Anderson County · 1936
Created March 24, 1846, from Houston County. Organized July 13, 1846 with Palestine as the county seat. Named in honor of Kenneth Lewis Anderson, vice-president of the Republic of Texas, 1844-45
View on map ↗Anderson County, Texas
Historical Markers in Palestine, Texas
Palestine is home to 86 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.
Captain William Kimbro · 1936
In Memory of Commanded a company at San Jacinto; came to Texas in 1831; born in Tennessee; died in Anderson County, September 14, 1856.
View on map ↗Fort Houston · 1936
(site one-fourth mile south) A stockade and blockhouse of the Republic of Texas. Built in 1835-1836 to protect settlers who founded Houston, a pioneer town, now in Anderson County. Friendly Indians would come to trade…
View on map ↗Henry Fields · 1936
A San Jacinto veteran; born in South Carolina, May 8, 1806; died Oct. 15, 1890
View on map ↗Site of the McClean Massacre · 1936
Daniel McLean and John Sheridan, expert Indian fighters employed by the settlers as guides and protectors, were killed here in 1837. By holding the savages in check until the settlers could escape, both sacrificed their…
View on map ↗Palestine Salt Works C. S. A. · 1963
Located 6.5 miles southwest. During the Civil War this salt works was assigned to produce salt for the Confederacy at a fixed price of eight dollars for a hundred-pound sack. Private customers from East Texas, Arkansas,…
View on map ↗Sacred Heart Church · 1964
Successor to 1874 Church of St. Joseph, built on site given by International & Great Northern Railway, and destroyed by fire in 1890. This building of handmade brick was begun later that year; Nicholas J. Clayton of…
View on map ↗John Byler Mallard, Judge · 1965
Born 1820 in Alabama. An honor graduate, University of Tennessee Law School. Married in 1844 Miss Susan Scott, Tippah County, Mississippi. In 1845 settled in Republic of Texas. Built one of first homes in Palestine,…
View on map ↗Judge William Alexander · 1965
Born 1814 in Scotland. Settled in Palestine 1851. Trustee in first school. Practiced in Supreme Courts, Alabama, Texas. Was a partner of John H. Reagan, C.S.A. Postmaster-General, U. S. Congressman, U. S. Senator,…
View on map ↗Col. G. R. Howard House · 1966
Built 1851 by Col. G. R. Howard, merchant and public official. Owned by family until sold to city, 1965, for a museum. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark, 1966
View on map ↗First Presbyterian Church · 1966
Organized Nov. 3, 1849, with 18 charter members, by the great pioneer leaders, Revs. Daniel Baker and John May Becton, home missionaries. This Gothic building of handmade brick was erected in 1888; enlarged since by two…
View on map ↗Seven Oaks (Mallard-Alexander House) · 1966
Built in 1848 as the home of Judge John B. Mallard, first lawyer in Palestine. Became the home of Judge William Alexander of 1857. Alexander was Chief Justice of Anderson County 1860-1865, and a trustee of the first…
View on map ↗First Christian Church · 1967
Organized in 1847 under leadership of lawyer Joseph A. Clark (founder and administrator of college now T.C.U.) and John F. Taylor, a farmer. Both Clark and Taylor were followers of Campbell - Scott movement for…
View on map ↗Site of Old Magnolia · 1967
(one-half mi.S) Founded in 1840s as a ferrying point on the Caddo Trace; later became a major landing for flatboats and steamers on the Trinity River, where cotton and other products were shipped by a four-day trip to…
View on map ↗Fort Houston · 1969
A fort and stockade built about 1836 on the public square of the town of Houston (then in Houston County), as a protection against the Indians, by order of General Sam Houston, Commander-in-Chief of the Texan armies.…
View on map ↗Pennybacker-Campbell-Wommack House · 1969
"Silk Stocking Row" Victorian residence built in 1890. Noted as family home of Mrs. Percy V. Pennybacker (1861-1938), teacher, author of widely-used school history of Texas, first Texan President General Federation…
View on map ↗Home of Congressman and Mrs. Alexander W. Gregg · 1970
Honored national statesman from Palestine, Congressman A. W. Gregg (1855 - 1919) lived in this house at height of his career. Gregg, member of a distinguished southern family, graduated from University of Virginia…
View on map ↗McClure-McReynolds-Fowler Home · 1970
Built in 1849 by Judge Alexander E. McClure (1815 - 1870), who came from Tennessee to Texas in 1840 and lived for a number of years at Old Fort Houston. Judge McClure was the first district clerk in Anderson County,…
View on map ↗Palestine Carnegie Library · 1970
Outgrowth of 1853 effort by Judge John Graham Gooch to see circulating library established in Palestine, at first lending his own books. Original city library was replaced by this structure, built 1914 with aid from the…
View on map ↗Link House, The · 1972
Built and continuously occupied by family of early Palestine physician Henry Harnsbarger Link (1820 - 90) and wife, Hypatia McGee (1829 - 88). First rooms, built 1852, now form front hall. Dr. H. R. Link, one of…
View on map ↗Palestine Fire Department · 1972
Palestine, founded 1846, acquired fire department when International & Great Northern Railroad extended line here in 1872. Early fire-wagon was horse-drawn flatbed loaded with hose. Motor truck and city water were…
