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San Jacinto County, Texas

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Battle of San Jacinto

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Contents

History/Timeline

San Jacinto Co. Courthouse
  • San Jacinto County was formed from Liberty, Montgomery, Polk, and Walker counties in 1869 and organized in 1870. It is name for the Battle of San Jacinto. [1]
Indian cultures: -Atakapa or the Patiri Indian tribes. The Atakapans hunted game such as deer and bear.
1820's The Anglo-American settlements began down at the lower Trinity River region.
Empresario colonies of Mexican Texas
Early 1830's: Numerous Mexican land grants were made in the area in the early 1830s.
    • Battle of San Jacinto Veterans & Casualties - April 21, 1836
List of Participants and casualties in Battle of San Jacinto
1847 Coonskin was where the first post office in the area was established in 1847 in Coonskin.
1847- Churches-- Methodist Church established in Coldspring,
1850- Transportation was by steamboats on the Trinity River for several hundred miles. cargo Residents shipped part of their cotton on the return trip of the steamboats to the Gulf of Mexico
1861- 1865 Civil War. 1st Texas Volunteer Infantry, Company M, Hood's Brigade from San Jacinto county.
Aug 13, 1870 The Texas legislature established San Jacinto County with Coldspring as the county seat. It was named thus in honor of the San Jacinto Battle. It was formed out of parts of Liberty, Montgomery, Polk, and Walker counties.
1871 for $500 they established a public ferry to cross Mussels Shoals Creek.
Wagoning, freighting as well as ox wagons were used.. That trip would take 2-3 weeks to accomplish.[2]
post 1776 - this land lay in Mexican grant made to Col. Robert Rankin, veteran of American Revolution.
1888 Church of Christ in Evergreen
1900- there were 1,600 farms. Black population reached a high of 5,487. That number may have declined later as a result of 1917 World War I

Government Offices

1870 San Jacinto County was created with Coldspring as county seat (earlier known as Coonskin and Fireman’s Hill) had been present for 20 years.[3]

The town of Coldspring, had several names such as “Coonskin”, 1847, then Fireman’s Hill, then Cold Springs (1850). The town was composed of 14 blocks.[3]

1871 -1st Courthouse - the Carnes Hotel was used for court while a Victorian styled 2-story wood.house was built. Builders were paid $8,000. A brick jail was also built, and was used until

San Jacinto Jail

1895 2nd courthouse- The courthouse of one story. Brick records vault was built behind the courthouse.[3]

Mar 30, 1915 A fire destroyed the courthouse and many buildings.[3]

Landowners donated land at this site and relocated the center of county government to new town Coldspring.

1916 - Voters moved the new courthouse and the TOWN to higher ground 1/4 mile SW of original site. Several contractors were hired and dismissed before completion.[3] The county hired builders Price and Williamson to construct the new courthouse based on plans by the Houston firm of Lane and Dabney. It was constructed in 1916-17 of brick fired locally from local clay. Merchants and citizens followed the courthouse to the new location, and by 1925, old town Coldspring was deserted.

1915 San Jacinto Courthouse
This was located in Polk County at that time. Later the county seat was named Coldspring. The

designer of Fort Worth, Texas designed the courthouse for San Jacinto county. Thomas Ireland built a brick jail.

1917 Courthouse - Completion of the new courthouse was fired brick designed in Classical Italian Renaissance Revival, with Corinthian columns. The courthouse was completed 1917. Post office also relocated nearby and other residences. It had arched doors and windows on the east and west elevations.[3]

1937 - Improvements - The Corinthian columns were removed. Doric columns and pediments were added.[3]

1950 Renovations to the courthouse, altered interior and tile floors.[3]

1975-76 Renovations - lowered the ceilings and installation of central heat and air. [3]

1990 - the Original stained glass light in the rotunda was removed. Even with modifications, the 1917 courthouse is still the dominating image of the town of Coldspring.[3]

Geography

Coldspring, Texas Hanging Tree sign.
This county is in SE Texas on the Trinity River.Latitude- from center - 30°41' north latitude and 95°00' W longitude. The size of the county is 628 square miles located in EAST Texas Timberlands..

Total population of San Jacinto- 11,000. Cold Springs, Shepherd and Oakhurst have about 600 population each. Total assessment of the land is 13,022,745.

The county has a varied surface, soil and timber. There is a small belt of prairie land in the SE portion of the county- the N part of Tarkington Prairie. Remainder of the county is split between being timber lands and farms (1/3 of the topography is level and with 2/3 broken.

In the south is black and black sandy soil in the creek and river bottoms. Timber consists of pine, oak, ash, gum, magnolia, chinquapin, beech, ironwood, pin oak, white oak, red oak, water oak, and post oak. About one-half of the timber has been cut.

Streams/creeks are the East San Jacinto River, Winters Bayou. Pools, Palmetto, Stephens, Mill, Bay, Big and Peach Creeks, together with the Trinity River on the east boundary.

There are many cold springs of pure freestone water.

There is an abundant underground water supply, good wells can be drilled at 10 to 80 feet, with an average of 30 feet. Some of the water is lime and sulphur, but mostly freestone (good).

