History
At this site was the camp of the Army of the Republic of Texas
At this site was the camp of the army of the Republic of Texas under Generals Edward Burleson, Thomas J. Rusk, Albert Sidney Johnston, Hugh McLeod, Kelsey H. Douglass and Colonel Willis H. Landrum just before they engaged Chief Bowles of the Cherokees and associated tribes in the decisive battle on July 16, 1839, by which the Indians were forever driven from East Texas Erected by the State of…
History
Bascom Cemetery
Bascom was settled in the mid-1840s and named for a Tennessee Methodist bishop by early settler Lazariah Smith. Burials took place just north of this site until 1857 when one acre west of the Tyler to Henderson Road (present-day FM 848) and two acres east of the road were set aside for cemetery purposes. Graves from the early site were reinterred in Bascom Cemetery.
History
Bethesda Presbyterian Church and Cemetery
In 1879 William Lee Henderson (b. 1808), his wife Eleanor Shelby (b. 1817), and their nine children moved from their Alabama home to Texas by wagon train. Church records indicate worship services were held in a shelter built by the Hendersons shortly after they settled here.
History
Butler College
Rev. Cornelius Moses Butler and trustees of the East Texas Baptist Association founded East Texas Baptist Academy in 1905. The academy was created to improve educational opportunities for African American youth in and around the city of Tyler. Rev. Butler served as the academy's first president until his death in 1924, at which time the institution's name was changed to Butler College.
Military
Camp Fannin
Numerous military bases were expanded or established throughout Texas during World War II. Originally planned as an Air Corps installation, construction of Camp Fannin began in late 1942. Named in honor of Texas revolutionary hero James Walker Fannin, Jr., the camp opened in the spring of 1943 and was formally dedicated in September.
Military
Camp Fannin Internment Camp World War II P.O.W. Camp
Camp Fannin was also the site of an internment camp, with the first prisoners of war (POWs) from Germany's Afrika Korps arriving in Oct. 1943. By early 1944, the military designated the site a POW base camp that administered a number of smaller branch camps in east Texas.
History
Camp Ford
On this site during the Civil War was located Camp Ford, the largest prisoner of war compound for Union troops west of the Mississippi River. Named in honor of Col. John S. "Rip" Ford who originally established a training camp here in 1862. It was converted in the summer of 1863 to a prison camp. It first consisted of four to five acres enclosed by a stockade sixteen feet high.
History
City of Tyler
In area opened 1839 to white settlers by Republic of Texas victories over Cherokee Indians whose trails led the way to good springs, fine farmlands, useful salines. The first Legislature of the state of Texas named the town (founded 1846) for President John Tyler, who signed the resolution annexing Texas to the United States.
History
Colonel Bryan Marsh
(Star and Wreath) School named for Texas Confederate. Alabama native, came to Tyler, 1854. 1861 was captain Co. C, 17th Texas Cavalry. In 1863 Confederate campaigns to prevent split of South along Mississippi River. He was one of 4,500 C. S. A. men attacked by 30,000 Federals at Arkansas post in Jan. 1863. Taken prisoner there, he was exchanged in May. Put into Bragg's army in Tennessee.
History
Colonel Richard B. Hubbard
(Star and Wreath) (1832-1901) School named for Texas Confederate. Georgia-born, came to Texas 1853. Tyler lawyer, politician. State legislator. Raised 5th Tex. Inf. Bn., merged 1862 in Hubbard's Regt., 22nd Tex. Inf. In 1863 campaign to stop split of South on the Mississippi River, unit helped relieve Vicksburg Siege.
History
Colonel Thomas R. Bonner
(Star and Wreath) (1836-1891) Born in Mississippi. Came to Texas 1849. In Texas militia at start of Civil War. Elected captain Co. C, 18th Tex. Infantry, C. S. A., 1862. Commanded 18th as Colonel, 1863-65. Gallantly led unit in battles at Bourbeau, Mansfield, Pleasant Hill, La. and Jenkins' Ferry, Ark., all being vital actions to prevent Federal invasions of Texas.
Architecture
Dewberry Plantation House
War of 1812 veteran John Dewberry came to Texas in 1835 and was listed as a resident of Tyler by 1845. A successful businessman and cotton farmer, he served on the commission to locate county boundaries and a county seat after the creation of Smith County in 1846.
