Where is nacogdoches county

Only the Whig party , which received 24 percent of the votes cast in and 21 percent in , attracted a sizable number of the remaining voters. During the pivotal election of Democrat John C. Breckinridge attracted 67 percent of the votes, but a large minority, some 33 percent, cast their votes for Consitutional Union party candidate John Bell.

The county's White inhabitants overwhelmingly supported the secession movement during the winter of — When the Secession Ordinance was submitted for popular approval in February , county voters approved the measure to In contrast to many other East Texas counties, however, Nacogdoches County also had a significant number who opposed secession, possibly due to the large number of small farmers, who were less likely to support the measure than plantation owners, as well as the comparatively large Mexican population.

County residents nevertheless strongly supported the Confederate war effort. One source estimated that as many as 2, men from the county served in either state or Confederate army units. County residents also supplied money and provisions. One of the eight war-time ironworks in Texas was located in Nacogdoches County, but its production was never very large.

Although the county escaped the destruction that devastated other parts of the South, the war years were difficult for local citizens. They were forced to deal with the lack of markets and wild fluctuations in Confederate currency, as well as concern for those on the battlefield. The end of the war meant wrenching changes in the economy. The postwar era brought freedom for the county's African Americans. Although most of them remained in the county, many Black families left the farms owned by their former masters, seeking better working conditions.

For the vast majority, changing locations seems to have brought little improvement. Most ended up working the land on shares, receiving one-third of the crop for their labors. For many of Nacogdoches County's Whites, the end of slavery meant serious economic loss. In slaves constituted slightly more than half of all taxable property in the county. This loss, coupled with the widespread belief that Blacks would not work, and unresolved questions concerning the status of the South in the nation, led to a loss of confidence that caused property values to plummet.

In the evaluation of all taxable property in the county had fallen to about half of that total. Although incidents of violence occurred during Reconstruction , Nacogdoches County was spared much the lawlessness that plagued other East Texas counties in the wake of the Civil War. The Ku Klux Klan was active in the late s but seems to have largely died out by the early s.

By the mids the county had begun to recover from the effects of the war, and the population began growing once again. Nacogdoches, with a population of , remained the largest town in the county, but many of the smaller towns, Chireno, Douglass, Melrose, Martin City now Martinsville , showed significant population increases.

In the population of the county was 9,; by it was 11, The economy also began to show signs of recovery. The principal crops remained corn and cotton, but now greater emphasis was placed on exporting cotton. In the county had fifty-four cotton gins, and 6, bales were processed. Other significant crops included oats, rye, barley, wheat, and a wide variety of vegetables. The largest impediment to prosperity remained the lack of adequate transportation.

Most of the county's roads were impassable in times of bad weather, and the cost of hauling freight overland was prohibitive. Riverboats on the Angelina provided an inexpensive alternative, but they often could not reach the county in times of drought.

With the coming of the railroad, Nacogdoches once again emerged as an important trading center. Competition from the railroad also brought the end of the riverboat traffic on the Angelina and the decline of towns like Pattonia that had depended on the boats.

The railroad also changed the face of the county in other ways: a host of new towns—Sacul, Cushing, Trawick, and Redfield—grew up along the line. When the Texas and New Orleans and Angelina and Neches River railroads were built around the turn of the century, other new towns sprang into life, including Garrison and Appleby. The construction of the railroads also spurred the development of the lumber industry , which emerged at the end of the nineteenth century as one of Nacogdoches County's most important industries.

The economic boom brought on by the railroads also contributed to rapid population growth. By the population of the county reached 24,, more than double what it had been only twenty years before. The economy remained primarily agricultural, but the greater access to outside markets initiated a trend away from subsistence farming and toward a greater reliance on cash crops, particularly cotton.

By the s farmers were producing an average of 25, bales of cotton per year, with a peak of 37, bales in The other principal crop remained corn, which over the same period accounted for slightly less than half of all land under cultivation.

Sorghum and hay were also grown in small amounts. The s and s brought further improvements to the transportation network. By most of the major roads were paved, and U. Highway 59 and State highways 21, 26, and had been constructed, giving farmers easier and better access to markets. More efficient access to markets and the gradual expansion of the county's cotton crop, however, did not bring prosperity for most of the farmers. While the number of farms increased from 3, in to 5, in , a large percentage of farmers were sharecroppers.

In less than half of the farms in the county were worked by tenants. The onset of the Great Depression , falling cotton prices, and the arrival of the boll weevil brought new hardships for farmers.

Many were forced to leave the land and move to the cities. The total number of farms in the county fell from a high of 5, in the mids to 2, in Cotton production also fell markedly during the same period, and by Nacogdoches County farmers produced only 2, bales, less than a tenth of the peak years of the s.

With the decline of cotton, livestock raising gradually replaced other forms of the farming as the mainstay of the agricultural economy. By the s 90 percent of the county's agricultural receipts came from the raising of livestock, mainly cattle and poultry, and the county was among the leading Texas counties in income from broilers, poultry, dairying, and total livestock. In Nacogdoches County ranked third in egg production with nearly 9. The amount of land under cultivation also decreased as many areas were gradually reforested.

