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JACKSONVILLE,
TEXASCherokee
County, East Texas
Junction of Hwy 69 and Hwy 79
27 miles S of Tyler
Population:
13,868 (2000)
Visiting
Jacksonville? Book Your Hotel Here & Save: Jacksonville
Hotels |
Love's
Look Out
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.)
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 > Book Your Hotel Here & Save |
The
view from Love's Look Out
Photo courtesy C. DeWaun Simmons, October 2006 |
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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/ |
| | | 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]
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.
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. |
| | Post
Office in Jacksonville
Photo courtesy Lori Martin |
| | 1930s
postcard of the Municipal Building in Jacksonville
Postcard courtesy
rootsweb.com/
%7Etxpstcrd/ |
| | "The
Tomato Bowl"
"Home of the Jacksonville Fight'n Indians"
Photo by John Troesser, 2002 |
| | Simple
but elegant brickwork downtown.
Photo by John Troesser, 2002 |
| | A
former hotel in Jacksonville
Photo by John Troesser, 2002 |
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..."
Pistol
Packing Mamma by Bob Bowman
One of the most popular songs in the
U.S. during the mid-1940s was “Pistol Packing Mama.” But few know that the song
came from East Texas and was written and performed by an Cherokee County musician
Al Dexter, who was born at Jacksonville in 1902...
Crown
Cafe - Old photos
Jacksonville
Hotels > Book Your Hotel Here & Save |
Jacksonville
Images - Vintage & Contemporary |
Jacksonville
Texas ForumDear
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
Jacksonville - July 2005 Texas Escapes Featured Town
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