Industry & Science
Duck Creek Soil Erosion Project
In 1929, one of ten erosion control research stations in the United States was set up southeast of this site for the purpose of studying erosion problems and the effectiveness of erosion control methods. This was one of the first organized efforts to solve the nation's soil erosion problems in a planned, scientific manner.
History
Elisha Everett Lott
(February 24, 1820 - January 17, 1864) Moved to Harrison County, Texas in 1840. Elected to the Republic of Texas Congress in 1842, he helped open this area of Texas for settlement. He moved here in 1845, and in 1846 was instrumental in the organization of Smith County and the selection of Tyler as the county seat.
History
Erasmus M. Hanna House
Built about 1872 by Dr. Hanna, one of founders of Troup, and an investor in East Texas railroads and clay industries. Besides his medical practice, his interests included first hotel in Troup. Wife, Virginia Morris Hanna, was daughter of East Texas pioneers, Judge and Mrs. Stephen Decatur Morris. Five generations of Hanna descendants have lived here. Victorian architecture.
History
First County Agricultural Extension Agent
At a time of low crop production and depressed farm economy, Smith County became the birthplace of the County Agricultural Agent concept. This occurred in an historic meeting Nov. 12, 1906, in an opera house near this site. Present were Dr. Seaman A. Knapp of the United States Department of Agriculture, County Judge S. A.
History
Garden Valley
On January 1, 1851, James L. Davidson purchased more than 1,000 acres in northwestern Smith County, the tract where he founded the town of Garden Valley. The next year, Garden Valley had a post office and its first public road, the approximate route of Farm Road 16 today. Two years later, the commissioners court of Smith County opened another public road, the Tyler to Garden Valley Road.
History
Gary Elementary School
School officials acquired two acres here in 1907 from Horace Chilton and in 1908 built an 8-room white stone schoolhouse. The elementary school was named for Franklin N. Gary, an early settler of this area noted for his support of public education. The original schoolhouse was replaced in 1924 with a new structure.
History
Goodman Home, 1857
Begun by Gallatin Smith, as "Bonnie Castle." Bought, 1866, by Dr. S. A. Goodman. Enlarged by his son, Major W. J. Goodman, surgeon in 13th Texas Infantry, C. S. A. Remodeled in 1920s by Mrs. Sallie Goodman LeGrand, the major's last survivor. Willed to city of Tyler, 1939. Smith County Historical Society Museum housed here since 1960. Restored 1964 by Junior League of Tyler.
History
Hawthorne Cemetery
Mississippi natives William and Emily Hawthorne moved to this area with their family in 1867. In the 1870 census, they were recorded as having ten children. This cemetery takes its name from the Hawthornes, although their name does not appear on any of the gravestones. Several, however, are only marked with initials. The first documented burial at the site is that of J.W.
History
Head of Navigation on the Sabine River: Belzora Landing
A thriving port for Tyler and East Texas, from 1850s until arrival of railroads in 1870s. One of many ports established when settlers (as in eastern states) turned to rivers for transportation. In Texas, river-freighting proved rather disappointing. The long, winding rivers were difficult for even small, shallow-draft steamers to navigate.
History
Headache Springs, C. S. A. Medical Laboratory
A quarter mile north of this site is "Headache Springs," noted for its healing mineral waters. During the Civil War, as sea blockades cut off imports, a Confederate medical laboratory operated here. One of nine, and only one west of Mississippi River. For the government it made medicines and whiskey.
History
Henry Miller Morgan
On August 25, 1895, Henry Miller Morgan was born in Tyler's St. Louis community to Henry and Alice Ingram Morgan. He attended school in the St. Louis community, completing his education at East Texas Academy, which later became Butler College. He is listed as a barber in Tyler's 1918 city directory. He and his wife, Mabel (McLellan), had two daughters and one son.
History
Here Was the Camp of the Army of the Republic of Texas
Under Generals Kelsey H. Douglass, Thomas J. Rusk, Edward Burleson and Colonel Landrum, from which the soldiers returned to their homes on July 25, 1839 after the decisive battle with Chief Bowles of the Cherokees and associated tribes on July 16, 1839 in Van Zandt County. Erected by the State of Texas 1936
History
In the vicinity of Harris' place
In the vicinity of Harris' place scouts from the Army of the Republic of Texas were dispatched from the present county of Van Zandt after the battle with Cherokees and associate tribes July 16, 1839 in which Chief Bowles was killed. Erected by the State of Texas 1936
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.
