Henderson

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about Henderson, Texas — and friend, this one's got some real layers to it. Back in 1843, a brand new county needed a brand new seat, and so Henderson was born — planted right there in Rusk County before Rusk County had barely caught its breath. The name didn't come from thin air, either.

W. B. Ochiltree donated the land, and he had one condition: call it Henderson, after his friend James Pinckney Henderson — Republic of Texas pioneer, statesman, and the man who would go on to become the very first Governor of the State of Texas.

Not a bad friend to have your name on a town. Republic of Texas General James Smith also donated land for the venture, and history remembers him as the Father of Henderson. Two men, two parcels, one city.

Town lots sold quickly once the place was established. They set aside land for churches, land for schools — folks were thinkin' long-term from the jump. Then in 1849, a wooden courthouse went up right in the center of town, and Henderson started growin' the way a good Texas town does: steadily, stubbornly, home by home, business by business.

Now here's where the story gets a little darker. In 1860, a disastrous fire tore through the central business district and took a good portion of it with it. That's the kind of thing that breaks some towns.

Henderson wasn't one of them. The Civil War came and went. Then, in the 1870s, the railroads arrived in the area, and Henderson answered back with brick — a large number of brick structures going up downtown, as if the town was making a quiet promise to itself that it wasn't burning again.

But if you want the moment that truly rewrote Henderson's story, you have to get to 1930. That's when the vast East Texas oil field was discovered, and what happened next is the kind of thing people still shake their heads at. The population of Henderson went from two thousand to ten thousand — not in years, not in decades — within a matter of months.

Let that settle in. Two thousand people one season, ten thousand the next. That's Henderson, Texas.

Named by a friend, built by two men's land, tested by fire, transformed by oil, and still standin' as a center of commerce and civic life. Some towns just refuse to be anything other than what they set out to be.

What the marker says

Founded as the county seat for the newly created county of Rusk in 1843, Henderson was named for Republic of Texas pioneer and statesman James Pinckney Henderson, who would later become the first Governor of the State of Texas. Land for the town was donated by W. B. Ochiltree, who stipulated that it be named for his friend Henderson, and by Republic of Texas General James Smith, who is known as the "Father of Henderson." Town lots were sold soon after the city was established, with land set aside for both churches and schools. A wooden courthouse was built in the center of town in 1849, and the town grew steadily as homes and businesses were constructed. A disastrous fire destroyed much of the central business district in 1860. Following the Civil War and the arrival of the railroads in this area in the 1870s, a large number of brick structures were built in the downtown area. The discovery of the vast East Texas oil field in 1930 caused an economic boom in Henderson. The population increased from 2,000 to 10,000 within a matter of months. The town continues to serve as a center of commerce and civic activities.