Mineola

The Handbook of Texas gives two accounts of the name. In one, Maj. Ira H. Evans, an International-Great Northern official who laid out the townsite, named it for his daughter Ola and a friend, Minnie Patten. In the other, a surveyor named Rusk combined his daughter's name with that of Minna Wesley Patten. The Mineola Monitor began in 1876. A chair factory opened in 1886, became a crate and basket factory in 1900 and closed in 1952. The Watermelon Festival started in 1948, and oil and a railroad shop drove the economy of the 1940s.

What the plaque says

Mineola Since its establishment in 1873, the community of Mineola has been tied historically to the railroad and transportation industries. The Texas & Pacific Railroad planned to connect Longview and Dallas by rail, and began building west in 1872. Meanwhile, the Houston & Great Northern Railroad built northward from Troup. Several communities developed near anticipated depot sites, though they declined when the two railroads joined. The site was named Mineola; various stories recount the naming of the new settlement. Additional rail lines soon connected to Mineola, which experienced impressive growth. The rail brought new residents, including a number of immigrant families, and made Mineola a shipping center for agricultural Wood County. The growth sparked the establishment of various institutions, including a newspaper, the Mineola Monitor; churches, beginning with St. Paul's Baptist Church in 1871; a city cemetery, founded in 1873; a school system started in 1875 and becoming public in 1881; and First National Bank, which organized in 1898. An 1888 fire destroyed 18 buildings downtown, but the community quickly recovered. In the early 20th century, transportation continued to affect Mineola, as the federal government built U.S. Highway 80 through the town. In 1929, the Texas 7 Pacific terminal in Longview relocated to Mineola; many families resettled here, sparking population and commercial growth. The railroads continued to be vital to the community until they declined in the 1950s. In 1996, Amtrak revived passenger service to Mineola, restoring the town's bond with rail. Today, Mineola continues to be a leading community in Wood County and east Texas. (2008)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Governor Hogg Shrine — 9.1 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.
• Tyler State Park — 17 mi
  A 985-acre park eight miles north of Tyler, built by the Civilian Conservation Corps from 1935 to 1941 around a 64-acre spring-fed lake, with more than 13 miles of trails.
• Camp Ford Historic Park — 22 mi
  A free county park north of Tyler on the site of the largest Confederate prison camp west of the Mississippi, with a kiosk, an interpretive trail and a historical society museum downtown.
• 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

• C. W. Raines — steps away
• Railroads in Mineola — steps away
• Jack Rhodes — steps away
• Mineola Opera Houses — steps away