Crockett

City of Crockett, Houston County, Texas

City of Crockett, Houston County, Texas

The City of Crockett is the seat of Houston County, Texas. Photograph by Billy Hathorn.

Crockett, the county seat and largest community in Houston County, is at the junction of U.S. Highway 287 and State highways 7, 19, and 21 in the central part of the county. When Houston County was established in 1837, Andrew Edwards Gossett, an early settler from Tennessee, donated land for the county seat. Gossett and his father, Elijah Gossett, named the settlement for David Crockett, a former neighbor in Tennessee. Crockett is said to have camped near the townsite in January 1836 on his way to San Antonio. County officials chose the site because of its proximity to the Old San Antonio Road. The town was incorporated on December 29, 1837, and a post office opened there on March 31, 1838. During the early years mail was delivered twice a month, and a stagecoach ran at intervals from Nacogdoches. In 1839 raids by the Alabama-Coushatta and Cherokee Indians forced the town's residents to take shelter in the fortified log courthouse. Several early schools operated in the vicinity of Crockett, among them Crockett Academy, built a half mile east of the courthouse about 1855. Several early newspapers were published in the town, including the Crockett Printer, begun in 1853 by Oscar Dalton, and the Crockett Argus, first published in 1857.

During the Civil War Crockett served as a mustering point and training center for Confederate forces. In 1865 the courthouse and most of the town burned, so that most of the county's early records were lost. In 1872 the Houston and Great Northern Railroad was built through Crockett, thus assuring its place as a regional trading center and spurring the growth of the lumber industry in the region. By 1885 the town had a bank, a hotel, an opera house, and several schools; Baptist, Methodist, and Presbyterian churches; a weekly newspaper, the Texas Patron; and an estimated population of 1,200. A school for black girls, later known as Mary Allen Junior College, opened in Crockett in 1886. In 1904 a lignite mine was opened just south of the town and at its height around 1910 produced twenty-five carloads a day. Wildcatting for oil began around the same time, but local oil was not produced commercially until 1934. Although the decline of the timber industry after World War I affected the economy of county, Crockett continued to prosper during the 1920s and 1930s, reaching a population of 3,063 in 1925 and 4,441 in 1936, when it had twenty-one businesses.

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Eliza H. Bishop, Christopher Long | © TSHA

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Adapted from the official Handbook of Texas, a state encyclopedia developed by Texas State Historical Association (TSHA). It is an authoritative source of trusted historical records.

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Adoption Status:
This place has been adopted and will not be available until May 22, 2027
Adopted by:
A Downes Descendent
Dedication Message:
In Honor of the Downes

Belongs to

Crockett is part of or belongs to the following places:

Currently Exists

Yes

Place type

Crockett is classified as a Town

Location

Latitude: 31.31759080
Longitude: -95.45643700

Has Post Office

Yes

Is Incorporated

Yes

Population Count, 2021 View more »

6,406