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  Texas : Towns / East Texas :

CARTHAGE, TEXAS

Panola County Seat, East Texas
Hwys 59 and 79
26 miles North of Center
27 miles East of Henderson
40 miles SW of Shreveport

Population: 6,604 (1990)

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Former Panola County Jail, Panola County Historical Museum, Carthage Texas
Former Panola Couny jail
Photo courtesy Barclay Gibson, April 2006
Carthage : Music from two country masters (Excerpted from "THE EAST TEXAS SUNDAY DRIVE BOOK" by Bob Bowman)

Concentrated largely in Panola County, this Sunday Drive will provide you with some of the flavor of East Texas' country and western music, a look at a ghost town, a stop at an old railroad depot, and a drive through the beautiful pine and hardwood forests along the Sabine River.

Start your Sunday Drive at Carthage, the county seat of Panola County (Panola means cotton in Indian), where Potlatch, a festival of arts, crafts and country foods is held every October.

Carthage... became the county seat in l884 when Jonathan Anderson donated 100 acres for the townsite.

[A] block off the town square... you'll find a good collection of quaint shops as well as the Heritage Museum, located in a restored bank building, and the Panola County Historical Museum, located in the old county jail... more


Carthage Landmarks/Attractions:

Jail Museum: In the old Panola County Jail on North Shelby Street
Tex Ritter Museum: 300 W. Panola
Jim Reeves Memorial: On Hwy 79, 3 miles east of town
Panola County Heritage Museum: 100 East Sabine Street
Lake Murvaul - 15 miles west of Carthage on Murvaul Bayou.
www.tpwd.state.tx.us/fish/infish/lakes/murvaul/lake_id.htm


The Panola County Courthouse
One of the worst architectural errors in judgement occurred in Panola County in 1956. The 1885 courthouse (a twin to Shelby County’s courthouse) was replaced with the 1953 structure in use today. The old courthouse was auctioned for materials and a park was made of the courthouse lawn.



History in a Pecan Shell
(A timeline of significant events)
1846: Panola County is organized – the town of Pulaski was made temporary county seat.
1848: Carthage is named seat for its central location. Named for Carthage, Mississippi.
1849: Post office was established and a log courthouse was built
1853: Brick courthouse was completed
1874: Carthage is incorporated – although it needed to be reincorporated in 1902 and again after that
1885: Third courthouse is built
1888: Texas, Sabine Valley and Northwestern Railroad arrives
Woods Methodist Church, Texas
Woods Methodist Church SE of Carthage
Photo courtesy Barclay Gibson, May 2004

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