Van Zandt Hill

Isaac Van Zandt reached Marshall by way of a failed store. The Handbook of Texas says he was born in Franklin County, Tennessee, in 1813 and lost heavily in the depression of 1837 after opening a store in Coffeeville, Mississippi. He studied law and was admitted to the Mississippi bar, then settled at Elysian Fields in Harrison County in late 1838 and moved to the site of Marshall in 1839 to practice law. He caught yellow fever in Houston while campaigning for governor and died on October 11, 1847. Van Zandt County was named for him in 1848.

What the plaque says

Van Zandt Hill Homesite of Isaac Van Zandt (1813-1847), one of founders of Marshall, a noted frontiersman, debater, lawyer, statesman; served in 5th and 6th congresses of Republic of Texas; was Charge d'Affaires to United States, 1842-1844. In governor's race when he died of yellow fever and was buried in family graveyard. Now in Greenwood Cemetery. This 100 acre Van Zandt tract was bought from heirs in 1912 by College of Marshall founders. First classes met in June, 1917. In 1944 the college was raised to senior rank and renamed East Texas Baptist College. Incise in base: Erected by senior class, 1967, on 55th anniversary of college.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Texas and Pacific Railway Depot and Museum — 0.4 mi
  The only surviving building of the Texas and Pacific shops at Marshall, a 1912 Mission Revival depot saved from demolition in the 1990s, still an Amtrak stop, with a railway museum and a Mikado locomotive.
• Harrison County Historical Museum — 0.8 mi
  Galleries in Marshall's 1901 courthouse that run from the Caddo to the present, with Wiley College, Lady Bird Johnson's inaugural gown and a military gallery across the square in Memorial City Hall.
• Starr Family Home State Historic Site — 1.0 mi
  Maplecroft, the 1871 Greek Revival house Frank Starr built in Marshall, with Ruth Starr Blake's glass and china, an 1880s kitchen restored in 2019 and a retirement home built for a formerly enslaved person.
• Jefferson Historical Museum — 14 mi
  A four-floor museum in Jefferson's 1888-90 federal post office and courthouse, with rooms for African-American history, Jewish heritage, the Caddo and Diamond Bessie, bought by the historical society in 1965 for $8,100.

More markers nearby

• East Texas Baptist University — steps away
• Matthew Duncan Ector — steps away
• Lt. Gen. George Perry Rains — steps away
• Alexander Travis Hawthorn — 0.2 mi