Newton County, Texas
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Surnames/tags: Newton County US History texas
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History/Timeline
- Newton County was formed and organized 1846 from Jasper County. It is named for the American Revolutionary soldier John Newton.[1]
Newton County is the easternmost county in the U.S. state of Texas. Its county seat is Newton.
- 1700's-1800's- Artifacts of the Caddo confederacies have been found in Newton County. The Atakapans, ("man-eaters" in Choctaw language), occupied the coastal regions around the Sabine River. [2]
- 1800s Early trails through the area were called the Coushatta Trace. [2]
- 1829 grant by Mexican government to Lorenzo de Zavala made up much of Newton county. At least 21 settlers received titles to land now in the county in 1834 and 1835. [2]
- 1831-1834 Most of the area of Newton County was part of the Municipality of Liberty.[2][3]http://scholarworks.sfasu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1265&context=ethj
- Apr 22, 1846 Texas marked off Newton County from E 1/2 of Jasper county. Dissension over location of the courthouse dominated Newton County's early history.[2]
- 1846 first court meetings were held near Quicksand Creek as a result. [2]
- 1848 Burkeville citizens requested their town be county seat in 1848. Voters approved the new location the following year.[2]
- 1853 land titles dispute set off another election, and offices were moved to Newton, Texas.[2]
- 1855 Burkeville citizens refused to give up the struggle, favored Burkeville.. County officials refused to leave Newton, however, convincing the legislature to recognize that city as the proper seat of government, where it has since remained. [2]
- 1860 settlers in Newton County grew corn, potatoes, cattle, hogs, sheep, horses. Large-scale-Planters were low, but Slave numbers increased to 34% of population. [2]
- 1861 Newton County citizens supported secession by a large margin.[2]
- 1862 -1865 - 400 men from Newton County served during the Civil War, commissioners' court made efforts to help the remaining citizens avoid much of the war's immediate economic destruction.[2]
- Slavery Slavery movement
- Reconstruction - The political and social turmoil of the state had little effect on Newton County. [2]
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| location in Texas. |
- 1880s Lumber industry began with water-powered sawmills, to be just over $25,000. (Early lumbermen used animal teams or creeks to pull or float cut timber to the Sabine River, where it was then floated downstream to Orange). [2]
- 1890s- 1900s - A.J. Peavy, Henry Lutcher, John H Kirby brought in timber interests to capitalize on the area's huge virgin forests.[2]
- 1897 -Railways,-- Orange and Northwestern, Sabine and Neches Valley, and Gulf and Northern railways extended into the county, promoted by lumbermen. [2]
- 1929 Lumber production was over $4,000,000 annually, with 1,383 of the county's 1,461 industrial workers employed by lumber-related concerns. (2/3 of county were working in non-agricultural occupations) Early settlers depended upon poorly maintained county roads and sporadic riverboat service along the Sabine. [2]
- 1930-s Great Depression and gradual depletion of timber caused a severe impact on the county. [2]
- 1930-40's Industrial production fell 37% and Mill closings at Deweyville, Call, and Wiergate hurt the county's economy. [2]
- 1940 public emergency work programs employed 468 people (10.7% of the total work force); and 302 (6.6 percent of the total work force) were seeking work. [2]
- 1950-1960 almost 10% drop as residents worked outside the county in areas such as Beaumont and Orange. Some commuters used the expanded highways system. Registered vehicles doubled as the population increased. [2]
https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/hcn03
- 2005. the city of Newton in Newton County, was damaged from Hurricane Rita. Although almost 80 miles from the Gulf of Mexico, Newton suffered extensive damage in September 2005 from Hurricane Rita. The National Weather Service estimated wind gusts in the vicinity of Newton to be between 80 mph to 100 mph. Some residents were without electricity for at least a month.[4]
Government Offices
Newton County has had three courthouses:1848 - Burkeville, 1853 - Newton, 1902-03 - Newton. [5]
