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MILAM,
TEXAS Former
Sabine County Seat
East
Texas
Highways 21 and 87
6 Miles N of Hemphill,
Sabine County Seat
55 Miles East of Lufkin
Population:
1,329 (2000) |
The
El Camino Park in Milam at the intersection of 21 and 87.
Photo courtesy Terry
Jeanson, December, 2007 |
History in a Pecan
Shell
The Spanish called Milam Las Borregas and used it as a watering
stop – and so didn’t the Indians before them. It later became a campsite on the
Old San Antonio Road and settlement began in the late 1820s.
Called
Red Mound at first, it was renamed to honor Ben
Milam in 1835. It was designated the seat of government that year for what
was then the “Municipality of Sabine.” It remained in that role until 1858.
Milam was a port of entry for the Republic of Texas and had an official collector
stationed there. After the Civil War two large race courses were in operation,
but by the mid 1880s the population was a mere 130 (estimate).
By the
late 1930s it was up to 250 but declined after WWII.
The Handbook of Texas reported the population as 177 for 1990. It has since
grown to 1,329.
Milam,
Texas Features:The
El Camino ParkThe
King's Highway ( Texas 21)
AKA El Camino Real, Old San Antonio Road, Old Spanish Trail James
Gaines’ Ferry |
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The
El Camino Park and markers
Photo courtesy Terry
Jeanson, December, 2007 |
Entering
Milam from the west on State Highway 21.
Photo courtesy Terry
Jeanson, December, 2007 |
The
King's Highway ( Texas 21) AKA
El Camino Real
Old San Antonio Road
Old Spanish Trail |
From
"Holiday
Day Trips" by
Bob Bowman:
"If you're into
road trips, take a drive down East Texas' oldest highway. The King's Highway (Texas
21) stretches from Toledo
Bend Reservoir near Milam to San
Antonio. It is also one of our most scenic roadways. The route was used by
Indians and traveled by Spanish missionaries in 1791. It is also known as El Camino
Real, the Old Spanish Trail, and the Old San Antonio Road."
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Marker
for the Camino Real (King's Highway) that passes through Milam.
Photo courtesy
Terry
Jeanson, December, 2007 |
James
Gaines’ Ferry
(From Ferries
in East Texas by Bob Bowman)
Long
before modern bridges were built to span rivers in East Texas, ferries were maintained
at places where roads crossed streams that were not fordable.
Many of East
Texas’ earliest immigrants entered Texas at James Gaines’ Ferry on the Old San
Antonio Road crossing of the Sabine River east of Milam in Sabine County. The
ferry was originally known as Chabanan Ferry.
Gaines’ Ferry is notable
in East Texas because it was operated continuously for more than 150 years--from
1785 to 1937. Pendleton Bridge now crosses the river and Toledo Bend Reservoir.
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