Woodville

Woodville is on U.S. highways 190, 69, and 287 and the Texas and New Orleans Railroad, near the geographical center of Tyler County. It was established in 1846, when Tyler County was separated from Menard District. In the same year Woodville won the election for county seat from Town Bluff, the temporary seat, and from another proposed site on Wolf Creek in the northeast part of the county. The town was laid out on 200 acres in the Turkey Creek area donated to the county by Dr. Josiah Wheat. Wheat, the first physician of record in the area, moved with his family to Tyler County from Alabama as a settler. The town was named in honor of George T. Wood, second governor of Texas. In 1847 Woodville received a post office with James H. Fulgham as postmaster. The Lea Inn, erected in 1847, later became the Eden Hotel. The first Tyler County courthouse was a two-story log house completed in 1849. The Woodville Academy was established that year, and classes were held in the new courthouse building. As early as 1849 or 1850 the Woodville Methodist Church was listed as a mission with Acton Young as the first pastor. The first Baptist church in the area, called Bethel Baptist, was established in 1851. In the early 1850s two stage lines came through town, carrying mail two times a week. The community had twenty-five log homes, two hotels, two dry-goods stores, and two saloons. Woodville was incorporated in October 1856. The voters elected S. Hough mayor and N. A. Penland, P. A. Work, B. F. Ross, and S. B. Johnson aldermen. Around 1857 a second courthouse, a two-story frame building, was built. In 1859 the Woodville Male and Female Institute was established. The present courthouse, a three-story brick structure, was erected in 1891 and was remodeled in 1935, losing its Victorian embellishments in favor of a simpler, more modern style.

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.