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TYLER,
TEXASSmith
County Seat, East
Texas
Junctions of US Hwy 69 & 271,
State Hwy 14, 31,
64, 110, & 155
99 miles SE of Dallas
37 miles W of Longview
59 miles W of Marshall
Population:
83,650 (2000) |
| Tyler Azalea
Trails - "The trails wind through old neighborhoods south of downtown."
Photo courtesy Sam
Fenstermacher, March 2006 |
TYLER
A drive with beauty and historyExcerpted
from "The
East Texas Sunday Drive Book" by Bob Bowman
The countryside around Tyler is both beautiful and historical, and this Sunday
Drive will give you an opportunity to simultaneously enjoy the two aspects.
Start your trip in downtown Tyler with a visit to the Carnegie
History Center, located at 125 South College. Open Wednesday through Sunday,
the Center offers an excellent overview of the history of Tyler and Smith County,
starting with the days when Indians roamed the land.
You'll also want
to take enough time to drive through a residential area surrounding Bergfeld
Park, located on South Broadway. This area is known for its stately mansions
and historic homes, many of them dating back to the l930s when oil brought immense
wealth to Tyler. Some of the north-west streets you'll want to explore include
South College, Bois d' Arc, College, Robertson and Chilton.
As you drive,
pay close attention to the old brick streets. They constitute one of the
largest collections of brick-surfaced streets in Texas.
Tyler, settled
in the l840s, owes its name to President John Tyler. Smith County, of which
Tyler has been the only county seat, was created in l846 from part of what is
now Nacogdoches County. the county was named for General James Smith, a Texas
Revolution leader who was serving in the Republic of Texas Congress when the county
was named for him.
Every visit to Tyler should include a tour of the
municipal Rose Gardens, the largest garden of its type in the country.
Boasting over 38,000 rose bushes with more than 500 varieties, the garden is located
adjacent to the East Texas Fair Grounds on West Front Street. Nearby is Rose
Stadium, home of Tyler Junior College's football team.
Tyler
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Other
Attractions in Tyler
include:The
Tyler Museum of Art, located adjacent to Tyler Junior College on Mahon Street.
The museum offers changing exhibits of 19th and 20th century art. It is open Tuesday
through Sunday. Hunall
Planetarium, also on the Tyler Junior College campus. It is the only planetarium
in East Texas and offers seasonal shows on a variety of celestrial subjects. Call
for show times and reservations.
Brookshire's World of Wildlife, located at the Brookshire headquarters on
Loop 323 in South Tyler. The museum contains more than 150 specimens of animals
from across the globe with special emphasis on African and North American Wildlife.
In addition, you can step back to the 1930s at an old-fashioned country store
and see how grocery shopping has changed. The exhibits are open Monday through
Friday.Caldwell
Zoo, located on Martin Luther King Boulevard in North Tyler. The muncipal
zoo offers exhibits with more than 500 animals, making it the most complete zoo
in East Texas. The zoo is open
every day.Goodman
Museum, located on North Broadway near the downtown area. This antebellum
home features 19th century artifacts, antiques and period medical instruments.
Days of operation change with the seasons.The
site of Camp
Ford on U.S. 271, just north of Loop 323. The Civil War prison camp housed
up to 6,000 Union soldiers in the l860s. Myrtle-Vale,
Colonel John Dewberry's Home
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"The $194,000 restoration was completed in 2001 and Colonel Dewberry’s
proud old home is now open for tours, receptions and other events. The restoration
also earned the Bergfelds the prestigious Terry Preservation Award given annually
by the East Texas Historical Association. Today, Myrtle-Vale is one of the most
magnificent pre-Civil War homes still standing in East
Texas." 15 miles southwest of Tyler.
Tyler
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You may want to time
your Sunday Drive with two special events, the world-famous Tyler Rose Festival,
which is held in the middle of each October, and the Tyler Azalea Trail,
which is held in late March and early April. Held in conjunction with the Azalea
Trail is Tyler Heritage on Tour, which features several historic homes,
complete with carriage rides.
Tyler
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The Blackstone Building today houses the Tyler Chamber of Commerce
Photo by
John Troesser, 5-02 | |
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When
you leave Tyler, continue your Sunday Drive by heading north on Farm Road 14,
which will carry you to Tyler State Park, a jewel of a recreational area
carved from the pine forests. The park offers facilities for swimming, historical
intrepetration, camping and picnicking.
http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/park/tyler/tyler.htm
From
the Tyler State Park, continue north on 14 until the road intersections with Farm
Road 16. Start south on 16 until you reach the community of Winona,
which was settled in the early l840s and named for Winona Douglas, the daughter
of a prominent businessman.
At Winona,
continue on 16 to the old town of Starrville,
once an important overnight stop for stagecoaches and freight haulers, as well
as a crucial manufacturing community. In l869, Starrville
had the Texas Fair, said by some sources to have been the first state fair in
Texas. From Starrville,
turn south on Farm Road 757 until you intersect with Farm Road 345 west of Arp.
Turn south on 345 until it turns into 346 and follow the latter into Troup,
a one-time planters village that was developed as a railroad stop in the l870s.
From
Troup, head back toward Tyler
on Texas 110, but between Troup
and Whitehouse, turn east on Farm Road 344 to Bullard.
Near Bullard is the old town
of Burning Bush,
a religious colony that existed between 1912 and 1915. The colony grew truck crops,
processed fruits and tried unsuccessfully to drill for oil. At
Bullard, continue east on
344, which will carry you along the eastern edge of Lake Palestine. You
can continue along the lake shoreline by picking up Farm Road 266 at its intersection
with 344 and Texas 155.
Stay on 2661 until it intersects with Texas 64. Turn
to the east here until you reach the intersection with Farm Road 724. Continue
in a northerly direction on 724 until you reach the Mount Sylvan community.
Here, turn east on Texas 110 until you come to the intersection with Farm Road
849, which will carry you into Lindale, which dates back to l875 when it
became a stop on the railroad. Near the town is the old Steen Saline, which
employed some 3,000 men during the Civil War to furnish salt for the Confederacy. From
Lindale, pick up U.S. 69 and return to Tyler.
For meals during your
drive, we recommend a couple of Tyler eateries. The Hoffbrau, located on East
Fifth Street not far from Tyler Junior College, serves an excellent pan-fried
steak in a rustic atmosphere. Liang's, located in a shopping center at the intersection
of Loop 323 and Texas 110, serves some of the finest Chinese food in East
Texas.
(For
additional information about places found on this Sunday Drive, contact the Tyler
Area Chamber of Commerce, 407 North Broadway, Tyler, TX 75710, telephone 214/592-1661.)
|
More
on Historic Tyler, Texas |
| | Tyler
-
A Photographic History | |
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The
First Baptist Church in Tyler
Photo courtesy Lori Martin, 2005 |
Tyler,
Texas Forum
Subject:
Tyler Azalea Trails
We drove down to Tyler Texas Sunday to see the homes
and yards along the Tyler Azalea Trails. The trails wind through old neighborhoods
south of downtown. The homes and yards are beautiful. They also had young ladies,
dressed in Victorian period attire, greeting passersby. - Sam Fenstermacher,
March 29, 2006
Book Your Hotel Here
& Save
Tyler
Hotels |
| | A
rose garden in Tyler
Postcard courtesy rootsweb.com/
~txgenweb// postcards/Index.html
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| | The
Federal Courthouse in Tyler
TE Photo, 5-02 | |
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