Camp Ford · 1936
Camp Ford, stockade prison of federal soldiers during the Civil War
View on map ↗Smith County, Texas
Historical Markers in Tyler, Texas
Tyler is home to 61 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.
Confederate Arms Factory · 1936
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View on map ↗Judge Stockton Donley · 1936
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View on map ↗Smith County · 1936
Formed from Nacogdoches County. Created April 11, 1846, organized July 13, 1846, named in honor of General James Smith. Pioneer soldier and statesman, friend of General Sam Houston, Thomas J. Rusk and J. Pinckney…
View on map ↗Camp Ford · 1962
On this site during the Civil War was located Camp Ford, the largest prisoner of war compound for Union troops west of the Mississippi River. Named in honor of Col. John S. "Rip" Ford who originally established a…
View on map ↗Goodman Home, 1857 · 1962
Begun by Gallatin Smith, as "Bonnie Castle." Bought, 1866, by Dr. S. A. Goodman. Enlarged by his son, Major W. J. Goodman, surgeon in 13th Texas Infantry, C. S. A. Remodeled in 1920s by Mrs. Sallie Goodman LeGrand, the…
View on map ↗Colonel Bryan Marsh · 1963
(Star and Wreath) School named for Texas Confederate. Alabama native, came to Tyler, 1854. 1861 was captain Co. C, 17th Texas Cavalry. In 1863 Confederate campaigns to prevent split of South along Mississippi River. He…
View on map ↗Colonel Richard B. Hubbard · 1963
(Star and Wreath) (1832-1901) School named for Texas Confederate. Georgia-born, came to Texas 1853. Tyler lawyer, politician. State legislator. Raised 5th Tex. Inf. Bn., merged 1862 in Hubbard's Regt., 22nd Tex. Inf. In…
View on map ↗Colonel Thomas R. Bonner · 1963
(Star and Wreath) (1836-1891) Born in Mississippi. Came to Texas 1849. In Texas militia at start of Civil War. Elected captain Co. C, 18th Tex. Infantry, C. S. A., 1862. Commanded 18th as Colonel, 1863-65. Gallantly led…
View on map ↗Major James P. Douglas · 1963
(Star and Wreath) (1836-1901) School named for Texas Confederate. Born in South Carolina. Came to Texas 1848. Led 50 Tyler men, 1861, to join 50 in Dallas to form Good-Douglas Battery - only Texas artillery serving east…
View on map ↗Headache Springs, C. S. A. Medical Laboratory · 1965
A quarter mile north of this site is "Headache Springs," noted for its healing mineral waters. During the Civil War, as sea blockades cut off imports, a Confederate medical laboratory operated here. One of nine, and…
View on map ↗Neches Saline, C. S. A. · 1965
Now covered by the waters of Lake Palestine, the Neches Saline was the source of salt for early settlers from over a wide area of East Texas. As early as 1765, the Spanish missionary Calahorra recorded the presence of…
View on map ↗Smith County, C. S. A. · 1965
[FRONT] Smith County C.S.A. Major center of Confederate activity during Civil War. Many distinguished men and military units served South. The largest ordnance plant west of the Mississippi River manufactured "Tyler…
View on map ↗City of Tyler · 1968
In area opened 1839 to white settlers by Republic of Texas victories over Cherokee Indians whose trails led the way to good springs, fine farmlands, useful salines. The first Legislature of the state of Texas named the…
View on map ↗Marvin Methodist Church · 1968
First church in Smith County. Organized 1848 by the Revs. Sam Box and Alexander Douglas. Had all-faiths services at first in log cabin on Courthouse Square, later in Adams blacksmith shop, south of Square. In 1852 built…
View on map ↗Near Site of C.S.A. Ordnance Plant · 1969
Founded 1862 by J.C. Short and Wm. S.N. Biscoe (both gunsmiths) and Col. Geo. Yarbrough. In 2-story brick building, on 125-acre site, contracted to make for State of Texas 5,000 rifles for the arming of troops in the…
View on map ↗First County Agricultural Extension Agent · 1971
At a time of low crop production and depressed farm economy, Smith County became the birthplace of the County Agricultural Agent concept. This occurred in an historic meeting Nov. 12, 1906, in an opera house near this…
View on map ↗Major John Dean House · 1972
On land bought Jan. 22, 1863, by Frances Clarenda Rice Dean (1836-76) with Confederate pay sent home from Civil War post by husband, Major John Dean (1831-1902). Using Louisiana heart pine lumber that he himself milled…
View on map ↗Smith County Rose Industry and the Tyler Rose Garden · 1975
A combination of sandy soil, year-round rainfall, and a long growing season make the Tyler area ideal for rose propagation. First known commercial production began here in the 1870s when industry pioneers such as G. A.…
View on map ↗The Patterson Home · 1975
This structure began as a dog-trot cabin erected before 1854 by John Lollar and later owned by pioneer Doctor J. C. Moore. It was sold in 1871 to John M. Patterson (1817-94) and acquired in 1880 by his son, John P.…
View on map ↗Tyler Tap Railroad · 1975
To provide for shipment of locally-grown fruits, vegetables, and cotton to distant markets, a group of Tyler citizens proposed a railroad to connect the town with major rail lines nearby. The promoters included R. B.…
View on map ↗Frank Bell House · 1978
Frank and Sarah (Swann) Bell, descendants of 1850s East Texas pioneers, built this classical revival house in Tyler in 1900. Bell owned and operated a store and a farm. The couple had eight children. One son, Frank M.…
View on map ↗James Calhoun Hill · 1978
(September 29, 1807 - November 17, 1879) Migrating in 1840 from Alabama to Texas, James Calhoun Hill led the first permanent settlers into this vicinity. He served on the commission that ran boundaries of Smith County…
View on map ↗Oakwood Cemetery · 1978
Originally called Lollar's Cemetery and later City Cemetery, this burial ground was located on land purchased by John Lollar in 1846. Five acres were reserved for cemetery use when Lollar sold his land to John Madison…
View on map ↗Yarbrough Building · 1980
The Yarbrough Building, which once stood at this location, was razed in 1978.
