LATCH, TEXAS

Upshur County, East Texas

Farm Road 1795
8 Miles W of Gilmer the county seat
21 Miles NW of Longview
Population: 50 (2000, 1990)

Latch, Texas Area Hotels › Longview Hotels

Latch Community Center
Photo courtesy Barclay Gibson, 2007

History in a Pecan Shell

The community began life in the 1880s when it was then known as Know, Texas. After the community received a post office in 1894, it was changed to Latch, after major landowner and sawmill operator L. A. Latch.

In the 1890s the town built churches and a school. The first store was opened about this time and the post office closed its doors in 1906.

As the trees disappeared into lumber and sawdust, Latch (the man) switched professions, closing the sawmill and opening a cotton gin.

Latch’s population was estimated at fifty during the Great Depression – the same figure used for the 2000 census. Latch, with no discernable town center is now described as “a dispersed community.”

Missionary Baptist Church
Photo courtesy Barclay Gibson, 2007
More Texas Churches

Latch Community Center ghost sign
Photo courtesy Barclay Gibson, 2007

Latch Community Center sign
Photo courtesy Gerald Massey, July 2011

Latch road sign
Photo courtesy Gerald Massey, July 2011

Postcard canceled with Latch TX 1895 Postmark
Courtesy The John J. Germann Collection

Take a road trip

East Texas
East Texas Sunday Drives

Latch, Texas Nearby Towns:
Gilmer the county seat
Diana
Gladewater
Longview
Tyler
Mount Pleasant
Jefferson
See Upshur County

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