Pounds

Pounds is two miles west of Tyler Loop 323 on State Highway 64 in central Smith County. Located on the Porter's Bluff-Tyler Road, an early trade route to Dallas, the area may have been occupied as early as the 1840s. In 1936 the site had four businesses, a camp or lodge, and a dense cluster of houses. Children attended the nearby Dixie School. Apparently named for prominent local businessman W. A. Pounds, the settlement was not designated on maps until after the Tyler Pounds (later Pounds) Airport was constructed just to the east. The 810-acre airfield had been completed by 1948. That year the field had radio gear, a Radiobeam Station, the Stewart Airport Training Field, and equipment to facilitate night landing. In 1965 Pounds consisted of the airport, several other businesses, a water tank, and many homes, and by 1969 the area was within the Tyler Independent School District. A 1973 map showed four businesses and a cluster of dwellings west of the airfield. In 1981 the community had eight businesses. No population figures were available.