Wise

Wise, also known as Fourmile Prairie, was a rural community in west central Van Zandt County ten miles southwest of Canton on Farm roads 47 and 3227 and the Kaufman county line. First settled by a colony of Norwegians who arrived in 1848, Fourmile Prairie had a post office as early as 1856, but the town was renamed Wise on March 11, 1889, when Henry A. Wise was postmaster. The post office was consolidated with Prairieville in 1917. In 1854 the community had sixteen families. The town school was established by 1890 and had an enrollment of seventy-nine in 1904; it was consolidated with Mabank in 1949. The town had one general store and a population of twenty-five from the 1930s until 1947, when a second business opened. In 1936 Wise had one business and scattered dwellings. By 1981 highway maps showed only scattered dwellings in the area. In 1990 the population was twenty-nine. The population remained the same 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.