The Smith County Courthouse - 1909
A
Brief History
of
Tyler and Smith County, Texas
by
David Scott Stieghan
Graduate Assistant, Center for East Texas Studies - SFASU
A Brief Tour of Smith County Landmarks
This tour of the landmarks of Smith County is still under construction.
Early History. The earliest Native Americans inhabiting what
is now Smith County, Texas, were Caddo (or Tejas) Indians. The Spanish explorers
knew these Indians as Tejas, for whom they named the present Texas. Although
Texas was a province of Spain until Mexico 1821, few European settlers inhabited
the area to become Smith County until after the Texas Revolution.
Surprisingly, the first immigrants into the Smith County region from across
the Mississippi River were Cherokee and Kickapoo Indians moving in front
of the westward movement of European settlement from the East. Their leader,
Chief Bowles, cooperated with the Mexican government and secured a land
grant like the other settlers arriving from the United States. Sam Houston
negotiated a treaty with Chief Bowles for the infant Republic of Texas during
the Texas War for Independence. This treaty was never ratified by the Republic,
and the second president of Texas, Mirabeau B. Lamar, sent troops into East
Texas to expel those Indians who refused to leave voluntarily in 1839. The
campaign concluded with two battles, the death of Bowles, and the retreat
of the Indians in East Texas to north of the Red River into what is now
Oklahoma.
County Established. The forced removal of the Indians from East Texas
in 1839 opened the area for Anglo settlement. At first, a few entrepreneurs
moved in to take over the numerous salines, or salt works, formerly operated
by the Indians. Later, settlers began clearing farms during the last years
of the Republic of Texas, when the entire area comprised part of Nacogdoches
County. Smith County was one of several new counties formed by the new Texas
State Legislature in April of 1846. The new county was named for General
James Smith, who came to Texas in 1816, fought for Texas' independence and
served during the Indian Wars. Five commissioners- John Dewberry, William
B. Duncan, James C. Hill, John Loller and Elisha Lott- were appointed by
the Texas Legislature to select the boundaries of Smith County. The 939
square miles enclosed within the boundaries they selected have not changed
to this day.
The Texas State Legislature required county seats be located within three
miles of the geographical center of the new counties. The commissioners
selected three hundred acres on a hilltop near the center of Smith County
as the new county seat, to be named after President John Tyler. President
Tyler was honored for his support for the annexation of Texas into the Union
in 1845.
Tyler Established. The town site of Tyler was divided into twenty-eight
blocks, five streets running north and south and four streets running east
and west. A dense brush and wild plum thicket covered the square, where
the first public auction for town lots was held on December 21, 1846. Three
different log buildings were used as court houses until a brick building
was constructed in 1852. Smith County's first election on August 8, 1846,
selected the following: County Judge, County Clerk, District Clerk, Sheriff,
Assessor and Collector, Treasurer, and a three-member County Commission.
Three months later, the Commissioners Court held their first session, with
their first case a suit for divorce.
The city of Tyler was officially incorporated in 1848. In the first election,
a mayor and four aldermen were named to administer a town of 506 acres measuring
three-fourths of a mile from the center of the courthouse square.
The county grew rapidly in population and wealth throughout the decade that
preceded the Civil War, with a large portion of the population immigrating
from Alabama. Smith County began the 1850's with a population of 4,292,
of whom 717 were Negro slaves.
In 1850, one of three branches of the Texas Supreme Court was located in
Tyler. The following year, Congress established a Federal Court in Tyler,
one of three in the District of Texas.
Schools. By 1850, seven private schools were established in Smith
County and by 1860, 982 students attended thirty-one schools. The first
newspaper published in Smith County, the Tyler Telegraph, was established
in 1851 by David O. Clopton. The name of the paper was soon changed to the
Tyler Reporter, still published today as the largest daily circulation paper
in East Texas. The Methodists and Masons together built the first church
in 1852 on Bois d'Arc Street, later moving across the street to become the
present Marvin Methodist Church. By 1859, Baptist and Christian churches
were erected near the square.
Agriculture remained dominant in Smith County throughout the nineteenth
century, with cotton and other products reaching markets by flatboat down
the Sabine River from Belzora or by ox-wagon to Jefferson and Shreveport.
The first brick stores in Tyler were five two story buildings on the North
side of the square built by Major A. Ferguson. Light frontier industries
were established, including several flour and grist mills, and shops for
making wagons, spinning wheels, cabinets, and guns.
The United States Census of 1860 recorded Smith County' s population as
13,392, of whom 4,982 were Negro slaves. The largest city, Tyler, had by
then grown to 1,024 persons. The raid on Harpers Ferry by John Brown and
his band, together with a rash of mysterious barn and house fires in Northern
Texas, excited the local population as the Secession Crisis and the Civil
War loomed on the horizon. A large number of Smith County notables, including
the assembly president, Oran M. Roberts, attended the Secession Convention
in Austin in early 1861. After the Convention approved the Ordinance of
Secession, Smith County voters approved the measure 1,149 for, to 50 against,
on February 25, 1861. Smith County was solidly behind the Confederacy.
