs Logging Camp
The naturally occurring Lindsey Springs, located approximately 3/4 of a mile northeast of this location, became the site in 1899 of the Southern Pine Lumber Company's first logging camp. the springs provided an important water source for this vital camp, which by 1900 included company housing for about 110 people, a store, school, and a church.
Industry & Science
Lufkin Foundry and Machine Company
Chartered in 1902 as a repair shop and parts supply house for local sawmills, Lufkin Foundry & Machine Company was begun by J. H. Kurth, Frank Kavanaugh, Sr., Frank Kavanaugh, Jr., Eli Wiener and Simon Henderson. Later, under the leadership of W. C. Trout, the company ventured into the oil industry and manufactured the first enclosed geared pumping unit.
History
Machinery from Early East Texas Logging Railroads
Steam locomotive and tender No. 3 were bought 1908 by Carter-Kelley Lumber Co., for use in building a sawmill at Manning (about 18 mi. south); then in railroad building, logging, and passenger and freight hauling schedules. The 1906 wood-burning steam loader was also used by Carter-Kelley in building Manning Mill, and later served on "portable" logging railroads.
Elsewhere in Texas
Hear it from the road
Whistlestop tells you this story automatically when you drive past. No searching, no tapping, nothing to ask.
