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One
of my favorite chores with the Texas Historical Commission is to travel around
East Texas and help local historians
dedicate historical markers to places that might otherwise be lost in time.
Buena
Vista is one of my favorite places because it has such a colorful history, and
a few weeks ago we helped dedicate a marker to its cemetery.
Buena Vista
was once called “Buck Snort,” supposedly because a large buck snorted at “granny”
Elizabeth Richards when she tried to chase him from he pea patch. The name Buck
Snort was later applied to a political faction that controlled Shelby County’s
political affairs for years. Although the name was used in derision, the “Buck
Snort Clique” was respected for its ability to elect politicians.
Joseph
Penn Burns, who received more than 4,000 acres for fighting with the U.S. Army
in its war with Mexico in the 1840s, gave the community the name Buena Vista,
which mans “beautiful view,” for a town where he fought a battle.
Burns
set aside ten acres for a cemetery and, ironically, his wife was the first burial
there.
Another early settler was John C. Morrison, whose wife was the
niece of Texas Governor Oran M. Roberts. Before coming to Buena Vista, Morrison
and his family had lived in places like Terrapin Neck and Lick Skillet.
Morrison
opened one of the town’s first stores, and had his goods shipped all the way from
New Orleans.
One of his shipments was a barrel of whiskey. Pestered by
the town’s men for a drink, Morrison opened the barrel and scooped out a bucket
and set it on the store’s steps for the men. They soon became drunk and began
fighting among themselves.
Buena Vista was once a leading trade center
in East Texas with a territory extending
from Nacogdoches to Shreveport
and from Carthage to Shelbyville
and San Augustine.
By 1884, the town had a tanning yard, a school, a grist mill, cotton gin,
bowling alley, stores, a church, post office, saloons and a racetrack.
In
the 1880s the Houston, East and West Texas considered a route through Buena Vista,
but the surveyor wanted a large sum of money to chart the line through the town.
Infuriated, a merchant who headed the town’s negotiating committee felt it was
bribery, and rejected the surveyor’s office.
The railroad bypassed the
town and towns like Timpson
and Tenaha sprouted on the line
and drew away Buena Vista’s merchants and economy.
In two years, Buena
Vista was a ghost town. | |
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