View on map ↗Hodges-Darsey House · 1973
In the 1870s, after the International & Great Northern Railroad line reached Palestine, brothers A. B. and Dan Hodges moved here from Tennessee Colony settlement and became leading merchants. This house was built in…
View on map ↗Providence Church and Cemetery · 1973
On March 20, 1858, W. T. Miller deeded eight acres of land here "to trustees Lemuel Mullins, Chairman, D. Capp and Wm. Webb, for school purposes and burial ground." W. M. Hardy added a half-acre to even north line.…
View on map ↗The Bowers Mansion · 1973
Originally house of merchant Henry Ash; built 1878; bought 1884 by Andrew L. and Nellie O'Connell Bowers, who had architect-builder W. W. Wainright add cupola, gazebo, circular galleries after 1886. Charles Dunbar was…
View on map ↗Governor Thomas Mitchell Campbell · 1975
(April 22, 1856 - April 1, 1923) Born near Rusk in Cherokee County, Thomas Mitchell Campbell was the son of Thomas Duncan and Rachel (Moore) Campbell. He financed his education by working for the county clerk in…
View on map ↗Kolstad Jewelers · 1977
Soren Kolstad (1823 - 1918), a skilled artisan and clockmaker, migrated to Texas from his native Norway in 1852. He settled in Palestine, where he opened a jewelry store in 1853. The store has occupied four locations.…
View on map ↗St. Philips Episcopal Church of Palestine · 1979
During the 1850s Mrs. Frances Henderson, wife of Governor J. Pinckney Henderson, helped found St. Philips as a mission. Upon the petition of the Rev. John Owens, who served part-time as the priest here, the Diocese of…
View on map ↗Eilenberger's Bakery · 1981
F. H. Eilenberger (1878 - 1959), a German immigrant, worked at bakeries in Galveston and Fort Worth before starting this company in 1898. Originally located on the corner of John and Oak streets, the operation was moved…
View on map ↗Fort Houston Cemetery · 1985
In 1835, Joseph Jordan and William S. McDonald donated about 500 acres of land in this area for the town of Houston, later known as Fort Houston. An early map of the townsite shows a section designated as a "public…
View on map ↗Mound Prairie Cemetery · 1985
The earliest marked graves in this cemetery date to the late 1850s, although settlement of the Mound Prairie community occurred much earlier. Mound Prairie, once the home of a Baptist college known as Mound Prairie…
View on map ↗Anderson County Poor Farm · 1986
Although county records show some attempts to care for the poor as early as the 1860s, property for a poor farm was not purchased until 1884. Various buildings were erected, including housing for residents and a…
View on map ↗Mount Vernon A.M.E. Church · 1986
Freedmen organized this African Methodist Episcopal Church in 1873. The first sanctuary, a frame building at Mulberry and Birch streets, was shared with a group of Missionary Baptists. In the late 1870s, the Methodists…
View on map ↗Mount Vernon United Methodist Church · 1986
Early denominational records indicate that this congregation was in existence as a mission church as early as 1880. In 1896, A. L. and Susanna Herrington donated one acre to the county to be used for a free school. A…
View on map ↗Palestine High School · 1986
A public school system in Palestine was established in 1881 under control of the municipal government. The first classes were held at the old Palestine Female Institute (built in 1858), then a high school was built in…
View on map ↗Anderson County Courthouse · 1988
Created by the Texas Legislature on March 24, 1846, Anderson County was named for former Republic of Texas Vice President Kenneth L. Anderson. The first court in the new county was held in a log house at nearby Fort…
View on map ↗Lone Pine Baptist Church · 1988
This congregation traces its history to a small group of worshipers who gathered together in the early 1890s to hold services in a small schoolhouse near this site known as Rocky Point. A plot of land was purchased by…
View on map ↗Olive Branch Cemetery · 1988
This part of Anderson County was settled in the 1850s. Many of the early settlers were from the vicinity of Brushy Creek, South Carolina, and it is believed that is why the streams in this area and the community were…
View on map ↗Site of Northeast Texas Christian Theological and Industrial College · 1989
(about one mile north) Led by the Rev. A.J. Hurdle, the Northeast Texas Christian Missionary Convention of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) was formed in Daingerfield in 1900. Established to serve black…
View on map ↗William and Caroline Broyles House · 1989
A native of Huntsville, Alabama, William Broyles came to Texas following the Civil War. Traveling by boat to Shreveport, Louisiana, he continued his journey to Texas on foot, finally settling in Palestine. Broyles…
View on map ↗I & GN Hospital and Nurses' Quarters · 1990
Established in 1884, the International & Great Northern Railway Employees' Hospital Association built a complex of frame structures at this site adjacent to the railroad tracks. The hospital, which operated on monthly…
View on map ↗Bell Cemetery · 1991
