History
Shiloh Methodist Church and Cemetery
The burial of a child, James W. Rozelle, was allowed on this wooded rise in 1850 by land owners Edwin and Martha Harry. In 1854 the Harrys allotted one acre at this site for a Methodist church, called Shiloh after the popular biblical place name. The original trustees were David Byrd, Edwin Harry, Daniel Henderson, Jesse Hill, and Thomas Singletary, all buried here.
History
Site of Fastrill
The property of the Southern Pine Lumber Company, Fastrill took its name from three men connected with logging in the area: Frank Farrington, postmaster at Diboll, the company headquarters, in the early 1920s; and P. H. Strauss and William Hill, both lumbermen. Fastrill was a company town. All its residents were employees of Southern Pine, which purchased the site in March of 1922.
History
Site of Ferguson-Ford Mill
In November 1847, James Ferguson, a land speculator, bought 1,600 acres including this site and built a mill. He successfully operated it for several years, employing five workers by 1852. He lost the property in a legal judgement, and it changed ownership several times in the next seventeen years. Charles E.
History
Site of First Free Public School
In 1885 a two-story frame structure was built on this site and served as the first free public school in Jacksonville. It was destroyed by a tornado in 1890. A three-story brick building was erected here in 1910-12. Known as the East Side School, it served elementary and secondary students at different times until 1939. After decades of use for school purposes, the hillside stood bare until 1940.
History
Site of Kilraven
Merchant and miller William Henry (Bill) Spinks rebuilt his sawmill near this site in 1891 after a fire destroyed his earlier venture in southwest Cherokee County. The mill occupied 20 acres of land beside the railroad called Spinks' Switch. Many employees lived near the mill in company houses.
History
Site of Lacy's Fort
Built before 1835 as a home and trading post by Martin Lacy, Indian agent for the Mexican government. Used as a place of refuge after the massacre of the Killough family, October 5, 1838. Erected by the State of Texas 1936
History
Site of Linwood
Star and Wreath On land inherited by Delilah Dill Durst from Helena Kimble Dill, whose daughter born in 1804 was thought to be first white child native to Texas. Built about 1830 by Delilah's husband, Joseph Durst, who settled in Texas in early 1800s and rose by 1826 to office of Alcalde in Nacogdoches.
History
Site of Old Larissa College
A prominent school before the Civil War. Established in a log hut in 1848. Placed under the control of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church in 1855. Chartered February 2, 1856. With splendid equipment, Larissa offered the strongest science work of that day in Texas. Closed in 1866. Dr. F. L. Yoakum, President, 1855-1866. Erected by the State of Texas 1936
History
Site of Rusk Public School No. 2 for African Americans
By 1884 the Rusk Public School District maintained two schools: No. 1 for its Anglo students and No. 2 for its African American students. A yearly average of 50 students met in a small house built here about 1895 to house Rusk Public School No. 2. In 1939 the Rusk Independent School District erected a new school building southeast of downtown Rusk for its African American students.
History
Site of Sam Houston Speeches
Two speeches were delivered by Sam Houston in Rusk. The first, in 1855, was a debate with politician Frank Bowden. Houston, a U.S. Senator, was on a tour through central and east Texas trying to regain public favor after voting against the Kansas-Nebraska Act. Political debates were popular entertainment of the time, and were well attended. Houston campaigned for governor here in 1857.
History
Site of Tassie Belle and Star and Cresent Iron Ore Furnaces
New Birmingham was a boom town nearby in the late 1880s built around local iron ore operations. The furnaces, capable of producing 50 tons of iron daily, were named "Tassie Belle," after the wife of the town founder A. B. Bevins, and the "Star and Crescent." About 275 workmen were required to keep furnaces in continual operation.
History
Site of the Delaware Indian Village
Noted as interpreters and messengers of peace, the Delawares were chiefly instrumental in bringing other tribes to the General Treaty at Bird's Fort (in the present county of Tarrant) in 1843. Erected by the State of Texas 1936
History
Site of the Mission San Francisco De Los Tejas
Originally established as Mission San Francisco de los Tejas in 1690 by Franciscan missionaries for the purpose of Christianizing and civilizing the Neches and other Indians of the region Reestablished in 1716 Abandoned temporarily due to French incursion from Louisiana in 1719 Relocated here as San Francisco de los Neches by the Marquis de Aguayo in 1721 Removed to the Colorado River in 1730…
History
Site of the Union Hotel/Bracken House/Acme Hotel
The first hotel to occupy this site was the Union Hotel, a wood frame building erected in 1849. Renamed Bracken House for a subsequent owner, it continued to serve the city until 1889. Civil War General Joseph L.