1st county seat - When Newton County was organized in 1846, separated from the eastern part of Jasper County, the town of Quicksand (also called Quicksand Creek) was made the county seat and county officials held their first meetings at the home of Josephus S. Irvine, an early Texas settler and veteran of the battle of San Jacinto.[5]
1st courthouse, 1848 - a bill passed in the state legislature that moved the county seat to Burkeville instead in 1848.* It was here that the county’s first courthouse was built on land donated by the town’s founder, John R. Burke. The courthouse was a two story wood frame building with a front porch and second story balcony. [5]
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| 1848 Courthouse |
ALTERCATION over COUNTY SEAT- 1855, an election moved the county seat back to Burkeville but county officials refused to leave Newton and in 1856 the state legislature ruled that Newton should remain the county seat. [5]
2nd Courthouse, 1853
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| 1853 Courthouse. |
3rd Courthhouse, 1902-03 built in 1902-03 on the same land as the previous courthouse. It was built from brick made on nearby Caney Creek in the Second Empire style with a sloping, pressed metal roof (containing round and arched dormers and triangular pediments), a clock tower and corner quoins with a bracketed cornice and bracketed balconies over the entrances.[5]
- August 4, 2000, an electrical fire in the attic led to the destruction of the courthouse. By the time the smoke was seen billowing from the clock tower. For 6 years the pillers and walls sat abandoned.[5]
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| 1902 Newton Courthouse. |
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| 1902 courthouse on fire |
- Grants from the Texas Historical Commission and donations to restore the building to its 1937 condition enabled restoration, which was finished 2012 and the courthouse reopened. [5]
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| 1902 courthouse, repaired. |
Geography
https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/hcn03
- Location -SE Texas on Louisiana border.
- County cente Newton, is 70 miles NE of Beaumont at 30°51' N latitude and 93°45' west longitude.
- Size 950 sq. mi. of lower regions of the East Texas timber belt.
- Vegetation - longleaf, shortleaf pines, oak, magnolia, hickory, and cypress.
- Terrain -rolling
- Soil - loamy topsoils
- Altitude 30 to 300 feet above sea level.
- Rivers/Creeis - Sabine River is county's E boundary. T
- Creeks N to S:, Little Cow Creek, Quicksand Creek, Big Cow Creek, and Big Cypress Creek.
- Mineral Resources -Oil and gas dominate the county's mineral resources.
- Temperatures high in July of 93° F to January low of 40° F.
- Rainfall 54 inches annually, the highest for any county in the state.
- Growing season -- 228 days per year.
- Earliest -Indians were the earliest human inhabitants of Newton County.
https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/hcn03
Adjacent counties
- Sabine County (north)
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| adj counties. |
- Vernon Parish, Louisiana (northeast)
- Beauregard Parish, Louisiana (east)
- Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana (southeast)
- Orange County (south)
- Jasper County (west)
Formed From
- 1846--Newton County was created 22 April 1846 from Jasper County.
Demographics
In 2000, there were 15,072 people residing in the county with a population density of 16 people/sq. mi. The racial makeup of the county was 75.84% White, 20.69% Black or African American, 0.63% Native American, 0.27% Asian, 0.03% Pacific Islander, 1.56% from other races, and 0.98% from two or more races. 3.79% of the population were Hispanic. The median income for a household in the county was $28,500, and the median income for a family was $34,345. Males had a median income of $31,294 versus $17,738 for females. The per capita income for the county was $13,381. About 15.50% of families and 19.10% of the population were below the poverty line, including 24.40% of those under age 18 and 17.30% of those age 65 or over.[6]
- In 2000, Newton County (very small in size) also has the second-lowest population density for all counties in East Texas, behind only Red River County, and the lowest population density in Deep East Texas.
