Hemphill

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about Hemphill, Sabine County, Texas. Now settle in, because this town has a story that goes all the way back to 1858, and it is not a straight line. Sabine County organized the community of Hemphill that year, naming it for Texas Supreme Court Justice John Hemphill, who lived from 1803 to 1862.

Before Hemphill existed, the county seat sat over in Milam. An election changed that, determining that the seat would move to this new settlement planted right in the center of Sabine County. A man named Earl Percy Beddoe surveyed and laid out the town site on an eighty-acre tract owned by Richard Fendall Slaughter and his wife, Anna, born a Holman.

Eighty acres. A blank slate waiting to become something. By 1859, a post office was open for business.

Things were moving. Shortly after the community's establishment, builders put up the first courthouse. Now here is where you start to feel the rhythm of this place, because that courthouse did not last.

It was replaced in 1864 by another building. That building burned down in 1875. Another courthouse was completed in 1877.

That one eventually gave way to the current structure, built in 1906. Four courthouses. The town kept losing them and kept building back.

That tells you something about the character of the place. Meanwhile, Hemphill was growing into itself. Sabine Valley University opened in 1879.

Hemphill Common School District No. 1 organized in the late 1800s, and by 1890 it had three trustees, two teachers, and eighty-eight students. First National Bank opened its doors in 1907, though it would later close during the Great Depression. A lot of doors closed during those years.

Now, the engine running underneath all of this growth was the Knox Sawmill, sitting in the western part of town. Between 1850 and 1930, Hemphill's population climbed steadily, and the marker points directly at that mill as a big reason why. Temple Lumber Company eventually bought it.

Then, in 1937, the mill burned. When the sawmill closed, the population began to decline. Post-World War II migration was pulling rural folks toward cities anyway, and Hemphill lacked the major thoroughfares that might have cushioned that drift.

The mill burning, the migration, the quiet roads out of town. It all pushed the same direction. But here is the thing about Hemphill.

It is still the seat of Sabine County government. It still holds national, state, and local offices. It still matters.

Four courthouses, a burned mill, a bank that did not survive the Depression, and Hemphill is still standing right there in the center of Sabine County, same as it was laid out on that eighty-acre tract all those years ago.

What the marker says

In 1858, Sabine County organized the community of Hemphill, named for Texas Supreme Court Justice John Hemphill (1803-1862). An election determined that the county seat would be moved from Milam to this new settlement in the center of Sabine County. Earl Percy Beddoe surveyed and laid out the town site on an 80-acre tract owned by Richard Fendall Slaughter and his wife, Anna (Holman). A post office was established in Hemphill in 1859. Builders constructed the first courthouse in Hemphill shortly after the community's establishment; it was replaced in 1864 by another building, which burned down in 1875. Builder completed another courthouse in 1877, which was eventually replaced by the current structure in 1906. Other significant early institutions included Sabine Valley University, established in 1879, and First National Bank, which opened in 1907 and closed during the Great Depression. Hemphill Common School District No. 1 organized in the late 1800s, and by 1890 listed three trustees, two teachers and eighty-eight students. The population of Hemphill increased steadily between 1850 and 1930, due in great part to the presence of the Knox Sawmill in the western part of town. Temple Lumber Company later bought the mill, which burned in 1937. Combined with post-World War II rural-to-urban migration trends and the lack of major thoroughfares in the town, the closing of the sawmill promoted a decline in the community's population. Today, Hemphill remains the seat of the Sabine County government, and is home to several national, state and local offices, remaining a community of vital importance in the state of Texas. (2008)