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JACKSONVILLE,
TEXAS
Cherokee County,
East
Texas
Junction of Hwy 69 and Hwy 79
27 miles S of Tyler
Population: 13,868 (2000)
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Love's Look
Out
Photo courtesy C. DeWaun Simmons, October 2006 |
The view
Photo courtesy C. DeWaun Simmons, October 2006 |
Love's
Look Out
"Perched atop a scenic forested ridge beside U.S. Highway 69
north of Jacksonville, Love's Lookout offers perhaps the grandest
view in East Texas. Visitors can scan a horizon that stretches into
several counties. Some are convinced that, on a clear day, they can
see Louisiana. more
"-
(Bob Bowman's "All Things Historical" column.) |
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Lover's Leap Lookout Tower in Jacksonville
Photo courtesy Barclay Gibson |
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"Love's
Look Out" on Highway 69
Postcard courtesy rootsweb.com/
%7Etxpstcrd/ |
Not exactly a
traditional "lover's leap" - nevertheless, the altitude
and visual depth of this rest area surprises most people motoring
through this part of East Texas.
Jacksonville
Hotels
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Southern
Pacific Railroad Singers. This Jacksonville-based female choir performed
in Texas towns all along the SP route in the late 1920s
Photo courtesy Arcadia Publishing and
The Cherokee County Historical Commission |
History
in a Pecan Shell
Jacksonville
began as Gum Creek - the watercourse it overlooked. The first
school opened in 1846 and post office was granted under the name Gum
Creek in 1848.
With an early settler (blacksmith and postmaster) named Jackson Smith
and Dr. William Jackson opening his practice nearby shortly thereafter
- it was written that the town would be called Jacksonville. Smith
had a townsite and square platted by 1850 and Dr. Jackson was one
of the first to build inside the "city limits."
The post office name changed it's name that same year and two years
later the International-Great Northern Railroad built through Cherokee
County. They bypassed the town - but it was close enough to compromise.
In late 1872 most of town was relocated two miles east to be alongside
the tracks. |
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Neon Masonic
Signs Downtown
Photo by John Troesser, 2002 |
The
Baptists and the Methodists built their churches around 1849 and the
Masons opened a lodge in the early 1850s. The first newspaper published
in Jacksonville, was the Texan Intelligencer. Other papers
that followed included the Cherokee Argonaut and Daily Progress.
In 1881 a public school took over the existing private "Collegiate
Institute" and Jacksonville had a full public school system by 1892.
Jacksonville College opened in 1899. Much later (1957) a Baptist theological
seminary opened its doors. [See Colleges
in Jacksonville] |
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Post
Office in Jacksonville
Photo courtesy Lori Martin |
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1930s
postcard of the Municipal Building in Jacksonville
Postcard courtesy rootsweb.com/
%7Etxpstcrd/ |
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"The Tomato Bowl"
"Home of the Jacksonville Fight'n Indians"
Photo by John Troesser, 2002 |
| Agriculture
has always figured in Jacksonville's history. From the 1880s until
1914 it was a center for peach production and after that tomatoes
were the major crop Jacksonville became known as the "tomato capital
of the world" and home of "The Tomato Bowl" (above) - the local
stadium. |
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Simple
but elegant brickwork downtown.
Photo by John Troesser, 2002 |
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A
former hotel in Jacksonville
Photo by John Troesser, 2002 |
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In 1904 Jacksonville's
population was reported as 1,568. By the 1930s the figure had reached
6,000, and by the late 1950s, some 10,000. During the 1980s it reached
12,000, and in the early 1990s the town reported 13,020 residents
and 551 businesses.
Jacksonville
Hotels
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Jacksonville
Chronicles
The Circus
Fight by Bob Bowman
"What one historian has called "the most famous circus fight
in history" unfolded in 1873 as Robinson's Circus was preparing to
leave Jacksonville in East Texas..."
Crown
Cafe - Old photos |
Jacksonville
Images - Vintage & Contemporary
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Jacksonville
Texas Forum
Dear TE,
I found your site while planning a short motorcycle ride in [East
Texas] for me and my wife. Eastern Oklahoma has more mountains but
... otherwise the bike riding roads are about the same. Thanks to
your site, we have made some nice trip plans for the area. - Mark
A. Guthrie, Jacksonville, Texas, November 24, 2006
To share history, stories or photos of Jacksonville, Texas, please
contact
us.
July 2005 Texas Escapes Feature Town
© John Troesser
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