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SWARTWOUT,
TEXAS
(Swartout)
A submerged
Texas Ghost Town
Polk County, East
Texas
Lake Livingston and FM 1988
75 miles N of Houston
30 miles E of Hunstville
Population: 0
Area
Hotels - Book Here & Save
Houston
Hotels
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Swartwout
Centennial Marker
Photo courtesy Mildred L. Brown, September 2007 |
History in
a Pecan Shell
Named in honor of New York financier Samuel Swartwout who bankrolled
several early colonists, the town was set up on the east bank of the
Trinity River in 1838.
The unusual spelling of the man's name caused many people to drop
the "w" and simply spell it Swartout. Sam Houston was an early shareholder
in the community whose future looked horizonsless.
The Masons opened a school there in the 1840s, even before the establishment
of Polk County. A ferry landing was established and the town was on
a stage line. River traffic made it a riverport for cotton warehousing
and the town had a hotel early on.
With the establishment of Liberty County in 1840, Swartwout became
a subcounty seat of the county's northern division. When Polk County
was established in 1846, Swartwout tried to be the county
seat but failed to win enough votes. Nevertheless, the town throve
on its river trade until the coming of the railroads erased that advantage.
The Swartwout post office was open from 1846 through 1875.
A marker was erected for the Texas Centennial in 1936 but it was later
moved with the establishment of the Lake Livingston Reservoir. Although
there's nothing left of the old town of Swartwout, the name lives
on with a contemporary community that has grown near the old Livingston
Dam. |
Pleasant
Hill Methodist Church in Swartwout
Before and After
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| Photo
courtesy Mildred L. Brown, September 2007 |
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