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GILMER,
TEXASby Archie
P. McDonald | |
It
is presumptuous for a native of Beaumont
and long-time resident of Nacogdoches
to be writing about Gilmer, Texas. Only
admiration for my long-time friend and publisher of the Gilmer Mirror -
and being able to take advantage of the research of Mary Kirby - provides the
courage to do so.
Well, those things, plus two memorable visits to Gilmer
at Sarah's and Mary's invitation to present programs on country music and the
music of World War II convinced me that citizens of Gilmer
and Upshur County are serious about their history.
Upshur County, authorized
by the legislature in 1846, and Gilmer,
were named in memory of United States Secretary of War Able Upshur and Thomas
W. Gilmer, who lost their lives in an explosion aboard the USS Princeton
in 1844.
Enabling legislation named the county seat and required that
it be located within five miles of the county's geographical center. A grove of
oaks on the farm of William Hart, which first served as the county seat, became
Old Gilmer when the town's permanent location-approximately three miles away-was
established in 1848. A post office, Masonic Lodge founded in 1853, and various
businesses associated with the area's prevailing agricultural orientation-especially
cotton gins-gave the community permanence.
Gilmer
hosted several schools, including the Gilmer Masonic Male Academy and Looney School,
operated by Morgan H. Looney. Oran Milo Roberts, elected governor of Texas in
1878, taught at the Looney School for a time after the Civil War.
Upshur
County farmers became major producers of sweet potatoes early in the twentieth
century, and in 1935 the county's citizens began celebrating their area's major
crop with an annual Yamboree festival. The Yamboree quickly became the major civic
promotion for Gilmer and remains one
of the oldest civic festivals in Texas.
Many of Gilmer's citizens chose
to live there and commute to jobs in larger cities, such as Tyler
or Longview, and some move
even farther away but never lose their hometown orientation. Two of my friends
in Nacogdoches, Mrs. Jeanne
Attaway and Mrs. Maggie Driggers, still call Gilmer
home and I know at least one of them subscribes to the Mirror. "Home is
where the heart is," says the poet; for these, that will always be Gilmer.
Gilmer
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© Archie P. McDonald
All
Things Historical
>
March
12, 2006 column
A syndicated column in over 40 East Texas newspapers
(This column is provided as a public service by the East Texas Historical Association.
Archie P. McDonald is director of the Association and author of more than 20 books
on Texas. ) | | |
