Civic & Local
Matinee Musical Club
In January 1909, Mary Ann (Coffield) Perry organized the Matinee Musical Club on the front porch of her home at this site. Pearl Cauthon served as the first president of the club, which met regularly to study and perform music. Yearbooks document annual themes, including classical music, and Texas women and American composers.
History
Milam County
A part of Robertson's colony in 1834. A part of the municipality of Viesca, 1835. Named changed to Milam, December 27, 1835 in honor of Benjamin Rush Milam, 1788-1835, who fell at San Antonio. After Burleson and Robertson counties were cut off Nashville became the county seat in 1837. The later creation of Williamson, Bell, McLennan and Falls, reduced Milam County to its present size.
Architecture
Milam County Courthouse
This is the fourth structure to serve as the Milam County Courthouse. The local Masonic Lodge laid the cornerstone for the building on July 4, 1891. Designed by architect A. O. Watson of Austin, the courthouse at one time featured a Second Empire style roof and a cupola with a four-sided clock.
History
Milam County Jail of 1895
When the 1875 Milam County Jailhouse grew too crowded in the 1890s, it was removed to make room for larger facilities. In March 1895, the Milam County Commissioners awarded a contract to the Pauly Jail Building and Manufacturing Company of St. Louis, Missouri, for the construction of a larger prison. The company furnished all supplies, including St. Louis pressed bricks.
History
Moss Ragsdale Cemetery
The cemetery at this site was first used as a burial ground in the 1850s, but the land was not formally set aside for this purpose until a 1902 warranty deed noted ...one acre of land . . . to be used exclusively as a burying ground and for no other purpose.
History
Mrs. Edna Westbrook Trigg
(December 30, 1868 - November 15, 1946) Pioneer leader of Texas women in rural club work. While serving as principal of a school near Milano, Mrs. Trigg was asked by the United States Department of Agriculture in 1911 to supervise Texas' first Girls' Tomato Club. Her role included organization, teaching, and experimentation. In Aug.
History
Mt. Homer Baptist Church Cemetery
This site was originally known as Watson Cemetery and used for burials of Watson and Williams family members. It transferred to trustees of Mt. Homer Baptist Church in 1866. A church building that also served as a schoolhouse was located on the northeast side of the property.
History
Murray Cemetery
Originally named Pleasant Grove Cemetery, this burial ground was at first associated with the Pleasant Grove Community. The settlement's school was also once located on this site. In 1872, residents organized the Pleasant Grove Church, which in the schoolhouse. Members later merged with a nearby congregation to form Mt. Zion Baptist Church, worshipping several miles east of here.
History
O.J. Thomas High School
O.J. Thomas High School Early efforts to serve the educational needs of Cameron's African American students centered on church instruction at a place called "Little Rocky" Church in the Marlow Community. In 1923, Oscar John Thomas (1894-1977) joined the district to serve as principal and teacher.
History
Port Sullivan
Early important trade and educational center. Established by Augustus W. Sullivan in 1835. River navigation extended to this point for many years. The Austin-East Texas and the Houston-Waco roads crossed here. On this spot was located Port Sullivan College. Established in the early fifties. Incorporated December 16, 1863. Destroyed by fire in 1878.
History
Port Sullivan Cemetery
In 1851, Reuben Anderson encouraged development of a townsite on Augustus Sullivan's land; two of Anderson's sons bought the first lots sold in Port Sullivan. The town benefitted from river navigation and grew to include stores, a sawmill, a college, and a population of over one thousand. In 1867, St. Paul's Masonic Lodge No. 177 bought five acres for a community cemetery.
Architecture
R. F. and Minta Pool House
R. F. and Minta Pool House Developer Jefferson D. Hefley completed this house in 1902 as part of his Hefley Heights subdivision. R.F. and Minta (Fraim) pool purchased it the same year. R.F. came to Cameron in 1881 and opened a confectionary stand, which grew to become a department store business.
History
Rainbow Tourist Camp and Courts
In the first decades of the twentieth century, affordable roadside accommodations began with campsites equipped with amenities. These eventually developed into cottage style courts in the 1920s. Nathan Monroe (N.M.) Bullock, a member of the State Mining Board, opened Rainbow Tourist Camp near his Rockdale home in 1918. By the 1920s, Bullock and his wife, Lenora, added cottages to the camp.
