Tyler County

Tyler County's settlers came mostly from the South and meant to build a slaveholding society, though sandy soil made poor cotton land, with only 3,907 bales in 1860. That year Black residents were 26 percent of 4,525 people, and in 1861 the county overwhelmingly backed secession. Federal troops were posted in Woodville in 1868. Railroads opened the timber in the 1880s, and the population nearly doubled in a decade, from 5,825 in 1880 to 10,876 in 1890, with nineteen sawmills by then. Lumber stayed the backbone of the economy into the twentieth century.

What the plaque says

Tyler County (Crossroads to East Texas) Home ground of civilized tribes of Indians. Visited 1756 by Spanish explorers, who were trying to keep French trading expeditions out of Texas. Site in 1831 of Fort Teran, commanded by Colonel ellis Peter Bean, famous and colorful adventurer. The county was created an organized in 1846. It was named for President John Tyler, who signed the resolution to annex Texas to the United States. A 200-acre plot for a county seat was donated by a leading early settler, Josiah Wheat. It was named "Woodville" for George T. Wood, sponsor of the bill in the First Legislature of Texas which created the county. (Wood later served as Governor of Texas, from 1847 to 1849.) In the "Big Thicket." Home of the annual Dogwood Festival. Economy is based on timber, oil, livestock. First county officials: William P. Sansour, chief justice; Ezekiel Green, George Kirkwood, Angelina Parker, Ivy Taylor, commissioners; James Sapp, sheriff; James Barclay, tax assessor and collector; J. Dobb and William Gray, justices of the peace; Harmon Frazier, surveyor; John C. Arnett, treasurer. 1966 county officials: Jeff R. Mooney, county judge; Joe I. Best, F. C. Hicks, Leon Fowler, H. H. Powell, commissioners; J. F. Boyd, treasurer; Tom Sawyer, county clerk; A. L. Thornton, tax assessor & collector; Clyde E. Smith, Jr., county attorney; Grady Ray, sheriff; B. M. Minter, county school superintendent; Hilda Coats, district clerk; Joe H. Loggins, E. E. Sheffield, Clarence Woodrome, L. L. Parrish, justices of the peace.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Martin Dies, Jr. State Park — 13 mi
  A 705-acre state park on Steinhagen Reservoir at the meeting of the Neches and Angelina rivers, with about 14 miles of paddling trails through sloughs and more than 200 campsites.
• Big Thicket National Preserve — 22 mi
  Start at the Kountze visitor center, where rangers sort the preserve's scattered units for you, and learn why Congress made this 1974 string of pearls the country's first national preserve.

More markers nearby

• Lt. Col. Philip A. Work — steps away
• Home of James Edward Wheat — steps away
• Original Site of Bethel Baptist Church — steps away
• Texas Statesman Allan Shivers — steps away