The Civil War. The Civil War brought a flurry of activity to Smith
County as the entire population was caught up in the excitement. Over 1,500
Smith County men served in the armed forces of the Confederacy or the State
of Texas on battlefields from Arizona to Pennsylvania. Nearly 15,000 Confederate
troops were stationed in camps around Tyler in the spring and summer of
1862 preparing to march to the front in Arkansas. The Confederate Medical
Department established the largest pharmaceutical factory west of the Mississippi
River at the Headache Springs Medical Laboratory, three miles southeast
of Tyler. The Quartermaster Depot at "Kirbyville" four miles northeast
of Tyler, commanded by a Captain Kirby, manufactured wagons and shoes for
the horse and mules gathered there for the Transportation Department. A
private gun factory, begun by J. C. Short, William S. N. Biscoe, and George
Yarbrough to make rifles for the State of Texas was purchased by the Confederate
Government in 1863. The gun factory expanded into the Confederate States
Ordnance Works at Tyler, made around 2,233 rifles, repaired thousands of
other weapons, produced millions of small arms and cannon cartridges, and
employed around 200 men and boys.
The most famous Civil War activity in Smith County was not the export of
Confederate soldiers and manufactured goods, but the influx of thousands
of Federal prisoners of war. A Confederate camp northeast of Tyler, variously
known as Camp Hubbard, the Eastern Camp of Instruction for Conscripts at
Tyler, and Camp Ford, slowly evolved from an important troop training facility
to the largest Civil War prisoner of war camp west of the Mississippi River.
With a peak of around 5,200 prisoners and over 1,000 guards, Camp Ford has
the record of having the lowest mortality rate for a prisoner of war camp
during the Civil War, North or South.
In May 1865, word of the end of the Civil War reached Smith County. Confederate
facilities opened their doors to a destitute populace, but not until after
riots, looting, and the destruction of the Ordnance Works through an explosion.
Smith County survivors of the Confederate Army struggled home as Union occupation
forces arrived to reestablish Federal control. A regional Reconstruction
headquarters in Tyler replaced Confederate and duly-elected Texas authority
for several years with the few new local Republicans and "carpetbaggers"
from the North. Thousands of former slaves received assistance from a Freedman's
Bureau office in Tyler.
Following the Civil War, Smith County began another period of rapid agricultural
growth that continued through the turn of the century. Though hundreds of
Smith County soldiers lost their lives of bullets or disease during the
war, the conflict brought economic development without the wholesale destruction
common throughout much of the South. Railroads arrived in Smith County in
the 1870's, including the "Tyler Tap Railroad" which granted access
to the Texas and Pacific Railway in 1877. This rapid, economical transportation
link marked the beginning of a new industrial age for Smith County and coincided
with the official end of Reconstruction.
As Smith County's population continued to grow through the 1870's, the citizens
decided that the 1852 Court House was too small. Rather than starting from
scratch, however, the existing courthouse was expanded and updated by adding
a third story and a bell tower. In 1886, a new Federal Building was constructed
just off the Tyler Square and has been successively remodeled and expanded
in 1908 and 1933 as a post office and federal district court.
The Tyler Gang. From around 1860 to 1890, a collection of Smith County
leaders, known as the "Tyler Gang", strongly influenced Texas
politics. This group included three who became Texas governors: Oran M.
Roberts, Richard B. Hubbard, and James S. Hogg. Oran Roberts, as previously
mentioned, served as president of the Texas Secession Convention, Chief
Justice of the Texas Supreme Court, and became a noted historian. Richard
Hubbard became an important railroad promoter, a two-term Texas governor,
and the United States Ambassador to Japan. James Hogg served as the Speaker
of the Texas House of Representatives before being elected Governor. All
three served in the Confederate Army and had schools named after them in
Tyler.
The last quarter of the Nineteenth Century witnessed enormous growth in
agriculture in Smith County. Cotton remained an important cash crop as rail
transportation replaced ox carts and flatboats. Local cotton gins, mills
and other factories produced finished goods for outside markets. Fruit and
vegetable canning factories were constructed along the railroad lines spreading
throughout the county to take advantage of the expanding produce industry.
The agricultural boom in Smith County included the introduction of the rose-growing
industry. Through much of the Twentieth Century, approximately half of all
the rose bushes purchased in the country had been planted within fifty miles
of Tyler. The rose grower's carriages and floats in local parades developed
into the Texas Rose Festival in 1933, a tradition carried annually, excepting
the World War II years. A civic rose garden and museum are open to the public
year-round.
