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History in
a Pecan Shell
Once called "Skin
Tight" after the business tactics of early trader and storekeeper
Henry L. Reeves, the more acceptable name of Lone Star was submitted
when a post office was applied for in 1883. The office was granted
and Lone Star was off to a great start. With 160 people and a gristmill,
cotton gin, a sawmill, store and school, the future looked bright.
But "downtown" Lone Star burned in an 1893 fire. Rebuilding was immediate
and the town doubled its population by the mid-1890s.
But with the new century, Lone Star started to dim. In 1903 the Texas
and New Orleans Railroad bypassed the town and most residents moved
to Ponta. The 1915 population was down
to 200 and the post office closed in 1916.
Oil was discovered in 1939 and it seemed as though it might resurrect
the town, but production was anemic and hopes were dashed.
Still, 73 people remained in Lone Star through WWII.
The post-war population drifted away and except for a lone building,
and a state historical marker, Lone Star joined a long list of former
East Texas towns.
See Cherokee County 1907 postal
map |
Historical Marker
Text
On FM 235, 4 miles SW of New Summerfield
Lone Star
The ante bellum
community of Lone Star, a center of trade, education and culture in
the 1880s, experienced its greatest growth after the Civil War. Known
first as "Skin Tight,"
it was named Lone Star when a post office opened in 1883. The town
once had several businesses, a public school, four churches, two lodges
and the Lone Star Institute. The town began to decline after a disastrous
fire in 1893. Decline continued when the T & N O Railroad bypassed
Lone Star. Hope for the community's revival died when two oil field
discoveries did not prove to be profitable. |
More on Lone
Star, Texas
Remembering
Skin Tight by Bob Bowman
In the
early 1830s, when cattle buyer Henry Reeves and his partner, a man
known only as Ball, built a store on the Rusk-Henderson road, visiting
customers started calling the settlement “Skin Tight”... more
Texas’
Lone Stars by Bob Bowman
“How many towns named Lone Star are located in Texas?”
At my last count, there were ten, and six of them are in East Texas...
more
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1907 postal map
showing Lone Star and Ponta in Northeastern
Cherokee County
Courtesy Texas General Land Office |
| Texas
Escapes, in its purpose to preserve historic, endangered and vanishing
Texas, asks that anyone wishing to share their local history, stories,
landmarks and recent or vintage photos, please contact
us. |
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