Mercer's Colony Eastern Boundary

The grant outlasted Mercer's part in it. The Handbook of Texas says he sold $500 shares to investors in Virginia, Florida and Texas, and 1,255 certificates were recorded in the General Land Office. On February 27, 1852 he assigned his interest to George Hancock of Louisville and other association members for a $2,000 annuity, then spent his last six years traveling in Europe. He died on May 4, 1858. The association kept going to court: an injunction in 1875, a denial of compensation by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1883, and land disputes still in litigation in 1936.

What the plaque says

Mercer's Colony Eastern Boundary In 1844 Charles Fenton Mercer led an effort to colonize an area in north central Texas equal to portions of 18 current Texas counties. His contract to settle 500 families in five years was complicated by various legal issues, but land certificates were ultimately issued to the settlers. Mercer severed all connections with the grant in 1852. This marks the east line of the colony whose boundaries were approximately Palestine and Waco on the south, the Brazos River on the west, and the McKinney area on the north. Descendants of Mercer's colony settlers still reside in Texas. (1997) Incise on base: Researched by Nelda Jones

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Governor Hogg Shrine — 20 mi
  Quitman's 27-acre city park, once a state historical park, where two houses tied to James Stephen Hogg's marriage stand beside an arboretum, a nature walk and the grounds of the Old Settlers Reunion.
• Purtis Creek State Park — 26 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 — 34 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 — 34 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

• Benjamin Franklin Wheeler — steps away
• Poletown and Rhodesburg — 1.6 mi
• Wiley Hardeman Post — 3.0 mi
• Grand Saline C.S.A. — 3.5 mi