Red Springs

Red Springs is a small rural community in north central Smith County six miles northwest of Winona at the intersection of Farm roads 16, 14, and 2710. The springs for which the town was named are located just northwest of the crossroads. The settlement was originally a stop on the Dallas-Shreveport Road, a trade route developed by Tyler residents in the late 1840s. It was organized into a community in 1855 and soon became a center for logging and lumbering. In 1903 Red Springs had two one-teacher schools; one had sixty-seven White pupils, and the other had fifty-seven Black students. During the 1910s a crude, unpainted, two-story schoolhouse and two teachers served an average of twenty-five White children. In 1911 area residents established the Red Springs Baptist Church. Maps for 1936 showed two businesses, a school, the Baptist church, and a small cluster of dwellings. Mount Olive School, a Black elementary school, employed two teachers. During the 1940s the oil industry developed in northern Smith County, and by 1952 the Red Springs oilfield surrounded the community. The school had been consolidated into the Winona Independent School District. A new building for the Baptist church was constructed in 1957. In 1960 the community had scattered farms, a cemetery, and a water-pumping station. In 1973 Red Springs had four businesses and a cluster of dwellings. It still appeared on maps in 1981. In 2000 the population was 350.