Historical Markers in Commerce, Texas

East Texas State University · 1967

Founded 1889 as the Mayo School, in Cooper (16 mi. NE). Reopened with about 35 students in a brick store on the public square here in Commerce in 1894, still under private ownership of William Leonidas Mayo (1861-1917),…

Josiah Hart Jackson, Texas Ranger · 1967

(1821-1892) Born in Kentucky. Came to Texas 1839. In 1850s opened Jackson's store, 1 mi. NE of here, starting "Cow Hill," a village with race track, blacksmith shop, other stores. He became postmaster and renamed place…

Birthplace of Maj. Gen. Claire L. Chennault · 1968

(1890-1958) Organizer-commander of the famous "Flying Tigers" of the China-Burma-India theater in World War II. An outstanding air strategist, Chennault had retired from a pioneer flying career when, in 1937, he was…

Fourth-Sunday Singing · 1968

(Held on fourth Sunday of each month) A monthly music "convention" founded in 1885 or 1890 by this church, at old location (1/2 mile east.) Began when G. J. Oslin of Arkansas held a 20-day music school here. Singers…

Centennial of Methodism in Commerce · 1981

Two Methodist congregations, Lebanon (1.5 mi. E) and Mt. Zion (5 mi. SE), served the earliest settlers of the Commerce area. As the community grew, local Methodists began worshiping in a schoolhouse on Pecan Street. In…

Bruce B. Williams American Legion Post No. 1 · 1982

The first American Legion Post in Texas was established at Commerce in 1919, the same year the veterans organization was begun nationally. Inspired by the funeral of Private Albert A. Barrow, who had served in World War…

Jernigin's Store · 1982

A Tennessee native and former Arkansas legislator, William Jernigin (1819-80) came to Hunt County in 1856. A pioneer merchant in the nearby village of Cow Hill, he moved to this vicinity in 1872 and opened a mercantile…

First Baptist Church of Commerce · 1983

Organized with nine charter members, this congregation began on Nov. 15, 1883, as the Missionary Baptist Church of Commerce. Services were held in a Union Church building until 1883, when the first sanctuary was built.…

First Christian Church of Commerce · 1985

During the 1850s a number of families from the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) settled in the Commerce area and began worshiping together. Services were held in the schoolhouse built on land purchased from…

Incorporation of Commerce · 1985

The events leading up to the incorporation of the city of Commerce can be traced to the 1853 establishment of Josiah H. Jackson's general store about one and one-half miles northeast of this site. The village that…

Site of Early Commerce Schools · 1986

By 1883, the scholastic population of Commerce had outgrown the public school which opened ten years earlier. Land at this site, purchased by the Commerce Educational Assoc., was chosen for a new schoolhouse. The first…

First Presbyterian Church of Commerce · 1988

In November 1888 seventeen charter members joined with the Rev. J. C. Grow (1841-1903) to organize the First Presbyterian Church of Commerce. The congregation met in the town's Union Church until their own wooden frame…

Commerce Post Office · 1991

The U. S. Treasury Department began construction of this building in July 1917, during the country's involvement in World War I. Completed in August 1918 after a number of construction delays, it served as the city's…

Lebanon Cemetery · 1991

This land has been used as a burial ground since the 1860s. Rebecca Hart Williams Little (1818-1891), a pioneer who came to this area in the 1830s, formally deeded the property for church and school purposes in 1871.…

Site of Commerce Churches · 1994

In 1893 the Missionary Baptist Church erected a sanctuary here on 5 acres they acquired from George Lawson in 1887. The church sold the property in 1912. In 1913 the Commerce Church of Christ acquired the property and…

President's House · 1997

Designed by Greenville architects George Lindsey and Roy Kilmer in 1927, the President's House was built on land purchased from Daniel and Annie Bachman. The house exhibits an understated adaptation of Georgian revival…

Mt. Moriah Temple Baptist Church · 2010

Serving Commerce since 1896, Mt. Moriah Temple Baptist Church has been an influential and vital institution since its organization. The congregation has its roots in the Cypress District Association, which formed in…

John T. Knight · 2011

John Thomas Knight (1861-1959), born in Winnsboro, moved to Commerce in 1878. He married Ella Virginia Carter in 1893, and the couple raised nine children in their home on mangum street. John was a prominent civic and…

Claire Chennault (CHINESE LANGUAGE MARKER) · 2013