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LONE STAR, TEXAS


Texas Ghost Town
Cherokee County, East Texas

FM 235 and FM 2274
13 miles NE of Rusk the county seat
Population: 0

Lone Star, Texas Area Hotels › Jacksonville Hotels

History in a Pecan Shell

Once called "Skin Tight" after the business tactics of early trader and storekeeper Henry L. Reeves, the more acceptable name of Lone Star was submitted when a post office was applied for in 1883. The office was granted and Lone Star was off to a great start. With 160 people and a gristmill, cotton gin, a sawmill, store and school, the future looked bright. But "downtown" Lone Star burned in an 1893 fire. Rebuilding was immediate and the town doubled its population by the mid-1890s.

But with the new century, Lone Star started to dim. In 1903 the Texas and New Orleans Railroad bypassed the town and most residents moved to Ponta. The 1915 population was down to 200 and the post office closed in 1916.

Oil was discovered in 1939 and it seemed as though it might resurrect the town, but production was anemic and hopes were dashed.

Still, 73 people remained in Lone Star through WWII. The post-war population drifted away and except for a lone building, and a state historical marker, Lone Star joined a long list of former East Texas towns.

See Cherokee County 1907 postal map



Historical Marker Text
On FM 235, 4 miles SW of New Summerfield

Lone Star

The ante bellum community of Lone Star, a center of trade, education and culture in the 1880s, experienced its greatest growth after the Civil War. Known first as "Skin Tight," it was named Lone Star when a post office opened in 1883. The town once had several businesses, a public school, four churches, two lodges and the Lone Star Institute. The town began to decline after a disastrous fire in 1893. Decline continued when the T & N O Railroad bypassed Lone Star. Hope for the community's revival died when two oil field discoveries did not prove to be profitable.



More on Lone Star, Texas

  • Remembering Skin Tight by Bob Bowman
    In the early 1830s, when cattle buyer Henry Reeves and his partner, a man known only as Ball, built a store on the Rusk-Henderson road, visiting customers started calling the settlement “Skin Tight”... more


  • Texas’ Lone Stars by Bob Bowman
    “How many towns named Lone Star are located in Texas?”
    At my last count, there were ten, and six of them are in East Texas... more



  • Cherokee County Texas  1907 postal map
    1907 postal map showing Lone Star and Ponta in Northeastern Cherokee County
    Courtesy Texas General Land Office

    Take a road trip

    East Texas

    Lone Star, Texas Nearby Towns:
    Rusk the county seat
    Jacksonville
    Henderson
    See Cherokee County

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