Liberty Hill Community

Duane's take

The way I heard it, this comes straight off the official marker for Liberty Hill Community, over in Houston County, so let me tell it true. Now, Liberty Hill never got a post office. Never got a platted townsite either.

But here's the thing about Liberty Hill: it didn't need a name on a map to become something real. It became a community the old-fashioned way, one family at a time, starting clear back in 1835, when George W. Wilson and his family made the long haul down from Kentucky and put down roots in this corner of Houston County.

Other pioneers followed, names worth remembering: John W. Bodenhamer, James and William McLean, and William W. Davis.

They carved something out of that East Texas land, and what they built held together longer than a lot of places that did get a post office. Come the late 1880s, area settlers organized a school, sitting east of where the church building stands today. That schoolhouse did double duty, as schools often did out in rural Texas, serving both as a classroom and a place of worship.

And that old schoolhouse bell, well, it remains in use to this day. Baptist and Methodist congregations both organized in the community, and general stores came and went at various times, keeping folks supplied and giving them somewhere to gather and trade the news of the day. The school ran on until the 1930s, when Liberty Hill School closed its doors.

After that, the children attended classes over in Glover, and later they were transferred to Grapeland. Then came the end of World War II, and with it, the slow quiet tide that pulled at so many rural communities across Texas. People began moving away, trading country roads for city streets, and Liberty Hill's population started to decline.

But here is where the story turns, because in June of 1946, the community held its first homecoming celebration. The first of what would become an annual tradition, a gathering that said plainly: we were here, we are still here, and we remember. A community center went up in the 1960s, and it continues to serve the people of the Liberty Hill area to this day.

No post office, no platted streets, but a bell still ringing, a homecoming still coming every year, and a community that stands as a representative of Houston County's early rural heritage. Sometimes the places that never made it onto the official maps are the ones that last the longest in the memory of the people who call them home.

What the marker says

Among the earliest settlers in this area of Houston County were George W. Wilson and his family who came here from Kentucky in 1835. Other early pioneers were John W. Bodenhamer, James and William McLean and William W. Davis. Although a townsite was never platted and a post office was never established, Liberty Hill developed into a rural community. In the late 1880s area settlers organized a school, which was also used for worship services, east of the present church building. The old schoolhouse bell remains in use. Both Baptist and Methodist congregations were organized, and several general stores were in operation at various times. Liberty Hill School was closed in the 1930s. Area children attended classes in Glover and were later transferred to Grapeland. Following the end of World War II, the Community's population began to decline as people moved from rural areas to cities. The first of what would become an annual homecoming celebration was held in June of 1946. A community center, erected in the 1960s, continues to serve the people of the Liberty Hill area. Liberty Hill Community is representative of Houston County's early rural heritage.