| |
 |
History
in a Pecan ShellThe
town dates to 1839 when Reese Hughes settled near three mineral-rich springs.
First referred to as Chalybeate Springs, the community that was to form
adopted Mr. Hughes’ name – as did the post office when it opened in 1847. This
initial post office was run by a W.V. Hughes but only lasted a few years.
In 1876 the East Line and Red River Railroad made Hughes Springs a stop on its
line. The railroad connection allowed people to easily visit the springs which
had gained a word-of-mouth reputation for curative powers.
In the late
1870s a second post office was established at the slightly relocated community.
By this time the springs had become a popular health destination for the region.
In the 1850s a furnace for smelting the iron ore was built and during the Civil
War it was made the property of the Confederate government. After the war, the
Federal Government decided that exploiting the deposits wasn’t worth the cost
of transporting coal to fire the furnace. The lode of iron ore was estimated to
be in the hundreds of millions of tons. In 1912, an offer was made to buy the
ore by Bethlehem Steel, but was turned down by the lease holders.
By the
mid 1880s the town had a population of around 300 with most essential businesses
present. It remained at that level (more or less) for years. The 1920 census reported
just over 800 residents and by the end of that prosperous decade, it had broken
the 1,000 mark. After the stock-market crash, it was reduced to just over 700
by 1933.
The town’s popularity as a resort was diminished but it’s importance
as an agricultural shipping point increased.
During WWII
when iron ore was important to the war effort, the Lone Star Steel Plant opened
ten miles away in neighboring Morris County. Hughes Springs finally benefited
from collateral industries from the plant, one of which was a plant for producing
road-building material from the steel plant’s by-products.
In the 1940s,
the area population doubled from 767 to over 1,400. It reached 1,823 by the 1960s
census – with jobs still being supplied by the steel mill. |
 |
Historical
MarkerTown of Hughes
SpringsFounded
by Reece Hughes (1811-1893), who settled in Texas, 1839. In 1841 he married Elizabeth
Rose, daughter of patriot Wm. Pinckney Rose. Her dowry enabled him to start a
great plantation. After her death in 1853, he wed her sister, Mrs. J. w. Scott.
In 1847 Reece Hughes founded the town of Hughes Springs at a famous chalybeate
(iron salt-bearing) spring. It prospered for some years, becoming the site
of a large boarding school and a favored place for church camp meetings, but later
it declined. In 1878, Hughes' descendants founded present Hughes Springs.
1969 |
Hughes Springs First Baptist Church
Photo courtesy Gerald
Massey, June 2010 |
Hughes Springs Wildflower Trail Mural
Photo courtesy Gerald
Massey, June 2010 |
Historical
Marker - Spring Park, 3rd St. Chalybeate
Springs(Pronounced
"KA LIB E ATE)
Discovered in 1839 by brothers Reece and Robert Hughes (from
Alabama) while looking for pirate gold. Springs derive name from iron salts in
water. In 1847 Reece Hughes (1811-1893), wealthy planter who later built iron
foundry, started the first town of Hughes Springs here.
1969 |
Historical
Marker - Spring Park, 3rd St. Trammell's
TraceEntered Cass
County at Epperson's Ferry. Continued south and west in an arc, passing through
Chalybeate Springs (Hughes Springs). This 1813 pioneer trail originated in St.
Louis and linked the "Southwest Trail" with the King's
Highway to Mexico. It
was laid out by Nicholas Trammell (1780-1852).
1967 |
 |
by
Mike Cox
"Texas
Tales" Column
More
than 300 miles inland from the Gulf of Mexico, the community of Hughes Springs
owes its existence to a fanciful pirate story and one man who believed it.
Born
in Tennessee and raised in Alabama, Reece Hughes first saw Texas
in 1829 when he crossed the Sabine
to hunt buffalo.
The expedition proved short-lived.
“This little band of adventurers was
soon driven out of Texas by a much larger force of hostile Indians,” son Howell
Rose Hughes wrote a century later.
Nine years later after his first visit,
Texas having wrested its independence from Mexico, Reece Hughes returned with
his younger brother. They settled in Red River County, but an intriguing tale
Hughes had heard on his first trip to Texas lured him to what is now Cass County.
As
his son remembered it, “an old sea pirate who bore the name of Trammel” had buried
“a great strong box of gold coins” near an Indian village on the trail that later
bore his name – the Trammell Trace. Others gilded the legend, claiming
Trammel had once been a member of Jean
Laffite’s not-always-jolly band of saltwater brigands. After Laffite
got run off Galveston Island by the U.S. Navy, the tale continued, Trammel decamped
for St. Louis with his share of the loot. Hounded by hostile Indians while on
the way to Missouri, he buried his treasure in Northeast Texas.
Hughes
and his brother set out to find Trammell’s treasure, following the trail to an
old Indian village along a mineral rich spring-feed creek in a handsome valley
about a mile east of present Hughes Springs. On March 28, 1839 they pitched a
tent and started chopping trees for a log cabin about a mile from the spring.
“If they ever found the golden treasure for which they were searching
I have no record of it,” Hughes’ son wrote. “But they built their log cabin, cleared
their little farm, and planted a crop of corn and peas and some garden truck.”
That fall, convinced that in putting down roots in Texas
he had found another kind of treasure, Hughes left his brother in charge of their
farm and rode back to Alabama to bring his father and other family members to
Texas. As his son later remembered, others “seized
with the Texas fever” joined the party and soon all “began to prosper wonderfully.”
Nicholas Trammell, the reputed pirate who played an unintended
role in the beginning of Hughes Springs... more
©
Mike
Cox |
 |
1907
Cass County postal map showing Hughes Springs
(Below "C" in "CASS"
near Morris County line.)
Courtesy Texas General land Office |
| 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 of their town, please contact
us. | |
|