History
S. S. Cyril and Methodius Catholic Church
Through the efforts of fellow immigrant Joseph Russek, many Czech families came to this area of Milam County in the 1880s. The first Catholic Mass in the Maraksville settlement was conducted by a visiting priest in the Kaspar Kubecka home in 1883, and later services were held in other homes.
History
Saint Michael's Catholic Church
Irish Catholic settlers first came to this area in 1875. The community, first called Irish Settlement, was served by visiting priests beginning in 1879. Eight families joined together in 1885 to build a church, which they dedicated to St. Michael. The predominantly Irish membership was eventually joined by a number of German-American Catholics.
History
Salty Community
Settled in 1860s; named for Salty Creek, cattle licks. Joseph and Sarah Frasure gave site for Methodist Church, 1871. Earliest burial in cemetery was in 1875. Community had school by 1878. Violence erupted in area in 1880s over barbed wire fencing. Salty was designated a voting precinct in 1886. Mail service was initiated 1897.
History
Sharp
A farming and ranching community, Sharp traces its origins to the years immediately after the Civil War when settlers, attracted by the fertile black soil, began arriving in this area. The first business, a store, opened in 1892. It was soon joined by a blacksmith shop and the Davis General Store in 1896. Cotton was the principal crop of the area, and a gin opened in 1896.
History
Sharp General Store
Civil War veteran Daniel G. Davis, Sr. (1836-1927) built this structure in two stages in 1895 and 1896. The Sharp General Store, which Davis and his descendants operated here until 1985, was the area's largest mercantile facility and main outlet for local produce. It offered banking services, public scales, and a place for local citizens to socialize and enjoy water from a barrel on the porch.
History
Site of First Home in Cameron
Boyhood home of L. S. "Sul" Ross (1838-1898), Texas Governor from 1887 to 1891. His father Shapley P. Ross, Indian agent and Ranger, built house after moving here about 1841; he chose this site because it had a good spring. L. S. Ross, who was a Confederate general, served as president of Texas A & M College after holding office as governor.
History
Site of the Town of Nashville
Surveyed in the fall of 1835 as the capital of Robertson's colony. Named for Nashville, Tennessee where Sterling C. Robertson and many of his colonists had formerly lived. Seat of justice Milam municipality, 1836; Milam County, 1837. First home in Texas of George C. Childress, chairman of the committee who drafted the Texas Declaration of Independence.
History
St. John Lutheran Church
Although members began meeting in January 1902, St. John Lutheran Church formally organized December 26, 1903, under the leadership of the Rev. Carl Roth. The congregation was part of a three-church parish. In 1915, members built a sanctuary in the agricultural community of Detmold (2.5 mi. N), the home of many German immigrants. In 1933, they enlarged the building and, in 1949, built a parsonage.
History
St. John Lutheran Church Cemetery
The small agricultural community of Detmold was settled near the turn of the century by German immigrants. In 1900, local residents Carl Fick, August Boening, and Ernst Richter deeded land at this site for the establishment of a Lutheran church and cemetery. The oldest recorded grave, that of Gottfried Eschberger, dates to 1903.
Architecture
St. Monica's Catholic Church
Founded in 1883, the congregation erected this structure in 1927-28 after a fire had destroyed their previous place of worship. The building exhibits influences of both Palladian and Italian Romanesque architectural styles, an unusual combination for a Roman Catholic church in Texas. Outstanding features include the Doric portico and the Lombard Romanesque style bell tower.
History
Steamboat Washington Landed Here
In the winter of 1850-1851 with Captain Basil M. Hatfield, commander, the Steamboat Washington landed here with a shipment of merchandise from Washington-on-the-Brazos to J. W. McCown and Co., merchants at Cameron. The first, last and only steamboat to navigate Little River.
Architecture
The B. J. and Sue Dollar Baskin Home
The B.J. and Sue Dollar Baskin Home In 1883, Benajah Jefferson "B.J." Baskin moved to Cameron with his wife, Anna Lou (Ppitts), and extended family from Alabama. Baskin and his brothers-in-law bought a mercantile; he also ventured successfully into farming and ranching. Anna died in 1893, and in 1895, B.J. remarried to Sue Dollar of Gause and purchased this site. The couple completed this home c.
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