WELLS, TEXAS

Cherokee County, East Texas

US 69 and FM 1247
23 miles S of Rusk the county seat
11 miles S of Alto
37 miles SW of Jacksonville
20 miles NW of Lufkin
25 miles W of Nacogdoches
Population: 813 Est. (2018)
790 (2010) 769 (2000) 761 (1990)

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1934 Wells High School Girls Basketball Team, Wells, Cherokee County, Texas

The 1934 Wells High School girls basketball team
Photo courtesy Arcadia Publishing &
The Cherokee County Historical Commission

History in a Pecan Shell

Wells was named to honor Maj. E. H. Wells, a civil engineer for the Kansas and Gulf (Short Line) Railroad when it arrived in 1885.

A post office was granted in 1886, and by 1890 the town was booming with fifty people, three general stores, and a hotel. When a charcoal-producing camp for the state penitentiary iron works at Rusk opened near Wells, it hurt growth until it closed. With the camp gone, Wells prospered. A bank opened in 1913 and by 1914 the population was estimated to be 300. The population was 475 by the mid 1930s, which grew slowly but steadily until 1990 when it reached a high of 761.

Take a road trip

Wells, Texas Nearby Towns:
Rusk the county seat
Alto
Jacksonville
Lufkin
Nacogdoches
See Cherokee County | East Texas

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