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HUNTSVILLE,
TEXAS
Walker
County Seat, East Texas
30°43'20"N 95°33'12"W (30.711254, -95.548373)
Interstate 45 and 75
Highways 190, 19 and 30
68 miles N of Houston
165 miles S of Dallas
Population: 41,208 Est. (2016)
38,548 (2010) 35,078 (2000) 27,925 (1990)
Book Hotel Here › Huntsville
Hotels |
The Huntsville
park bridge
TE photo |
History in
a Pecan Shell
A timeline of
significant events in Huntsville's history:
1836: founded by Pleasant and Ephraim Gray as an Indian trading post.
The Grays were from Huntsville, Alabama.
1837: Montgomery County organized - Huntsville was within its boundaries.
First post office granted.
1844: The Huntsville Male and Female Academy opened.
1845: Stovall's Male and Female Academy opened.
1846: Walker County
organized - Huntsville designated county seat.
1847: Huntsville becomes home of the Texas State Penitentiary. The
prison received its first inmate in 1849. During the 1840s and 1850s
prosperous families from the southern states arrive.
1850: Huntsville loses its chance to become state capital when it
is defeated by Austin in
an election.
1861 - 1865: During the Civil War, uniforms for Confederate soldiers
were made at the pentitentiary. During reconstruction - Huntsville
was placed under martial law for a brief period.
1867: A yellow fever epidemic reportedly killed 10 percent of the
town's population.
1872: The Houston and Great Northern Railroad bypasses Huntsville
to the east.
1875: Huntsville was a stop on four stage lines - including one running
from Nacogdoches to Brenham,
and one from Huntsville to Waxahachie.
1879: Sam Houston Normal Institute opens - later becomes Sam Houston
State University.
1933: Emancipation Park is established
1936: Marker is erected for Steamboat
House - where Sam
Houston died. Also authorized were the construction of the James
Gillespie Monument and the Sam
Houston Memorial Museum. |
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An inexpensive
idea for scores of Texas towns with gaps in their downtown area. Even
the air conditioners look real.
TE Photo, 2002 |
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Today downtown
Huntsville has been decorated with a brilliant use of paint (paint
in talented hands). The courthouse
has recently undergone a restoration down to the sidewalks. The
city has left a vintage brick façade in place on the SW corner of
the NW corner of the square. Either that, or else they've constructed
an instant stabilized ruin. Either way it works. It draws attention
away from a parking lot and calls attention to the bricklayer's
art.
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Huntsville,
Texas Landmarks/Attractions
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Oakwood
Cemetery: 9th St. and Ave "I" Includes Sam Houston's grave
Sam
Houston's Statue: I-45 S, (exit 112) I-45 N (exit 109)
The lifesize model of the 67-foot statue can be seen at the library
at Sam Houston State University
Sam Houston Memorial Museum Complex:
"The Sam Houston Memorial Park and Museum, just off U.S. 75
(Sam Houston Avenue). Here in a 15-acre setting are Sam Houston's
home, "Woodland,"
the steamboat house
where he died in 1863, his law office, a pioneer kitchen, a blacksmith
shop and other buildings. The museum itself houses one of the most
extensive collection of Sam
Houston memorabilia in Texas." -
Gibbs-Powell
House Museum: 1228 11th Street
The Texas
Prison Museum: On the southside of the square
Sam Houston
State University - "If you are visiting Huntsville, especially
if you will be stopping at the Sam Houston Museum complex, do yourself
a favor; walk across Sam Houston Avenue and visit the campus of
Sam Houston State University. Not only gets my vote as one of the
prettiest college campuses in the state of Texas, if not in the
entire country, but also the site of several interesting things
to see. (As a graduate of SHSU I will readily admit that I am somewhat
biased!) Nevertheless, in very close proximity to the museum, and
to each other, on the north end of the SHSU quadrangle are; Austin
Hall (1851) – If I remember correctly, it is the oldest educational
building in continuous use west of the Mississippi River, Old Main
Memorial – preserved footprint and basement area of this 1890 beauty,
which was lost to fire in 1982, the Peabody Memorial Library – Built
in 1902 to recognize the philanthropic contributions of the Peabody
Foundation to Sam Houston (Normal Institute) and to public education
in the state of Texas, and the bronze statue of General Sam Houston.
This statue, 110% of life size, was dedicated in 1979 to commemorate
the 100th anniversary of the founding of SHSU. It was said to be
the most accurate representation of Sam Houston in existence at
that time. I hope you enjoy your visit to Huntsville and Sam Houston
State University." - Stephen Rogers, Bellville, Texas, November
11, 2004
Book Hotel Here > Huntsville
Hotels
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Masonic Lodge
and Signs
TE photos |
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The
Town Theatre
TE photo |
Huntsville
Nearby Destinations
Walker
County - Towns & Ghost Towns
East
Texas Sunday Drives: Huntsville by Bob Bowman
Old Sam, prisons and pine trees, Oakhurst, Point Blank, Coldspring,
Sam Houston National Forest, and Huntsville State Park
Huntsville
State Park
Country
Campus, Texas - WWII German POW camp
Sam Houston
National Forest - including Sam Houston State Park
Lake Livingston
Raven Hill
The location of the site of Raven Hill is south of Oakhurst about
2.5 miles off the main road. Take Raven Hill Rd. S.W. until it ends.
Take a left (dirt road) go another 100 yds. or so. The marker is
in a cow pasture on the right. - Robert Surguy, June 08, 2004
Book Hotel Here >
Huntsville
Hotels
Huntsville Tourist Information
Huntsville Chamber of Commerce: 1327 11th Street 1-800-289-0389
Website: http://www.chamber.huntsville.tx.us/
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Huntsville
Chronicles
Bullet
Riddled Buddies by Clay Coppedge
The escape from the infamous “Death House” at Huntsville...
Old
Rangers and Sam Houston's Grave by Mike Cox
The old Texas Rangers who gathered in Austin for a reunion in the
early fall of 1897 surely figured they had fought their last fight.
After all, they had battled and survived Mexican soldiers, Comanches
and outlaws. But that’s before they heard what some folks in Tennessee
were up to...
The
Huntsville Humdinger and the Texas Prison Rodeo by Mike Cox
When the Huntsville Humdinger hit the streets that Monday, the feisty
four-column competitor of the long-established Huntsville Item carried
on page one a humdinger of a local scoop: The prison system would
be starting a rodeo that fall. On Sept. 4, 1931...
The
Brothers Baylor by Mike Cox
The Baylor boys were two Texans a fellow did not want to cross....
First
prisoner at Hunsville State Prison - Cartoon by Roger T. Moore
Huntsville Ghost Stories
“Demons
Rd” in Huntsville by Dana Goolsby
Bowden Rd, perhaps better known as " Demons Rd,” has a steady flow
of reports regarding the experiences travelers claim to have had
while driving down the old road. People that wander off down “Demons
Rd” tell tales of disturbing encounters, and an eerie feeling that
sweeps over anyone who dares disrupt the spirits said to be lingering
down “Demons Rd.” The old road leads to an old cemetery known as
Martha’s Chapel Cemetery....
Haunted
Huntsville by Dana Goolsby
Oakwood Cemetery, and the oldest prison in Texas - the Walls Unit...
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Escapes, in its purpose to preserve historic, endangered and vanishing
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photos, please contact
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