Midway

Midway is on State Highway 155 and Butler Creek just south of Tyler in central Smith County. By 1903 Midway had two schools: one with one teacher and sixty-three White pupils, and the other with two teachers and ninety-seven Black pupils. In 1936 only the White school remained open, with twenty-six students and one teacher; the 108 Black children were not enrolled. Though the 1936 county highway map did not name the settlement, the map showed a church, a cemetery, and a cluster of dwellings at the site. By 1952 the community school had been consolidated into the Rice Independent School District. In 1966 Midway consisted of the church, the cemetery, and a cluster of houses. Little had changed by 1973, but the 1981 county highway map showed twenty-five businesses and another church, as well as two newly developed residential areas.