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MALAKOFF, TEXAS
Henderson County,
East Texas
32°10'41"N 96°1'6"W (32.178182, -96.018264)
Hwy 31 and 198, and FM 2636, 3062, and 3441
9 Miles W of Athens the county
seat
27 miles E of Corsicana
17 miles S of Mabank
80 miles SE of Dallas
ZIP code 75148
Area code 903
Population: 2,301 Est. ( 2019)
2,324 (2010) 2,257 (2000) 2,038 (1990)
Book Hotel Here › Athens
Hotels |
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History in a Pecan Shell
Malakoff joins Odessa,
Moscow
and Sebastopol
on the list of towns in Texas named after places in the former
Soviet Union.
Like many Texas towns, Malakoff started out under a different name.
Actually two. Caney Creek (whose name is still found just north
of town) and Mitcham Chapel. In 1854, the town applied for
a post office under the name Mitcham or Purdon, but both of these
names were already in use by other communities. According to the
Handbook of Texas, it was postal authorities in Washington that
suggested Malakoff.
The British capture of the towered Russian fort at Malakoff in the
Crimean War had been in the news about the time the application was
submitted, and the suggested name was submitted - and accepted.
Malakoff presently enjoys its peak population of around 2,300 people.
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"Malakoff
Man", Coal, Clay & Brick
In the 1930s, three
crudely carved stone heads were unearthed in the region. Collectively
they became known as "Malakoff Man." Extensive excavations around
the site did not yield additional artifacts and their origin remains
a mystery to this day.
But the soil around Malakoff had been revealing other things for years.
Lignite coal had been discovered in 1912 and mining soon became
the dominant industry in Henderson
County. Texas Power and Light built a generating station close
to the source and as many as 600 miners worked the veins of coal.
The mines closed in 1945 but there has been a Miner's Reunion held
every five years since.
Clay provided the material for the county's other main industry: brick
production. Ironically, most of downtown Malakoff was built prior
to the brick plant's construction but two huge kilns remain today
and production continues under the name of Acme. Bricks found around
the state marked MALAKOFF are usually light-colored.
In 1904 Mr. Thomas Anthony Bartlett of Malakoff devised a way of coloring
brick, touching off a new age of architectural elegance. He took his
discovery to the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair and won a Blue Ribbon
for his white brick. |
Murals
by Charlie Bullock
and Brad Smith
Malakoff has several exceptional murals. Artist Charlie
Bullock maintains a gallery in nearby Athens
and teaches art classes in a private school there.
Brad Smith's mural below faces Malakoff's Cornbread Square. Individuals
in the mural are painted from actual townspeople. Smith also painted
the mural of the former Carnegie Library shown on our Corsicana
page. |
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Mural
on Cornbread Square by Brad Smith
TE Photo |
Malakoff Event
The Square is where
Malakoff's Cornbread Festival is held every year. Although
only eight miles from Athens
and their famous Black-Eye Pea Festival, Malakoff serves
pinto beans with their cornbread.
Nearby Destinations
Hwy 31 east 8 miles to Athens.
Hwy 31 west 13 miles to Kerens,
another 14 miles to Corsicana.
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Malakoff, Texas
Chronicles:
Alexa
Has Nothing on Miss Edna by Mike Cox
Long before the internet, in Malakoff, "Alexa" was Miss Edna...
Read
full article
Mysterious
Malakoff Men by Clay Coppedge
In early November 1929, a work crew mining pea gravel from a quarry
near the little East Texas town of Malakoff came across a big ol'
rock that wasn't like any big ol' rock anybody around there had
ever seen.
Aside from it weighing about one hundred pounds, somebody had apparently
gone to the trouble of carving ears, nose, mouth, teeth and eyes
into it. Or at least that's what it looked like. The obvious question
was, who carved the face of what archaeologists would dub Malakoff
Man? And why? ... more
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Escapes, in its purpose to preserve historic, endangered and vanishing
Texas, asks that anyone wishing to share their local history, stories,
landmarks and recent or vintage photos, please contact
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