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History in
a Pecan Shell
The settlement was named after nearby Cherokee Creek. P. P. "Pop"
Woodard is credited with being the first settler - in the early
1850s. Woodard's ranch was five miles west of present-day Cherokee.
In 1858 a post office was granted in Llano county with J.R. Williams
as postmaster. Ten years later it moved to Hanna, Texas in San Saba
County. In 1871 it moved again - sharing space with a store and
hotel on the north side of Cherokee Creek. After a short move to
another home on a branch of Cherokee Creek, it finally arrived (1879)
to the store of J. S.Hart in Cherokee proper. In place for over
125 years, Cherokee's post office is the second oldest in the county.
David Seth Hanna (namessake of Hanna, Texas) is credited with platting
the town of Cherokee in 1878. Essential businesses opened and by
1890 the community had a healthy population of 500 - which was good
for a town without a railroad connection. The Cherokee Academy opened
in the mif 1890s and underwent several changes of name. It was sold
to the county in 1921 and operated as the Cherokee High School until
it burned in 1945. The original façade was saved and incorporated
into a rebuilt structure.
The prosperous
20s gave Cherokee a bank and two newspapers but without a railroad
connection there were limits to growth. The population stayed at
250 for decades, slowly declining to 175 for the 1990 Census - the
same figure that appears on the 2007 state map.
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