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| | Post
Office building in Crockett
TE Photo, 2002 |
History
in a Pecan Shell
The town was named after Davy Crockett who reportedly
had camped nearby on his way to the
Alamo. The site was very near the Old San Antonio Road. A family of Tennesseans
donated the land for the town and named it after Crockett, who they had known
back in Tennessee.
The town was incorporated in 1837, and a post office
was granted the following year. Crockett was connected to Nacogdoches
by stage service.
In 1839 raids by the Alabama-Coushatta and Cherokee
Indians forced the town's residents to take shelter in the fortified log courthouse.
Crockett was a training center for Confederate conscripts during the
Civil War.
The railroad came through in 1872 enabling Crockett to exploit
the county's timber resources.
By 1885 the town was thriving with a population
of 1,200 and the following year a school was opened for black girls. It evolved
into Mary Allen
Junior College, which operated into the 1970s.
In 1904 lignite mining
started and it peaked about 1910. The stands of timber were seriously depleted
by the 1920s.
The population was over 3,000 in the mid 20's and by 1936
it was nearly 4,500.
Crockett population increased while most of East
Texas declined after WWII. It reached 5,000 by the 1960 census.
Crockett
Hotels > Book Your Hotel
Here & Save |
Crockett Landmarks
/ Chronicles |
| | Crockett's
Ritz Theatre
TE Photo, 2002 |
| |
An old neon sign in
Crockett
TE Photo, 2002 |
| | Coca
Cola Billboard in Crockett
Photo courtesy Barclay Gibson, April 2006 |
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