Transportation. Improved transportation brought a greater cultural
diversity to Smith County by the turn of the century. New churches were
built by a variety of denominations as families arrived from a number of
foreign lands. Several large banks opened their doors making Tyler the financial
center of northeast Texas. High culture arrived in the form of Albertson's
Opera House in 1879 and the Grand Opera House in 1887. The Carnegie Public
Library opened its doors in 1904 as the first free library in Tyler and
serves today as the quarters for the City of Tyler's Parks and Recreation
Department and the Smith County Historical Society's Museum and Archives.
A sixth Smith County Courthouse erected in 1909 served the county until
1955, when it was torn down to route Broadway (Business Highway 69) through
the Square. Extensive construction began on brick streets in Tyler, of which
over fourteen miles remain for the enjoyment of residents and visitors.
Higher Learning. Smith County has long enjoyed quality institutions
of higher learning. Several private academies and finishing schools thrived
before and after the Civil War, many sponsored by churches or fraternal
organizations. In 1894, the Methodist Church helped found the present Texas
College, the oldest predominantly African-American college in Texas. In
the late 1890's, Whitesboro Teachers Normal College moved to Tyler and consolidated
with Tyler College to create the Tyler Commercial College. Known as the
"largest commercial and shorthand school in the South", the school
boasted a petroleum geology department, a world-renowned cotton grading
department, and a school for radio station operation. The Tyler Junior College
opened its doors in 1926 as a part of the public school district and an
extension of Tyler High School. It moved to its present location in 1948
and has an enrollment of around 9,000. In 1972, what is now known as the
University of Texas at Tyler opened its doors at it present location to
provide upper level university instruction for the graduates of regional
community and junior colleges.
Smith County provided several military units to serve in the Spanish American
War and World War I. Both conflicts ended relatively quickly before many
new industries were established locally to support the war effort. The Tyler
area, like much of East Texas, continued to prosper throughout the 1920's.
The Depression and World War II. There was literally no Great Depression
in Smith County in the 1930's as a result of the discovery of the great
East Texas Oil Field in 1930. Thousands of workers and developers set up
drilling rigs and work camps in the area. The population of Tyler and Smith
County swelled as jobs became available in oil and other service industries.
The construction of the "Big Inch" pipeline from East Texas to
the East Coast in World War II constituted a major contribution to the Allied
war effort.
World War II had an enormous impact on Smith County, very similar to that
of the Civil War. Thousands of Smith County men and women served in the
armed services or did war work in local factories or facilities. A local
Congressman, Lindley Beckworth, was influential in bringing several major
military facilities to the county. First, the Tyler Commercial College became
home to a U. S. Army Radio School where almost 2,000 soldiers were trained
in telephone and radio signal procedures from 1942 to 1943. A large Army
Air Corps base was planned for construction northeast of Tyler, but instead
transformed an expanded Tyler Municipal Airport into Pounds Army Airfield.
The land northeast of Tyler became the Camp Fannin Infantry Replacement
training Center from 1943 to 1946. Around 200,000 G.I.'s were processed
at Camp Fannin and a large German Prisoner of War Camp was erected. These
American troops came from all over the country and their presence among
the local population resulted in hundreds of marriages. Many of these Camp
Fannin veterans from across the nation deciding to start their businesses
and their families in Smith County.
Modern Tyler. The postwar years brought renewed prosperity to Smith
County. In addition to the expanding oil industry, many other businesses
opened plants in Smith County. Major employers include: Levi Strauss, Continental
Can Company, United Technologies/Carrier, Kelly-Springfield, National Homes,
Trane Corporation, General Electric, Dearborn Brass, Brookshire's, etc.
The health services industry is important, with Tyler serving as the medical
center for East Texas. Mother Francis Hospital opened two weeks early in
1937 to treat victims of the New London School Explosion, and is still expanding
with new clinics in Tyler and throughout East Texas. The University of Texas
Health Center at Tyler started as the East Texas Chest Hospital in leftover
United States Government buildings and 614 acres of former Camp Fannin after
World War II and today boasts over 1200 employees. East Texas Medical Center
rounds out the big three hospitals in Tyler with several branch operations
throughout the region. Several smaller specialty clinics and rehabilitation
hospitals also operate in Tyler.
Smith County and Tyler continue to develop after more than 150 years in
East Texas. Additional businesses and retirees relocate into the area each
year because of the quality of life found there. With rapid growth and expansion
has come an increased awareness among residents and visitors of the historic
significance and charm to be found in the area. Dwellings, businesses, and
even the brick streets are being restored to their former appearance as
parts of Tyler's downtown and older residential districts return to the
beauty of the past.
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©Jere L.
Jackson, Stephen F. Austin State University, P.O. Box 6134, Nacogdoches,
Texas 75962 USA
E-mail: jjackson@sfasu.edu