Confederate veteran Uriah Jasper Bell (1839 -1915) brought his family to northeast Texas in 1871. An ordained Baptist minister, he relocated to this area to lead the Ft. Houston Baptist Church. He and his wife Nancy (d.…
View on map ↗Harmony Baptist Church · 1991
The community of Harmony began in 1855, when several families from South Carolina and Mississippi settled here and established homes and family farms. Originally named Harmony Missionary Baptist Church, this…
View on map ↗Antioch Missionary Baptist Church · 1993
According to local tradition this congregation traces its origin to informal services held in various homes in Palestine as early as 1856. Although referred to as "Antioch Under the Hill" the congregation was formally…
View on map ↗First Methodist Church of Palestine · 1993
This church began with Methodist classes organized by John Wilson in 1840 and held in this area at the home of John Box. Louisiana Catherine "Aunt Bee" Small helped formally organize a Methodist church in Palestine soon…
View on map ↗Link Family Cemetery · 1993
This cemetery was established when John and Mary Otelia Link buried their young daughters Annie and Allean at this site within a week of each other in July of 1887. Both children died of diphtheria. At that time no…
View on map ↗Site of Four Pines School · 1993
In 1911 school trustees D. Barry, C. F. Everett, and W. L. Pickle purchased one acre of land here to establish a school. An old tobacco barn at this site was converted for use as a schoolhouse. The school was named for…
View on map ↗Campbell Cemetery · 1994
Typical of a number of small family cemeteries located throughout the state of Texas, this graveyard was established by the Campbell family, who moved to the Mound Prairie community in this area in 1844. Albert Gallatin…
View on map ↗John H. Reagan · 1994
John Henninger Reagan, son of Timothy and Elizabeth Lusk Reagan, was born on October 8, 1818, in Sevierville, Tennessee. He joined the Republic of Texas Army in 1839 and served in the Cherokee War. In the early 1840s he…
View on map ↗Grace Methodist Church · 1995
Methodist missionary efforts in this area date to the late 1830s. Circuit-riding ministers served Methodists in Palestine from the time of its founding as the Anderson County seat in 1848. In 1850 church members built a…
View on map ↗Fields Chapel Methodist Church and Cemetery · 1996
Pioneer settlement began in this vicinity in the late 1830s and early 1940s. This area was the location of several camp revival meetings. The Rev. John W. Fields organized the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1852 and the…
View on map ↗Palestine Lodge No. 31, A. F. & A. M. · 1996
Established on November 21, 1846, the Palestine Masonic Lodge is one of the oldest organizations in Anderson County. Established by 22 charter members meeting under a dispensation from the Grand Lodge of Texas, the…
View on map ↗Concord Baptist Church and Cemetery · 1997
Three families named Fitzgerald moved to Texas in the 1840s and purchased land at Mound Prairie Creek, eleven miles north of Palestine. The area in which they settled became known as Fitzgerald. As other families moved…
View on map ↗Site of St. Mary's Academy · 1997
The arrival of the railroad in Palestine brought many workers, several of whom were Catholic who wanted religious instruction for their children. St. Mary's Academy began in 1882 when Mother St. Andrew Felton, Superior…
View on map ↗Texas State Railroad · 1997
The Texas Prison System built a short rail line from the Rusk State Penitentiary to hardwood timber stands where charcoal was made for firing the prison's iron ore furnaces. The rail line became the foundation of the…
View on map ↗Swanson Cemetery · 1999
Micam Main of Illinois was granted a league of land by the Mexican government in 1835. One of the area's first brickmakers, Samuel M. Warden, died while working on Main's estate on Christmas Eve in 1847. He was interred…
View on map ↗First Baptist Church of Palestine · 2001
First Baptist Church can trace its history to 1851, five years after Palestine was founded as the Anderson County seat. Elders McKane and Zachariah Worley (an ordained minister), John and Sarah Smith, J. E. and Rachel…
View on map ↗Mary Kate Hunter · 2001
(November 8, 1866 - April 15, 1945) Born just outside Palestine in 1866 to Nathaniel and Jennie (Beeson) Hunter, Mary Kate Hunter played a significant role in recording, promoting and preserving the history of Palestine…
View on map ↗Palestine Post Office and Federal Building · 2001
Land at this site was purchased in 1907 from St. Philip's Episcopal Church for a new post office for Palestine. Architects Deacon Armiger and Dunplap, under the supervision of U. S. Treasury architect James Knox Taylor,…
View on map ↗Alonzo Marion Story · 2002
Alonzo Marion Story Alonzo Marion Story (1882-1966) was born in New Orleans to parents John and Mary Story. He attended public schools and graduated from Louisiana's Leland College before doing post-graduate work in…
View on map ↗Micham Main · 2002
Little is known about this Anderson County pioneer until he married Elizabeth Van Winkle in Crawford County, Illinois, in 1820. The Mains lived in the Illinois township of Palestine until 1833, when, drawn by a…
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