Ratcliff

The Handbook of Texas dates Jesse H. Ratcliff's sawmill to 1885 and the post office to February 6, 1889. Old Ratcliff School opened in 1890 with Dora Hager as its first teacher and moved closer to town in 1901. In the sawmill years the Handbook puts the population above 5,000, and by 1990 it was 106. By 1920 the surrounding 120,000 acres had been cut, and the town declined until the mid-1930s. Land sales, the national forest and Civilian Conservation Corps tree planting then helped the economy, and a campground a mile west of town became a tourist draw.

What the plaque says

Ratcliff About 1875, a 32-wagon train of settlers came here from Georgia. Jess H. Ratcliff (1844-1920) built a sawmill about 1855, drawing more people. Post office opened 1889, with Ratcliff as postmaster, and town soon had several stores. Professional men included Drs. H.L. McCall and Jake Jackson. Sold 1901 to Louisiana and Texas Lumber Co., then to Central Coal and Coke Co., sawmill became a vast complex, running until 1917, when it closed. Turning to logging or other enterprises, the community survived, although many residents moved away. The Ratcliff schools consolidated (1955) with Kennard. (1972)

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 — 35 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

• Ratcliff CCC Camp — 0.2 mi
• Four C Mill — 0.6 mi
• Allen Chapel Community — 0.9 mi
• Antioch Cemetery — 1.5 mi