Nacogdoches

by Robert Bruce Blake

S. M. Orton Home
Built in 1840.
Has “Strong Room” built for temporary detention of prisoners by Sheriff Orton.

The invaluable services of Nacogdoches and its people in opening up the great northern regions of Texas, after the expulsion of the Indians, had the result, unfortunate for it but inevitable, of diminishing the population and importance of the town. New centers of agriculture and trade sprang up and became towns which attracted more and more people to themselves, and new opportunities presented themselves for business enterprise. It was easier to fence in the prairies than to clear the forest lands of East Texas. Many of the citizens of Nacogdoches, including some of the more prominent persons, removed to other places.

After the annexation of Texas to the United States, Nacogdoches gradually settled down to the station of one of the many flourishing towns of the State, and lost the preeminence in political and social matters which had been its lots from the beginning of its history. With San Augustine it still continued to be the center of this section of the State, and the two towns cooperated harmoniously in the development of the surrounding regions.

Nacogdoches has always been an important social center. Even under Spanish rule it was noted for the culture of its inhabitants, and during the residence of the Governor of the State at this place in the unsettled period after the Louisiana purchase, there was a social life here that was not unworthy of a larger city. During the third and fourth decade of the Nineteenth Century social amenities prevailed even through the confusion of changing political scenes of that time. The Mexican officers at that time were, as a rule, gentlemen, and the American immigrants included many persons of high culture and attainments. After the revolution the social standing of the place grew even stronger. It was not merely in entertainments and enjoyments that Nacogdoches and San Augustine set the pace in East Texas; they became centers of learning as well. Schools flourished, and a refined taste in literary and scholastic affairs exhibited higher ideals of mental achievements. The University of Nacogdoches was established in 1845, and attracted many persons who were desirous of scholastic training.

Old North Church
Founded 1838.
Standing four miles north Nacogdoches. See [page 22].

When the shadow of war fell over the country in 1861, Nacogdoches at once took her place among those who were ready to offer their belongings and their lives upon the altar of their country. Her soldiers went to the front and did gallant service for the cause of the Confederacy. At home, the women and other non-combatants worked and prayed for the success and safety of their loved ones far away on the battlefield. But war brought ruin to the town; the schools were overwhelmed in the general desolation. Business enterprise was at an end, and the great stores gave place to little shops, which barely supplied the necessities of life. The soldiers came home and went back to their farms, but the old plantations had disappeared and the fields barely produced a living for their owners and workers. The town itself was reduced to the proportions of an insignificant village. The people bravely kept up the traditions of a more affluent existence, but it was a mournful struggle against untoward conditions.

These conditions prevailed for twenty years, but at length a harbinger of better times appeared in the shape of a railroad, the Houston East and West Texas, connecting Houston and Shreveport. It was a narrow-gauge road, burning wood for fuel and creeping along at an extremely low rate of speed, but it was the first road to pass through East Texas, where formerly the wagon and the two-horse hack formed the sole means of transportation. It brought new business, new people and new ambitions to the place which soon began to be built up in brick in place of the old wooden houses of the earlier years. Soon cotton wagons assembled, bearing bales of wealth, and in the autumn season the streets were filled with people from surrounding counties selling their crops and buying supplies.

There was no boom. The town grew gradually and slowly. Greater business enterprises were undertaken and accomplished and various kinds of improvements were effected in the way of conveniences of living. For many years the village spirit remained among the people. Everybody knew everybody else, and each was interested in the welfare of all. New churches were erected and a new court house and also, sad to relate, a new jail. A large lumber mill was erected on the east side of town which added to the prosperity of the place.