During the s Angelina National Forest was established in the southern portion of the county, and by the county was 67 percent forested. The large tracts of forest supported a small lumber industry with two mills. Pine and hardwood production in totaled 14,, cubic feet, the overwhelming majority of which was pine production. Oil, which played such an important role in other East Texas counties, has been a small but significant part of the Nacogdoches County economy. As early as the s several surface pools of oil were noted at Oil Springs fifteen miles southeast of Nacogdoches.

The oil was collected and used as a lubricant and for medicinal purposes. In Lyne T. Barret acquired a lease near Oil Springs and started work on a test well, but the outbreak of the Civil War forced him to postpone his plans.

In he acquired a new lease, and on September 12, , he brought in the first producing oil well in Texas. Barret used an auger, fastened to a pipe and rotated by a cogwheel driven by a steam engine—the basic principle of rotary drilling, which has been used ever since.

In Amory Q. Starr and Peyton F. Edwards brought in a well at Oil Springs. Other wells were also drilled, and Nacogdoches became the site of Texas's first commercial oilfield and the first pipeline and attempts to refine crude.

Several thousand barrels were extracted during this period. The discovery of the massive East Texas oilfield in the s focused the attention of oilmen elsewhere, but oil drilling efforts have continued in Nacogdoches County. In production was a modest barrels, but in 87, barrels were produced. Total production in the county to January was 2,, barrels. From the time of Reconstruction until the s the county remained solidly Democratic. Dwight D. Eisenhower won by a small margin in the election of , but Republicans otherwise failed to receive a majority of votes until the election of , when Richard Nixon defeated George McGovern 8, to 3, Republican presidential candidates subsequently won most of the votes in the county in virtually every election from through The only exception was in , when Republican George H.

Bush won only a plurality of the county's votes. In his son, George W. Bush, took the county by a margin of almost two to one. The population of Nacogdoches County grew steadily during the first four decades of the twentieth century, reaching 35, in After World War II the population began a long slow decline, as numerous residents left to take advantage of opportunities elsewhere. By the county's population had declined to 28, During the s and s, however, the number of people in the county began to grow again: there were 36, living in the county by , and 46, by About 17 percent of the population then was African American, a slight decline from the late antebellum period.

The largest ancestry groups were English 30 percent and Irish 19 percent. During the early s the county had nine school districts, with twelve elementary, one middle, and eight high schools and one special-education school. The average daily attendance in —81 was 6, The economic base of the county in the s was still agricultural.

In , 43 percent of the land was in farms and ranches, with 15 percent of the land under cultivation. Nacogdoches County ranked twelfth in the state in agricultural receipts, with 98 percent from livestock and livestock products. The total number of businesses in the early s was The largest employer in the county was Stephen F. Austin State University, founded in , which employed 1, people.

In , 10 percent of the labor force was self-employed, 24 percent in professional or related services, 22 percent in manufacturing, 22 percent in wholesale or retail trade, 7 percent in agriculture, forestry, fisheries, and mining, and 13 percent employed in other counties. Leading industries included oil and gas extraction, road construction, agribusiness, poultry and egg processing, soft drink bottling and canning, and sawmills. Among the largest companies were Texas Farm Products, J.

Clipper, and East Texas Canners. In the last decades of the twentieth century Nacogdoches County's economy continued to grow and develop. The census counted 54, people living in the county in , 59, by , and 65, by About Almost 74 percent of residents age twenty-five and older had completed four years of high school, and almost 23 percent had college degrees.

In the early twenty-first century agribusiness, timber, Steven F. Austin State University, tourism, and manufacturing were the central elements of the area's economy. In the county had 1, farms and ranches covering , acres, 41 percent of which were devoted to pasture, 31 percent to crops, and 25 percent to woodlands. Poultry, dairy, and beef cattle were the chief agricultural products. Almost 23,, cubic feet of pinewood and almost 4,, cubic feet of hardwood were harvested in the county in More than , barrels of oil and 45,, cubic feet of gas-well gas were produced in the county in ; by the end of that year 3,, barrels of oil had been taken from county lands since Nacogdoches population, 33, , the county seat, is the area's only sizable city.

Large numbers of visitors come to Nacogdoches County to see the Old Stone Fort and other historic sites. The Sam Rayburn Reservoir, completed in , and Angelina National Forest also attracted sizable numbers of tourists. Nugent E. Odie B. Richard W. Katherine W. Archie P. McDonald, comp. James M. James G. Austin State College, The following, adapted from the Chicago Manual of Style , 15th edition, is the preferred citation for this entry.

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Texas Almanac Texas Almanac — Places: Counties. There's plenty to do here on your downtime, with two lakes Nacogdoches and Naconiche and countless trails. Nacogdoches' Butcher Boys has the No. Stephen F.

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