Marvin

Owlet Green, also known as Marvin Chapel, was a rural community in southeastern Van Zandt County thirteen miles southeast of Canton at the headwaters of the Neches River on Farm Road 1995. It was founded by immigrants from southern states about 1852 and named for the small green owls that populated the river bottom. The community was first known as Marvin Chapel and had a post office as early as 1878 and continuously from 1897 to 1905. In the 1890s the community was a shipping and supply point for area farmers and had a population of 300, two blacksmith shops, several gristmills and gins, general stores, a school, a church, a sawmill, a syrup manufacturer, and a saloon. The community became known as a religious center and camp meeting site. The local school reached an enrollment of thirty in 1905 and was consolidated with Van Zandt Independent School District in 1948. In the 1930s the town had a population of twenty-five, a church, a school, a seasonal industry, and scattered dwellings. By 1988 nothing remained of the community but a concrete foundation and the Marvin Chapel and cemetery a mile away.