View on map ↗Christ Episcopal Church · 1981
The Rt. Rev. Alexander Gregg, first bishop of Texas, began missionary work with this congregation in 1866-1867. The earliest worship services were held in borrowed facilities. The first rector was Hungarian-born Emir…
View on map ↗Pine Springs Baptist Church · 1981
In 1881, E. S. Cook and Perry Ray, trustees for the Pine Springs School community, purchased nearby land for the construction of a schoolhouse. Soon after, the Pine Springs Baptist Church of Christ was organized under…
View on map ↗Richard Bennett Hubbard · 1982
(1832-1901) Georgia native Richard Bennett Hubbard came to Texas in 1853 and set up a law practice in Tyler with B. T. Selman, later a state senator. Politically active, Hubbard became a leading spokesman for the…
View on map ↗The Connally Home · 1983
This residence was built in 1906 for prominent Tyler businessman Walter Connally. Connally's business interests included banking, ownership of a gin equipment firm, and part ownership in a hardware company. After his…
View on map ↗First Christian Church of Tyler · 1984
(Disciples of Christ) The first known record of a Christian (Disciples of Christ) church in Tyler appears in an 1859 deed that secured title to property on which a red brick sanctuary was built. With the outbreak of the…
View on map ↗Murphey the Jeweler · 1985
A native of North Carolina, Archibald Michael Murphey (1836-1886) married Elizabeth Findley in Rusk, Texas, in 1853. By 1868, they had moved to Tyler. Murphey opened his jewelry business on Ferguson and Broadway in…
View on map ↗First Baptist Church of Tyler · 1987
Organized on April 8, 1848, with six charter members, this congregation first met in a log cabin courthouse on the town square. Led by elders W. H. Ray and W. B. Langston, services were held monthly, with members being…
View on map ↗Whitaker-McClendon House · 1988
Built about 1880 for attorney Harrison Moores Whitaker and his wife, Mattie, daughter of Texas Supreme Court Justice Micajah H. Bonner, this is one of the few remaining high Victorian residences in Tyler. The home was…
View on map ↗Cedar Street United Methodist Church · 1989
This congregation traces its history to a Sunday School organized in 1887 in one of the new suburban neighborhoods north of Tyler. Created to serve people living away from the town's central Methodist Church (now Marvin…
View on map ↗Shamburger Cemetery · 1990
Members of the Peter Shamburger family came to this area of Texas from Mississippi in 1847. Peter and his family lived near Starrville. His son, Mathew, married Julia Ann Shockley in 1849 and settled in the Fruit…
View on map ↗Woman's Building · 1990
The Woman's Building Association, a branch of the Tyler Woman's Forum, was chartered in 1928 to direct the construction of this facility. When completed in 1932, it provided meeting rooms, an auditorium, and a library…
View on map ↗Smith County as a 19th Century Legal Center · 1992
Soon after its establishment in 1846, Smith County became an important legal center in East Texas. The first legal proceeding to take place in the county was a district court session held in an abandoned one-room log…
View on map ↗Wood-Verner Cemetery · 1992
The oldest known graveyard in the Dixie area, Wood-Verner Cemetery is named for two families who owned land surrounding the site. The earliest marked grave is that of John Gordon, who died in 1850. Affiliated with the…
View on map ↗Smith County Jail, 1881 · 1993
Houston architect Eugene T. Heiner and builder Henry Kane designed and built this structure in 1880-81 to serve as Smith County's fourth jail. An 1894 second-story addition doubled the jail's cell space. The building…
View on map ↗Bascom Cemetery · 1994
Bascom was settled in the mid-1840s and named for a Tennessee Methodist bishop by early settler Lazariah Smith. Burials took place just north of this site until 1857 when one acre west of the Tyler to Henderson Road…
View on map ↗Gary Elementary School · 1994
School officials acquired two acres here in 1907 from Horace Chilton and in 1908 built an 8-room white stone schoolhouse. The elementary school was named for Franklin N. Gary, an early settler of this area noted for his…
View on map ↗New Harmony Baptist Church · 1994