Highways
- U.S. Highway 190
- Texas State Highway 12
- Texas State Highway 62
- Texas State Highway 63
- Texas State Highway 87
- Texas Recreational Road 255
Politics:
Newton County was once one of the most Democratic leaning counties in East Texas and the Deep South. The county voted for the Democratic candidate in every election since Texas first participated in 1848 (excluding the 1860, 1864, and 1868 elections when Texas had seceded). When Republicans Herbert Hoover and Dwight D. Eisenhower carried Texas in 1928, 1952, and 1956 respectively, Newton County remained firmly Democrat. President Richard Nixon in 1972 was the first Republican to win. After 1972, the county returned to voting Democrat, surviving the landslide elections of Republicans Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush in 1980, 1984, and 1988. In fact, Newton County was Walter Mondale's strongest county in East Texas in the 1984 election, (60.6% of the vote). Michael Dukakis in 1988 is the last Democratic presidential candidate to win over 60% of the vote in the county. Since 1992, the Democratic percentage in Newton County has decreased in every election, cumulating in Al Gore's narrow win in 2000 with 50.16% against Governor George W. Bush's 48.56%. As of 2016, Gore remains the last Democrat to win the county's votes in a presidential election. Since 2004, the Republican candidate has comfortably carried the county in every election, with Bush winning 55.42% in 2004, John McCain winning 65.51% in 2008, and Mitt Romney winning 70.06% in 2012. [7]
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| location in Texas. |
- Newton County is included in the Beaumont-Port Arthur Metropolitan Statistical Area.
- 2005. the city of Newton in Newton County, was damaged from Hurricane Rita. Although almost 80 miles from the Gulf of Mexico, Newton suffered extensive damage in September 2005 from Hurricane Rita. The National Weather Service estimated wind gusts in the vicinity of Newton to be between 80 mph to 100 mph. Some residents were without electricity for at least a month. [8]
Cities/Communities
- Newton (county seat)
- Adsul (Unincor communities)
- Biloxi (Unincor communities)
- Bon Wier (Unincor communities)
- Burkeville (Unincor communities)
- Call (Unincor communities)
- Trotti (Unincor communities)
- Wiergate (Unincor communities)
- Belgrade (Ghost Towns)
- Princeton (Ghost Towns)
- Shankleville (Ghost Towns)
County Resources
Census
- 1850 --- 1,689 —
- 1860 --- 3,119 84.7%
- 1870 --- 2,187 −29.9%
- 1880 --- 4,350 98.9%
- 1890 --- 4,650 6.9%
- 1900 --- 7,282 56.6%
- 1910 --- 10,850 49.0%
- 1920 --- 12,196 12.4%
- 1930 --- 12,524 2.7%
- 1940 --- 13,700 9.4%
- 1950 --- 10,832 −20.9%
- 1960 --- 10,372 −4.2%
- 1970 --- 11,657 12.4%
- 1980 --- 13,254 13.7%
- 1990 --- 13,569 2.4%
- 2000 --- 15,072 11.1%
- 2010 --- 14,445 −4.2%
- Est. 2015 --- 13,986
Settlers
- Thomas McFarland
Notables
Land Grants
- 1829 grant by Mexican government to Lorenzo de Zavala.
- 21 settlers received title to land now in the county in 1834 and 1835.
Cemeteries
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- Biloxi Evergreen Cemetery
- McFarland-Wilson Cemetery
- Watson Chapel Cemetery
- Farrsville Cemetery
- Farrs Chapel Cemetery
- Sam Herrin Cemetery
- Newton City Cemetery
- Wright Cemetery
Sources
- ↑ https://texasalmanac.com/index.php?q=topics/government/newton-county
- ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 2.12 2.13 2.14 2.15 2.16 2.17 2.18 2.19 2.20 https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/hcn03
- ↑ [http://ereserves.mcneese.edu/depts/archive/FTBooks/redbones.htm Redbones of Texas
- ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newton,_Texas
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 5.6 http://www.texasescapes.com/Counties/Newton-County-Texas.htm
- ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newton_County,_Texas
- ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newton_County,_Texas
- ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newton_County,_Texas
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