Ben Wheeler Community

By the Handbook of Texas count, Ben Wheeler had three churches, a district school, saw and grist mills, two syrup mills, cotton gins and a general store in 1888. J. F. Davidson's coeducational boarding school, the Alamo Institute, enrolled 142 in 1903. The 1896 population of 500 fell to 238 by 1904 after a smallpox epidemic, when school enrollment stood at 163. The Van oilfield later brought hotels and dance halls, and the town reached 375 people in 1933. Many farmers turned to cattle in the 1960s, and the school joined the Van district in 1966.

What the plaque says

Ben Wheeler Community Just as Native Americans were attracted to this area because of the climate and resources, early settlers also utilized these resources. The area was originally named Clough after George W. Clough (1820-1884) who, in 1868, purchased the 640-acre Harvey Randolf Survey. The northwest corner of his land became the majority of the old downtown of Ben Wheeler. Clough established a post office in his home in 1876 and became the first postmaster. The post office was named Ben Wheeler in honor of Kentucky native Benjamin F. Wheeler. Wheeler came to Texas in 1847 and contracted to carry the mail from Tyler to Buffalo and was the first person to carry mail into Van Zandt county. In the early 1880's George Clough applied for permission to move the post office to his store in town and change the name to Georgetown. Permission was granted to move the post office but the name remained Ben Wheeler since there was already a town named Georgetown. Ancel Clough, heir to George Clough, sold 50 acres in 1885 to Professor James F. Davidson. In 1890, Davidson and J.W. Downs established the Alamo Institute, the first school of higher learning in Van Zandt County. The town grew rapidly from 1885 to 1892 and boasted four general stores, two grocery stores, a drug store, boarding houses, a hotel, three gins and mills, a blacksmith and wood working shop, two churches and the Alamo Institute. Fires in 1893, 1933 and in 1945 destroyed businesses in the downtown area. Ben Wheeler's growth began to decline in 1929, but stabilized in the 1960s when the area farmers transitioned into ranching and coastal Bermuda haying operations. 175 Years of Texas Independence * 1836 - 2011

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Texas Freshwater Fisheries Center — 16 mi
  A Texas Parks and Wildlife hatchery and visitor center in Athens where visitors can borrow tackle and fish a stocked pond, watch native species in gallery tanks and ride a tram around the hatchery.
• Purtis Creek State Park — 18 mi
  A 1,582-acre park straddling the Henderson and Van Zandt county line, built around a 355-acre lake with no-wake fishing, borrowed tackle, a 4.1-mile hike-and-bike trail and a nature path.
• Tyler Rose Garden and Rose Museum — 23 mi
  More than 38,000 rose bushes of about 600 cultivars in a free city garden, beside a museum of the Texas Rose Festival, which began in 1933, and of the rose industry.
• Goodman-LeGrand House and Museum — 24 mi
  A Tyler house begun in 1859 as four rooms, enlarged by the Goodman family over 73 years, and left to the city in 1939 with its furnishings, in a garden that fills a city block.

More markers nearby

• Morgan G. Sanders — steps away
• Cox Cemetery — 3.9 mi
• Holly Springs United Methodist Church — 4.1 mi
• Colfax Cemetery — 4.8 mi