City of Appleby

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker says about the City of Appleby, up in Nacogdoches County. Sit with me a spell, because this is a story about how a log hut, a tar kiln, and a railroad auditor's last name all ended up on the same map. Nine miles northeast of downtown Nacogdoches, out where East Texas pines keep their own counsel, a place called Appleby took root.

And like most things that grow quietly, it started small. In 1840, pioneers began movin' into the area, and one of the first was a man named Herran, who put up a log hut and a tar kiln. That was enough to draw a few more families.

And once a few more families showed up, well, somebody needed a school. That's how communities breathe. They take one breath, then another.

For a while, Appleby was what the marker calls a common rural community, which is not a slight. Common meant shared. It meant neighbors, and a local school, and the slow accumulation of a life worth living.

But then came the Houston East and West Texas Railway, the HE and WT, and nothing stayed common after that. The railroad had a way of rewriting a town's geography without asking permission. The center of Appleby shifted, moved from the south to an area adjacent to the north of the railroad, because that's what life did in small communities back then.

It started centering around the tracks. In 1889, a man named W.T. Skeeters opened the first store in the community, right there on the northeast side of the train tracks.

That same year, the HE and WT Railway acquired property from John H. Richardson, W.A. Hunt, and D.M.

Haney, and that land was to be laid off into a town with a depot station. A real town. And it needed a real name.

The community was officially named Appleby, after James Appleby, auditor of the HE and WT Railway. Now, not every man gets a town named for him. Most auditors live out their days in ledgers and obscurity.

James Appleby ended up on a post office, a depot, and the lips of East Texas farmers for generations. At its height, Appleby was no small thing. Three churches.

Cotton gins. Five general stores. A grist mill, a boarding school, a post office, a railway depot, a telephone exchange, a bank, a blacksmith shop, a hardware store, a barber shop, and two drug stores.

Two. Cotton was the chief crop, and Appleby developed as a distribution center for the whole agricultural economy of the region. Lumber enterprises, farm goods, the business of getting things from here to there, Appleby handled it.

But here is where the story gets honest, and honesty demands its own kind of quiet. As other communities developed, Appleby could not compete with the larger towns growing up around it. The population that had shifted north toward the railroad eventually kept right on shifting.

What had been a focal point for lumber and agricultural enterprise became something smaller. The marker doesn't call that a failure. It calls it significant.

Significant for its early growth. Significant for what it meant to the northeast corner of Nacogdoches County when the century was still young and a man named Herran was just trying to keep the tar kiln burning. Some towns become cities.

Some towns become markers. Appleby, nine miles northeast of Nacogdoches, became both.

What the marker says

CITY OF APPLEBY LOCATED NINE MILES NORTHEAST OF DOWNTOWN NACOGDOCHES, APPLEBY WAS A COMMON RURAL COMMUNITY IN EAST TEXAS. THE HISTORY OF APPLEBY PROVIDES A BACKGROUND FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE AREA NORTHEAST OF NACOGDOCHES. IN 1840, PIONEERS BEGAN TO MOVE INTO THE AREA AND A MAN NAMED HERRAN BUILT A LOG HUT AND A TAR KILN THERE. SOON, MORE PIONEER FAMILIES BEGAN TO MOVE TO THE AREA AND A LOCAL SCHOOL WAS NEEDED. APPLEBY GREW WHEN THE HOUSTON EAST AND WEST TEXAS (HE&WT) RAILWAY CAME TO THE AREA. THIS BROUGHT A SHIFT IN POPULATION AS THE CENTER OF THE COMMUNITY MOVED FROM THE SOUTH TO AN AREA ADJACENT TO THE NORTH OF THE RAILROAD. THIS MOVE WAS COMMON IN SMALL COMMUNITIES AS LIFE STARTED TO CENTER AROUND THE RAILROADS. IN 1889, W.T. SKEETERS OPENED THE FIRST STORE IN THE COMMUNITY ON THE NORTHEAST SIDE OF THE TRAIN TRACKS. IN 1889, THE HE&WT RAILWAY ACQUIRED PROPERTY FROM JOHN H. RICHARDSON, W.A. HUNT AND D.M. HANEY, WHICH WAS TO BE LAID OFF INTO A TOWN WITH A DEPOT STATION. THE COMMUNITY WAS OFFICIALLY NAMED APPLEBY AFTER JAMES APPLEBY, AUDITOR OF THE HE&WT RAILWAY. AT ITS HEIGHT, APPLEBY HAD THREE CHURCHES, COTTON GINS, FIVE GENERAL STORES, A GRIST MILL, BOARDING SCHOOL, POST OFFICE, RAILWAY DEPOT, TELEPHONE EXCHANGE, BANK, BLACKSMITH SHOP, HARDWARE STORE, BARBER SHOP AND TWO DRUG STORES. APPLEBY DEVELOPED AS A DISTRIBUTION CENTER FOR THE AGRICULTURAL ECONOMY WITH COTTON AS THE CHIEF CROP. AS OTHER COMMUNITIES DEVELOPED, APPLEBY WAS UNABLE TO COMPETE WITH LARGER TOWNS. IT IS SIGNIFICANT FOR ITS EARLY GROWTH IN THE AREA AS A FOCAL POINT FOR LUMBER AND AGRICULTURAL ENTERPRISES. (2014)