Lassater

Lassater is on the Louisiana and Arkansas Railway at the intersection of Farm Road 1969 and State Highway 49, ten miles northwest of Jefferson in northwestern Marion County. It was named for Joe Lassater, an early settler in the area, and was probably founded about 1877, when the East Line and Red River Railroad was built through the site and a post office called Lasater Station was opened there. In 1881 the name was changed to Lasater. By 1884 the community had a population of seventy-five, two steam and grist mills, cotton gins, and a church, and its principal shipment was cotton. By 1890 Lasater had a hotel and a Baptist church; its population had risen to 125. The local school served twenty-six pupils and one teacher in 1899. In 1902 the name of the post office was changed to Pyland, probably for Dr. W. J. Pyland, who owned a drug and notion store in the community, and in 1909 was changed yet again, this time to Lassater. Between 1896 and 1914 the number of general stores in the community fell from three to one, and the number of sawmills from two to one. The population of the community also declined, to 103 in 1904, 98 in 1925, and 50 in 1933. In 1938 the Lassater school had ninety-two pupils and four teachers. In the early 1960s the community had a school, two churches, several scattered dwellings, an estimated population of sixty, and, some distance to the north, the Pyland cemetery. From 1968 through 2000 the population was estimated at forty-eight.

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