The prices for raw land range from $2 to $12 per acre; cultivated land. If sandy, $5 to $10 per acre; if black land. $10 to $20 per acre.

Principal crops with their average yields per acre: Corn, cotton, sugar cane for syrup, Irish potatoes, sweet potatoes . Peaches, pears, plums and grapes are grown A great variety of vegetables.

Small shipments are made each year. There are many stock farms and two or three ranches. Last year the tax rolls showed 12,393 cattle. 12,258 hogs. 3,487 horses and mules. 2,392 goats and 200 sheep. Railroad facilities are limited, The Houston East and West Texas Railroad has 15 miles of operated track in the southeastern portion of the county; the Trinity Valley Southern extends seven miles into the northwest part of the county, from Dodge to Oakhurst, and is extending its line to Cold Spring; the Houston, Fostoria and Northern enters the southern part of the county and touches Cold Spring, turning thence west and Intersecting the International and Great Northern.

Schools -59 public schools.

Adjacent counties

Trinity County (north)
Here's an image.
Polk County (northeast)
Liberty County (southeast)
Montgomery County (southwest)
Walker County (northwest)

Formed From

Liberty, Montgomery, Polk, and Walker counties

Protected areas

  • Sam Houston National Forest.

Demographics

Coldspring Hanging Tree.

San Jacinto county has the "East Texas Timberlands" and is heavily wooded with longleaf and loblolly pine, cedar, oak, walnut, hickory, gum, ash, and pecan. (60% of this county is located in the Sam Houston National Forest) which is characteristically rolling hills. There is only 20 -30% prime farm land.

Rivers, Creeks are 1)The Trinity River on the Eastern boundary, 2) The San Jacinto River, Big Creek, Winter Bayou, and Stephen Creek also flow through the county, . 3) Peach Creek is on SW side
County elevation - 374 to 386 feet.
  • Soils are reddish with a loamy surface and mostly clayey subsoils that are high in iron
  • Schools

By 1900 there were 2,500 students in 31 white schools and 28 black schools. A graded high school in Coldspring had 100 students.

1928 the school consolidation began in San Jacinto County and the first county superintendent was elected.

(3)Three high schools were organized-at Coldspring, Oakhurst, and Shepherd, with common school districts of Pine Valley, Waverly, Byspot, and Gibbs.

  • Willis Independent School District


:Primary crops include Indian corn, hay, sweet potatoes, peaches, pecans and livestock

Recreation: Lake Livingston, and Double Lake recreational area offer opportunities for camping, hiking, fishing, and water skiing.

Highways:

State Highway 59
I-69 The future route of Interstate 69 is planned to follow the current route of U.S. 59
US 190
Texas State Highway 150
Texas State Highway 156
San Jacinto county map.

Town

County Resources

  • San Jacinto Old Jail Museum [4]
  • Lumber industry has been instrumental in the economic development of San Jacinto County, thus several lumber mills were established near the Houston East and West Texas Railway. Palmetto Lumber Company in 1874. By 1939 the lumber companies had acquired 32,000 acres of timberland. The Foster Lumber Company owns thousands of acres along the East San Jacinto River. In 1935 the company sold 30,000 acres to the US government.
By 1950 the county had 1,100 farms and the population had fallen to 6,153.

With the 1970 Oil boom, population and farms increased in reflection of the rest of the state.

  • Big Thicket -Texas seemed paradise for settlers who enjoyed solitude. This Big Thicket was a place where men went who were avoiding draft or for deserters, during the Civil War. This region was hard to search for deserters or draft dodgers, as it was virtually impossible to penetrate.. It was demoralizing to the , the officers and the men fighting in the war. The men would go in this, camp, hunt for food, eating game and honey. Even their wives if living nearby might visit them. Once the men were discovered when a fire occurred in the area and literally smoked them out. These people felt justified in deserting[5]

Census

Census yr. Pop.
1880 6,186
1890 7,360
1900 10,277
1910 9,542
1920 9,867
1930 9,711
1940 9,056
1950 7,172
1960 6,153
1970 6,702
1980 11, 434
1990 16,372
2000 22,246
2014 est 27,099

Notables

  • General James Davis of Coldspring, San Jacinto, Marker, Served Battle of New Orleans, Member of Constitution Convention, on staff of Gen. Sam Houston [6]
  • Governor George Tyler Wood, state Senator, fought in Mexican American War


Land Grants

  • Land grants
  • Land grants to José María de la Garza, J. Fernández de Rumayor, Vital Flores, Ralph McGee, and the Martínez family.
  • Land grant to Robert Rankin - the land on which Coldspring is located

Cemeteries



Sources

  1. ↑ https://texasalmanac.com/index.php?q=topics/government/san-jacinto-county
  2. ↑ https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/hcs03
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 3.8 3.9 http://www.texasescapes.com/EastTexasTowns/Coldspring-Texas-San-Jacinto-County-Courthouse.htm
  4. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Register_of_Historic_Places_listings_in_San_Jacinto_County,_Texas
  5. ↑ http://genealogytrails.com/tex/pineywoods/sanjacinto/
  6. ↑ TexGen






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