Cherokee County

The Legislature marked Cherokee County off from Nacogdoches County on April 11, 1846, and it was organized on July 13 with Rusk as seat. Larissa, founded in 1846, became the largest early town; Gum Creek, later Jacksonville, followed in 1847, and Alto was established on the Old San Antonio Road in 1851. Railroads then reshaped the map: the International-Great Northern in 1872, the Kansas and Gulf Short Line from 1882 to 1885, which produced Bullard, Craft and Wells, and the Texas and New Orleans in 1905, which produced Cuney, Reese and Gallatin.

What the plaque says

Cherokee County Cherokee County has a rich and varied history. Spanish and French explorers of the seventeenth century found Tejas and Hasinai Indians living in this area, and Spanish missions were established in the region. Driven out of the United States, the Cherokee Indians migrated to this area about 1822, and were here at the time of early Anglo-American colonization in the 1820s and 1830s. Under the administration of Republic of Texas President Mirabeau B.Lamar, the Cherokee were expelled from area in 1839. Following formal creation of Cherokee County from Nacogdoches County in 1846, settlement of the area increased rapidly. Family farms and towns soon sprung up throughout the county. The building of roads and the advancement of railroads and river navigation contributed further to settlement. The chief economic base of the county from its beginning, agriculture remained a vital force as industrialization and business interests developed. The establishment of schools and churches formed the basis for the area's social history. Cherokee County has been the birthplace of two Texas governors, one governor of Wyoming and one Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives. (1986)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Caddo Mounds State Historic Site — 14 mi
  Three earthen mounds of an ancestral Caddo village and ceremonial center on the old El Camino Real, settled about A.D. 800 and still sacred to Caddo people, with a grass house and visitor center.
• Texas State Railroad Excursion Train — 25 mi
  A round trip of about 25 miles of track between the Palestine and Rusk depots through the Piney Woods, on a line built by prison labor and reopened as a tourist railroad in 1976.

More markers nearby

• Cherokee County C.S.A. — steps away
• Bachelor Girl's Library Club — steps away
• The Rusk Cherokeean — steps away
• Rusk Footbridge — steps away