DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about Poletown and Rhodesburg, out in Van Zandt County. Now, most towns got a beginning you can point to — a deed, a founding date, a ribbon-cutting of some kind. Poletown's beginning was a letter.
Just a letter, written in 1863 by a woman named Alice Merrifield, and it's the first documented mention of a settlement sitting just west of Jordan's Saline. That's all the fanfare this place got. A single sentence in somebody's correspondence, and history quietly took note.
The people who built Poletown weren't there by grand design. They were folks who had fled west to escape the southern battle sites of the Civil War. While the shooting was happening somewhere else, they found unattended land — land whose owners were away at war — and they put up homes.
The community became known as Poletown, perhaps because of the poles used for home construction. Perhaps. The marker leaves a little room there, and so will I.
When the war ended, Poletown kept going. Residents who weren't property owners made arrangements to purchase land or become tenant farmers. Life sorted itself out the way it does.
A voting precinct was formed in 1873. A school had been established for local children by 1889. And in 1900, land was deeded to the community for the already existing cemetery — meaning people had been burying their dead there long before anyone made it official.
Now here's where the story takes a turn. In 1895, a man named Tom Alexander decided to honor a populist by the name of Jacob C. Rhodes.
The way he honored him was to designate a section of his land at Poletown as a new town — Rhodesburg, sometimes spelled Rhodesburgh. That's a considerable compliment, having a town named after you. But Rhodes wasn't done earning it.
Rhodes and his followers changed allegiance to the Socialist Party. And Rhodes didn't just join — he organized. He organized the Socialist Party of Texas, and the first Socialist state convention was held later that same year.
For over a decade after that, Socialist Party encampments were held just west of Grand Saline. This little corner of Van Zandt County was punching well above its weight on the national political stage. The peak came with the 1912 presidential election.
The Socialist Party of Texas had climbed as high as it would go, and in Van Zandt County, they received thirty percent support. Thirty percent. In a county where tenant farmers knew exactly what they were voting for and why.
But the ground was already shifting beneath them. The National Socialist Party began moving away from tenant farmers' issues and toward labor union issues — and that was a problem out here. The Texas party, Van Zandt County included, began to fracture and weaken.
The Democratic Party strengthened. And soon, most of Rhodesburg's political leaders left the area. What remained were the descendants of the earlier settlers.
The ones who had come fleeing a war, put up poles for walls, planted crops on borrowed land, and quietly outlasted the politicians who had, for one bright stretch around 1912, made this crossroads matter to the whole nation. Poletown and Rhodesburg. One letter in 1863, thirty percent in 1912, and a cemetery that was already full before anyone thought to deed it to the community.
That's Van Zandt County doing things in its own order, at its own pace, and on its own terms.
What the marker says
The first documented mention of a settlement at this site, just west of Jordan's Saline, comes from an 1863 letter by Alice Merrifield. The community was mostly made up of people who fled west to escape the southern battle sites of the Civil War. The small community became known as Poletown, perhaps because of the poles used for home construction, and was one of many such communities formed on unattended land while property owners were away at war. After the war, Poletown residents who were not property owners made arrangements to purchase land or become tenant farmers. A voting precinct was formed in 1873, a school had been established for local children by 1889 and land was deeded to the community for the already existing cemetery in 1900. In 1895, Tom Alexander honored populist Jacob C. Rhodes by deisgnating a section of his land at Poletown as the new town of Rhodesburg (or Rhodesburgh). The city gained national prominence when Rhodes and his followers changed allegiance to the Socialist Party. Rhodes organized the Socialist Party of Texas, and the first Socialist state convention was held later that year. For over a decade, Socialist Party encampments were held just west of Grand Saline. The Socialist Party of Texas reached its peak of popularity by the time of the 1912 presidential election, and received thirty percent support in Van Zandt County. While the National Socialist Party shifted away from tenant farmers' issues and toward labor union issues, the Texas party, including Van Zandt County, began to fracture and weaken while the Democratic Party strengthened. Soon, most of Rhodesburg's political leaders left the area, while many descendants of the earlier settlers remain. (2010)