History
Stella Salmon Hill
Moved to Texas, 1908, from Arkansas. Taught in Rusk and Alto before marrying Dr. James C. Hill in 1919. Teacher, civic, social and religious leader who championed her beloved East Texas. Stella Hill Memorial Library honors her name.
History
Terrell Lodge No. 83
Organized in 1851, this Masonic body was chartered by the Grand Lodge of Texas in 1852. Meetings were originally held in the Linwood Community (7 mi. E). The lodge was named for George Whitfield Terrell (1893-1846), who served as attorney general of the Republic of Texas. He also represented the Republic as an Indian commissioner and foreign diplomat. Terrell Lodge moved to Alto in 1852.
History
Texas Civil War Iron Works
To make farm and kitchen tools need in wartime, Chapel Hill Manufacturing Co. in 1863 set up plant on this site, processing native iron; used Cherokee limestone to purify the ore. Nearby hardwood supplied charcoal. Crew included 100 Louisiana slaves. Ore from hilltop was fed through smokestack into furnaces on lower ground. Slag caught in furnace grates.
History
Texas State Railroad
In the late 1880s the Texas Prison System built a short rail line from the state penitentiary facility in north Rusk southward to hardwood timber stands, where charcoal was made for use in firing the prison's iron ore smelting furnaces.
History
The James I. Perkins Family Home
Attorney James N. Thomas (b. 1816) erected the one-story portion of this residence before 1851. James I. Perkins (1847-1923) built the two-story wings and added Victorian detailing after he purchased the property in 1893. Head of a leading Rusk family who owned the home for 94 years, Perkins served as district attorney, district judge, and a member of the State Legislature. His son James I.
History
The Rusk Cherokeean
The first newspaper in Rusk was the short-lived Rusk Pioneer, which began in 1848 and moved to Palestine the following year. On February 27, 1850, the first issue of the Cherokee Sentinel was published. This is the publication to which the current Cherokeean/Herald can trace its origin.
History
Thomas Jefferson Dean
Thomas Jefferson Dean (Aug. 5, 1883 -- Feb. 5, 1949) Born on a farm in Gregg County, Tom Dean became a pastor of the First Christian Church in Jacksonville in 1909, four years before graduating from Texas Christian University. He led efforts to establish the town's public library and Boy Scout troop. Returning to farming, he headed the local Farm Security Administration office in the 1940s.
History
Thompson Cemetery
Thompson Cemetery Wiley (1799-1866) and Cynthia Ann Suttle (1811-1884) Thompson brought their eight children and a number of slaves to this area from Alabama in 1847. They purchased a 636-acre tract of land along Larrison Creek where they built a log home on a hill overlooking the creek bottomland.
History
Town of Craft
Known first as Independence, the town of Craft grew up in the 1890s on the railroad. When a post office was established in 1891, the name Craft was chosen to honor Thomas J. Craft, first postmaster and community leader. In 1896, C. D. and S. H. Jarrat and W. R. Stout began commercial tomato growing and production here. By 1917, 90 percent of Texas' tomatoes were shipped from this area.
History
Union Grove Cemetery
Established in 1868 with burial of Mary Ann Patton, the first wife of John F. Patton (1829-1900). He was Jacksonville postmaster, Confederate Army officer during Civil War (1861-65). In 1871 he deeded this land to the Union School and Church. Kept up by gifts, cemetery is still in use. (1971)
History
Walker's Chapel Cemetery
This cemetery has historic ties to Walker's Chapel Methodist Episcopal Church, South, founded by and named for John Walker, who moved to this vicinity by 1839. Harvey N. Cooper later conveyed this site to the church and its trustees in 1879. The church became the heart of a rural community known as Walker (Walker's) Chapel. The oldest legible marked grave in the community cemetery dates to 1879.
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.
