Van Zandt County · 1936
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View on map ↗Van Zandt County, Texas
Historical Markers in Canton, Texas
Canton is home to 34 official Texas Historical Commission markers — each one telling a piece of the city’s story. Browse the markers below, then find them on the map and discover more nearby with RoadHistorical.
Van Zandt, Isaac and Francis · 1936
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View on map ↗First Baptist Church of Canton · 1971
First organized church in city. Founded under leadership of the Rev. J. B. McDaniel, first pastor, Sept. 21, 1871. Charter members: Francis M. and Sue L. Hobbs; Mary King; Montgomery W. and Nancy Knox; Melissa J. and…
View on map ↗Dipping Vat · 1973
Before discovery of a dip (1894) and vaccine (1898), the American cattle industry faced ruin, as it lost $40 million annually from cattle tick fever. In 1918, tick eradication began in East Texas, with colorful,…
View on map ↗First Monday Trades Day · 1973
On the first Monday of each month in the early 1850s, Judges Oran M. Roberts and Bennett H. Martin held court in Canton, an event attended by townspeople and country folk alike. With large numbers of people present,…
View on map ↗Wallace United Methodist Church · 1976
Settled in the 1840s, Wallace community grew into a rural trading center with a general store and school. This Methodist congregation, organized in 1889 by the Rev. W. D. Wheeler and eight charter members, met first in…
View on map ↗Cox Cemetery · 1986
Robert K. Gibbs and his family settled in this area in the early 1850s. A gravestone for an infant daughter of R. K. and Sarah Gibbs reveals the earliest documented burial in this cemetery to be November 1853. Robert…
View on map ↗High Cemetery · 1986
The first burial in this public cemetery, that of Nancy Jane Hubbard, took place in 1859, six years after the High community was first established. More than 100 graves date from the 19th century. Many members of the…
View on map ↗Morris Cemetery · 1986
The oldest documented burial in this cemetery is that of Sarah Morris (1807-1866). Sarah had come to Texas from Kentucky in 1857 with her husband Thomas Banister Morris and family. The land on which the cemetery is…
View on map ↗Old Bethel Cemetery · 1986
In 1858, William and Nancy Palmer deeded five acres of land for a Methodist church and cemetery. The oldest tombstone in the graveyard, that of six-month-old Isaac Willingham, also dates from that year. In 1895, the…
View on map ↗Site of 1896 Van Zandt County Courthouse · 1986
In 1894, the Van Zandt County Commissioners Court approved construction of a new brick courthouse at this site. Built between 1894 and 1896, it replaced a frame courthouse that had served the county since shortly after…
View on map ↗Hillcrest Cemetery · 1990
Located within the original 1850 town plat of Canton, this cemetery has served citizens of this area for well over a century. The oldest documented burial is that of Ann Calhoon (1807-1860). Among those buried here in…
View on map ↗The Canton Herald · 1990
"The Canton Herald" has been in continuous operation since 1882. Ellis Campbell (1882-1945), publisher of the "Wills Point Chronicle," purchased the "Herald" in 1915. Campbell and his wife Mary Jane (Gilmore) built a…
View on map ↗Carter Cemetery · 1991
Martha and John Pate Carter brought their family to Van Zandt County about 1851 and were among the first settlers in this area. Although local oral tradition holds that the first person buried in the cemetery was a…
View on map ↗Starr Cemetery and School · 1991
James F. Starr, acting as attorney for Sarah F. Clapp, executed a deed donating two acres of land at this site for a community school on September 14, 1886. Burials occurred here as early as 1889, and in 1911 a cemetery…
View on map ↗Little Hope Baptist Church · 1993
This church was organized in 1893. The congregation met at the Farmers Alliance Hall before building their first sanctuary in 1894. Louis Manuel Parsons deeded over two acres, which included the newly constructed…
View on map ↗Blackwell House · 1996
Known as the oldest house in Canton, this residence was built for Henry F. Blackwell, II, and his wife Nannie Jane Blackwell. An early merchant in Canton, Blackwell also served as county sheriff. Records state the house…
