DUANE
Duane's take
The marker's got the official word on this one, and here's how I tell it. January 6, 1876. A wagon train rolls out of Gregg County and into Eastland County with six founding families aboard — the Agnews, Andrew and Isaac both, Fletcher Fields, David McKinley, Allis Smith, and W.
W. Smith. That's your first settlers, right there, arriving in the dead of winter to stake their claim on a place that did not make things easy.
And when I say it did not make things easy, I mean it. The area was known for Indian raids, vigilante activities, gunfights. That's not legend dressing things up — that's the plain description this place carried.
But people have a way of building something permanent right in the middle of hard times, and that's exactly what happened here. A log school-church building went up in 1876, and a stable community started growing around it. About 1879, Thomas W.
Anderson and his son William opened the first store. The post office followed in 1880. And that is where the story gets interesting.
Now the marker is careful to say this is the most creditable story as to how the town got its name — which is a fine way of saying they're not absolutely swearing to it, but it's too good not to tell. The settlers put forward the name Star for their new post office. Simple, clean, proud.
The U.S. Postal authorities said no. Another Texas town already had that name.
So the settlers did what settlers do: they gathered and they argued. They argued all night long over what to call this place. And as the meeting finally broke up and folks started heading home, they looked up and there was the morning star hanging in the sky.
Rising Star. That was it. That was the name.
Something about a group of people who survived Indian raids and gunfights, who argued through a whole night and then let a star settle the matter — that's a community with a little poetry in it. Which might explain why Rising Star became the home of Lexie Dean Robertson, who served as Texas poet laureate from 1939 to 1941. The town was first incorporated in 1891.
Then in a 1905 election, voters chose to dissolve the corporation — but the charter was restored later that same year. Rising Star, it seems, was not done being Rising Star. And just so you know what kind of place this is: the city hall is built of stone from a buried petrified forest.
Not hauled in, not ordered from somewhere else — pulled up from the ground right there, ancient wood turned to stone. The economy runs on ranching, farming, with Spanish peanuts as a chief crop, commercial pecans, industry, and oil. A wagon train, a sleepless argument, a morning star, and a petrified forest holding up the city hall.
That's Rising Star, Eastland County, Texas.
What the marker says
First settlers--families of Andrew Agnew, Isaac Agnew, Fletcher Fields, David McKinley, Allis Smith and W. W. Smith--arrived in a wagon train from Gregg County, Jan. 6, 1876. Area was known for hardships: Indian raids, vigilante activities, gunfights. But a stable community developed around log school-church building erected in 1876. First store was founded about 1879 by Thomas W. Anderson and son William. Post office established 1880. The most creditable story as to how the town got its name is that the settlers suggested the name Star for the post office but it was rejected by the U.S. Postal authorities as another Texas town had that name. The settlers argued all night over the name selection, looked up and saw the morning star as they started home from their meeting and agreed to call it Rising Star. The city was first incorporated in 1891. In a 1905 election, there was a vote to dissolve the corporation but the charter was restored later the same year. Rising Star is the home of Texas (1939-1941) poet laureate Lexie Dean Robertson. Unique local structure is city hall built of stone from buried petrified forest. Economy is based on ranching, farming (a chief crop is Spanish peanuts), commercial pecans, industry, oil. (1968)