PRITCHETT, TEXAS

Upshur County, East Texas
Highway 155
About 6 Miles S of Gilmer
About 9 Miles NW of Gladewater
Population: 00125 (2000)

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History in a Pecan Shell

Once known as Lockhart’s Switch (a railroad designation) the community that formed here was granted a post office in 1893. They wanted to honor early settler John Prichard by naming the post office for him, but there was a slip somewhere between the application and the official listing and the spelling came out as Pritchett.

The community of Pleasant Hill provided most of Pritchett’s early population and the town peaked in the 1910s with a population of 600 and all essential businesses.

A decline started in the 1920s and in the middle of the Great Depression it was down to less than 250 residents.

Increased mobility after WWII and then school consolidation reduced the community to just two chuches and just scattered residences. The 1990 census counted 125 people and the same figure was used for 2000.

Pritchett Normal Institute historical marker
Photo courtesy Gerald Massey, July 2011

Enterin Pritchett
Photo courtesy Gerald Massey, July 2011

Upshur County TX 1907 Postal Map showing Pritchett, SW of Gilmer
(Below "PS" in "UPSHUR")
Courtesy Texas General Land Office

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