View on map ↗Wesley Chapel Cemetery · 1997
The Watkins community was settled in the mid-1800s. M. Crosby and his wife Isabell Crosby deeded land for a church and cemetery to the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, in 1872. The first recorded burial in this…
View on map ↗Cadwell Walton Raines · 1998
(September 18, 1839 - August 2, 1906) Born in Georgia, Raines came to Texas in 1858. After serving in Gen. R. M. Gano's Texas Cavalry Regiment in the Civil War, he was a teacher in New Braunfels and a lawyer in Canton.…
View on map ↗Oran Milo Roberts · 1998
(July 9, 1815 - May 19, 1898) A South Carolina-born Alabama legislator, Oran M. Roberts came to San Augustine, Texas in 1841. He served in district and state judicial positions, including the first district court in…
View on map ↗Shelby Expedition through Van Zandt County · 1998
Gen. Joseph O. Shelby's command refused to surrender at the close of the Civil War. Shelby's men, the First Missouri Cavalry of the Confederate States of America, marched via Clarksville to Van Zandt County, proceeding…
View on map ↗Oakland Community Cemetery · 1999
The oldest marked grave in Oakland Cemetery is that of Oscar Lee who was born and died on the same November day in 1882. The earliest recorded school building at Oakland was erected in 1885. It served as a…
View on map ↗John H. Reagan · 2002
John H. Reagan John Henninger Reagan was born in 1818 to Timothy Richard and Elizabeth Reagan in Sevier County, Tennessee. He worked at his father's tannery and on the family farm, attending school sporadically, until…
View on map ↗Canton: The Misplaced County Seat · 2005
The Texas Legislature created Van Zandt County in 1848. It originally included nearly 2,000 square miles of territory. Jordan's Saline, now Grand Saline, was near the county's geographic location and became the first…
View on map ↗Cool Springs (Tundra) · 2009
THE COMMUNITY OF COOL SPRINGS WAS NAMED FOR APPROXIMATELY ONE DOZEN SPRINGS AND SEEPS THAT DOT THE IMMEDIATE AREA. THE SITE IS ALSO THE DIVIDING LINE BETWEEN THE WATERSHEDS OF THE TRINITY RIVER, SABINE RIVER AND NECHES…
View on map ↗George Washington Tull, Sr. · 2011
George Washington Tull, Sr. (1827-1917), better known as G. W. Tull, was one of the earliest and most successful merchants in Canton. His family migrated from Georgia, where G. W. was born, to Alabama, Mississippi, and…
View on map ↗Van Zandt County Poor Farm · 2011
IN THE EARLY DAYS OF VAN ZANDT COUNTY, FAMILIES, CHURCHES AND CHARITABLE ORGANIZATIONS TOOK CARE OF PEOPLE IN NEED. AFTER THE CIVIL WAR, THE HIGH NUMBER OF INDIGENTS FORCED AN ADDENDUM TO THE STATE CONSTITUTION MAKING…
View on map ↗Wentworth Community · 2011
WENTWORTH COMMUNITY IN 1858, MILO AND MARTHA MANNING ARRIVED FROM KENTUCKY WITH EIGHT CHILDREN, INCLUDING SON WENTWORTH (1847-1921), FOR WHOM THE COMMUNITY IS NAMED. HE BECAME A BUSINESSMAN AND LAND OWNER. STARR SCHOOL,…
View on map ↗Dixie Hotel · 2013
On September 2, 1915, the Canton Herald announced plans for a new hotel. Its site along the Dixie Highway gave the hotel its name and a prime location to attract travelers and residents. The hotel’s square floor plan…
View on map ↗Edmund A. Wynne · 2015
The Wynne community of Canton is one of the oldest African American communities in Texas. Its namesake, Edmund Arnold Wynne, was born June 18, 1850, in Cherokee County to a family of slaves. His family moved to the Big…
View on map ↗Hilliards of Canton · 2016
The Hilliard family has long been identified with the general trade business in Canton. Founded because of its central location, Canton became the seat of Van Zandt County in 1850. George McIntosh Hilliard came to Texas…
View on map ↗Thomas Jefferson Towles · 2017
Hillcrest Cemetery
View on map ↗Isaac Van Zandt · 2018
Northeast corner on Courthouse lawn
View on map ↗First United Methodist Church of Canton
In 1852, shortly after Canton became Van Zandt County's seat of government, local families began hosting Methodist services in their homes as a mission of the Athens Methodist Episcopal Church. The Canton worshipers met…
View on map ↗Discover Canton’s history on the road
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