Odessa

Newark is on Farm Road 718 two miles east of Eagle Mountain Lake and one mile north of the Tarrant county line in extreme southeast Wise County. Settlement began in the mid-1850s, when Benjamin B. Haney built a home near the waters of Burrett Creek. The first settlers referred to the community as Caddo Village because of numerous remnants of the Caddo Indian culture found along the banks of the West Fork of the Trinity River. Later it was called Odessa, and a post office branch, the first in what was to become Wise County, was established under that name and operated until 1866. Early in its history, however, the town was referred to informally by many names, including Huff Valley, because of the number of Huff family members in the area; Sueville, after Sue Gary, an early settler; and Ragtown, a derogatory reference to the tents of Rock Island Railroad construction crews. After the railroad reached the town in 1893, Rock Island officials proceeded to survey and lay out town lots and reapply for postal service. The community was renamed after Newark, New Jersey, perhaps the hometown of G. K. Foster, the civil engineer who helped survey the town. Newark was a prosperous farming community until the 1920s. It regained its status as a retail market for area farmers by the end of the 1940s. In 1951 Newark incorporated and reported an estimated population of just under 300. In 1986 it had 466 residents and eight businesses. In 1990 the population was 651. The population grew to 887 in 2000.

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.