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Marion Town Site - Texas Centennial Marker
Photo courtesy Barclay
Gibson, December 2010 |
History in a Pecan
Shell
Marion
was the first of Angelina
County's four county seats. In the late 1820s, the site was known as McNeill's
Landing since it was the terminus of steamboat traffic on the Angelina River.
By this fact, it became the center of Angelina County commerce, connecting the
inland town with coastal Sabine City - and the Gulf of Mexico.
Despite
the river connection, growth was slow. In 1846 it was named county seat and renamed
to honor General Francis Marion, the "Swamp Fox" of the American Revolution.
The first courthouse was a two-story log structure. In early 1847 a post office
was opened. In 1854, the town's status as county seat was taken away by the more
centraly-located Jonesville.
The demise of Marion was slow and drawn-out. It's river traffic kept it a viable
for many years but just barely. The arrival of the railroad
in the early 1880s was the writing on the wall. By the turn of the (20th) century,
Marion was gone. The Texas Centennial Commission erected a marker in 1936, but
Marion had by that time, already joined the long list of East
Texas ghost towns. |
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Site of the Town of Marion
Photo courtesy Barclay
Gibson, December 2010 |
| Texas
Escapes, in its purpose to preserve historic, endangered and vanishing
Texas, asks that anyone wishing to share their local history, stories, and vintage/historic
photos of their town, please contact
us. | |
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