This congregation was established in 1867 and accepted into the Cherokee Baptist Association in 1869. Seven of the church's nineteen charter members are buried in New Harmony Cemetery, established in 1870. Early…
View on map ↗Hopewell Baptist Church · 1997
In early 1857 the Rev. J. S. Bledsoe began preaching in a post oak grove near the Hopewell community. By 1858 the Hopewell Baptist Church was organized with 30 members and the Rev. J. S. Bledsoe as first pastor. Harvey…
View on map ↗Ramey House · 1997
An important example of turn-of-the-century domestic architecture, the home of Thomas Brown and Mary Josephine (Spencer) Ramey was crafted of virgin cypress and southern heart pine in 1903. The architectural style of…
View on map ↗John B. and Ketura Douglas House · 1998
Built about 1873, this was the home of John B. Douglas (1843-1893), a Civil War veteran, merchant and city official, and his wife Ketura (Kettie) Walker Douglas (1845-1912), a local church and civic leader. The area…
View on map ↗Pleasant Retreat United Methodist Church · 1998
This church was organized as early as 1854 when a deed for 2.5 acres was issued to the board of trustees of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. According to oral history, the congregation first met in a log cabin on…
View on map ↗Antioch Baptist Church · 2001
Records of the Smith County Baptist Association indicate that this congregation was established in 1851. Members held worship services in homes and in the local schoolhouse until they built their first sanctuary in…
View on map ↗Tyler Junior College · 2001
Tyler Junior College was established in 1926 during the formative years of the junior college movement in Texas. This institution began as an extension of the Tyler public school system with school superintendent G. O.…
View on map ↗Henry Miller Morgan · 2004
On August 25, 1895, Henry Miller Morgan was born in Tyler's St. Louis community to Henry and Alice Ingram Morgan. He attended school in the St. Louis community, completing his education at East Texas Academy, which…
View on map ↗Smith Cemetery · 2004
In 1846, Mary M. "Polly" Long received 640 acres in this area from the State of Texas. She deeded half to her son, Richard B. Long, in 1852. He sold this tract in 1881, reserving one acre to preserve the existing…
View on map ↗Butler College · 2008
Rev. Cornelius Moses Butler and trustees of the East Texas Baptist Association founded East Texas Baptist Academy in 1905. The academy was created to improve educational opportunities for African American youth in and…
View on map ↗Rudolph Bergfeld · 2008
(1855-1930) Entrepreneur and property owner Rudolph Berfeld was a significant figure in the development of the city of Tyler. Bergfeld was born in Wisconsin and as a youth apprenticed at his uncle's jewelry business in…
View on map ↗Tomas G. Pollard, Sr. · 2009
(1895-1962) Tomas G. Pollard was an attorney and legislator whose work improved the lives of East Texans. While in college, Pollard married Edna Martin, with whom he reared three children, and was elected as a state…
View on map ↗Hebron Baptist Church · 2010
Although it may have been established earlier, Hebron Baptist Church petitioned to join the Cherokee Baptist Association in 1859. One of the congregation's petitioners, Reverend William H. Ray, helped to organize many…
View on map ↗Tyler Carnegie Library · 2010
Five Tyler women’s clubs, the First Literary Club, Bachelor Maids, Quid Nunc, Sherwood Club and Athenian Club, collectively known as the Federated Women’s Clubs of Tyler, worked for several years to form a series of…
View on map ↗Pinkston Cemetery · 2012
Established c. 1877 Historic Texas Cemetery - 2010
View on map ↗Tyler Commercial College · 2012
In 1894, C.L. and Noah Adair opened the Adair Normal School to provide a university-level education, but the school closed in 1896. In 1899, a charter was filed with the secretary of state’s office for Tyler Commercial…
View on map ↗Chilton-Lipstate-Taylor House · 2014
In 1887, Horace and Mary (Grinnan) Chilton acquired land in the Yarbrough addition and soon after started construction on a house for their family. The design, by an unknown architect, is reportedly modeled after Mary’s…
View on map ↗Francis Heritage House · 2014
marker pending
View on map ↗Texas College · 2017
marker pending
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