COOKVILLE, TEXAS

Titus County, East Texas

33° 11' 8" N, 94° 51' 16" W (33.185556, -94.854444)
Highway 67
7 Miles NE of Mount Pleasant the county seat
Population: 105 est. (2010)

Book Hotel Here > Mount Pleasant Hotels

Photo courtesy Gerald Massey, September 2010

History in a Pecan Shell

Andrew B. Cook opened a general store on the Omaha to Mount Pleasant road just two years after the Civil War. The town was granted a post office in 1870 under the name Clay Hill, Texas but ten years later it was changed to honor Cook.

When railroad construction started back after the war, Cookville became a station on the East Line and Red River Railroad. A narrow-gauge railroad - but still a railroad. In 1884 the population was a substantial 500 people and both Titus and Morris counties used Cookville as a shipping point.

The "Gay 90s" weren't good to Cookville. From a population of 600 - the town shrank down to only 250. As the twentieth century got under way, Cookville not only rebounded but reached its zenith with 800 citizens in 1914. The economy was fueled by cotton and when the boll weevil arrived and the price of cotton dissolved - so did Cookville's population. By the mid 1920s there was just over 400 people in Cookville.

The population continued to melt away and by 1990 there was just over 100 people calling Cookville home.

Cookville Public School
Early 1900s photo courtesy texasoldphotos.com
More Texas Schoolhouses

Phillips-Taylor Cemetery
Photo courtesy Gerald Massey, September 2010
More Texas Cemeteries

Church of God
Photo courtesy Gerald Massey, September 2010

Cookville First Baptist Church
Photo courtesy Gerald Massey, September 2010
More Texas Churches

1907 Franklin, Titus, Morris, Camp Counties postal map showing Cookville
(7 Miles NE of Mount Pleasant)
From Texas state map #2090 Courtesy Texas General Land Office

Cookville, Texas Area Towns:
Mount Pleasant the county seat
Mount Vernon
See Titus County | East Texas

Book Hotel Here:
Mount Pleasant Hotels | More Hotels

Texas Escapes, in its purpose to preserve historic, endangered and vanishing Texas, asks that anyone wishing to share their local history and vintage/historic photos, please contact us.