Robert Graves Stadler

The settlement Robert Graves Stadler founded in the 1840s was named for the blackjack trees around it by the relatives, mostly nephews and nieces, who followed him. A log schoolhouse went up about the time of the Civil War, and the Blackjack Baptist Church was organized in 1875. It did not grow until about 1916, when John W. Gray and Tom Upchurch opened a store. Just after World War I it had two stores, a gin, a garage, a church, a school and about 100 residents. The last store closed in 1961; 47 people lived there in 1990.

What the plaque says

Robert Graves Stadler Born in Granville County, North Carolina, Robert Graves Stadler was a veteran of the War of 1812 and the Texas War of Independence. He purchased land in this area in 1845 and settled near the already established community of Griffin (2 mi, SE). By 1853, Stadler had encouraged relatives from North Caroline to make their homes here. He died just as the Civil War began, having laid the foundation for what became the farming community of Blackjack. (1985)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• New London Museum and Cenotaph — 16 mi
  A volunteer-run museum beside the pink granite cenotaph for the March 1937 school gas explosion, holding a model of the school, a blackboard from that day and an odorizer device.
• Goodman-LeGrand House and Museum — 25 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.
• Tyler Rose Garden and Rose Museum — 25 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.
• Camp Ford Historic Park — 26 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.

More markers nearby

• Site of Griffin — 1.3 mi
• Emmaus — 3.4 mi
• Knoxville — 3.7 mi
• New Summerfield Public School — 4.3 mi