Sion

Sion, on U.S. Highway 75 seventeen miles northwest of Huntsville in Walker County, was established by a group of Mississippi settlers who arrived after the Civil War. In the late nineteenth century the community had a blacksmith shop, a gristmill, a general store, a drugstore, and a post office that operated from 1889 until 1914. In 1890 Sion had a population of 150, two churches, a general store, three livestock agents, and two sawmills nearby. In 1914 the population was still 150, but the only businesses were a sawmill and a general store. The community school met in the Harmony Church building until it burned in 1899. After the fire, a new school building was constructed, and six grades were taught there. Classes continued to be held in the Sion school until 1940. In 1937 the settlement had two sawmills, one store, a factory, a school, and numerous scattered dwellings. In 1990 the Texas Almanac listed Sion but offered no additional information.