Pine Prairie

Pine Prairie is on Farm Road 247 six miles north of Huntsville in Walker County. One of the earliest settlers in the community was James A. Cabiness, who arrived from the Southeast in 1845 and purchased land in the Thomas Stevens grant. In 1852 William Koehl and his family bought land nearby and opened a cotton gin, gristmill, and blacksmith shop. The community eventually had three churches. Its two-teacher school, which operated from 1865 until the 1950s, had five grades in 1911. During the Great Depression the Texas Relief Commission established several community canning centers in Walker County. One of these was located in Pine Prairie and provided the facilities and free equipment to can local produce. In exchange for this service a share of the produce was given to the poor. In the early 1940s a church, a school, and numerous scattered dwellings remained at the site. In 1991 only a church and one business were marked on the county map. The 1990 Texas Almanac listed Pine Prairie but gave no population estimate.