San Jacinto County, Texas
Coldspring is home to 16 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.
Eighteenth century Spanish explorers gave to the hyacinth-choked stream the name of Saint Hyacinth. Anglo-Americans settled here after 1820. Formed from portions of Polk, Montgomery,, Liberty and Walker counties.…
View on map ↗Built to north, on land given, 1848, by Mr. and Mrs. F. H. Rankin, from an Austin Colony grant. Moved 1917 to new site. Bell over 100 years old. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1964
View on map ↗Born Va., July 17, 1790. As U.S. Army officer in War of 1812, was in Battle of New Orleans. Married Anne Eliza Hill, of N.C. Had 7 children. Came to Texas in 1834. Served Republic of Texas on staff of Gen. Sam Houston,…
View on map ↗In early Texas, a paradise for settlers liking solitude. During the Civil War, became notorious as hunt of army deserters or men avoiding conscript officers and living off the country. The thicket was so hard to…
View on map ↗Built 1870. First structure moved to new Coldsprings after fire destroyed first courthouse, 1915. A new town site was selected. The San Jacinto County Abstract Co. was housed in this building many years. County's first…
View on map ↗Before founding of town, this land lay in Mexican grant made to Col. Robt. Rankin, veteran of American Revolution. Post office here bore name "Coonskin" (1847), then "Fireman's Hill," and finally "Cold Springs" (1850).…
View on map ↗Noted for rare but never used hangman's trap. Second jail for San Jacinto County which was organized 1871, this structure was built in 1887 by L. T. Noyes of Houston. Later, the Southern Structural Steel Company of San…
View on map ↗Site given 1848. Named for laurel trees that grew around baptismal pool of Laurel Hill Baptist Church. Site was given by Gen. James B. Davis (1790-1859), adjutant-general of Republic of Texas army in 1842. Cemetery was…
View on map ↗(1795-1858) Born in Georgia and married there in 1837 to Martha Evans Gindrat (1809-63), a widow with 3 children, George T. Wood came to Texas with his family in 1839 and settled along the Trinity River near Point…
View on map ↗The organizational meeting for this church was held about 1868 in the smokehouse of David Pursley. The earliest sanctuary was a log building constructed by the members, and the Rev. Lewin Adams (1822-1899), who is…
View on map ↗Approved by the commissioners court in 1886 and completed the following year, this structure served as the San Jacinto County Jail until 1980. Interior space included second floor cells and jailer's living quarters on…
View on map ↗Built in the 1880s, this home was purchased by local businessman and merchant Robert Hugh McClanahan, Jr., in 1913. He served as county tax collector and was postmaster of Coldspring from 1914 until his death in 1940.…
View on map ↗Located within the original Robert Rankin league of land, Oakwood Cemetery traces its history to the mid-19th century. Although there may be older unmarked graves, the earliest documented burial in the graveyard is that…
View on map ↗Chartered by the Grand Lodge of Texas on January 15, 1848, this lodge first convened in the Mount Pleasant settlement. Early meetings were held at Fireman's Hill in a schoolhouse owned by Henry Gillette. That building…
View on map ↗Formally organized in 1848 in the small community known as "Fireman's Hill" (formerly "Coonskin"), Laurel Hill Baptist Church began with four members and the Rev. Joseph Warner Dossey Creath as its first pastor. The…
View on map ↗A fire in 1915 destroyed the San Jacinto County courthouse. Landowners donated land at this site and relocated the center of county government to "new town" Coldspring. The county hired builders Price and Williamson to…
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