Robert F. Mitchell

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll pass it along just the same. Robert F. Mitchell.

Born November 13, 1801, out in Ohio. Now, Ohio is a fine place, but a man with that kind of restlessness in him tends to find his way to Texas eventually, and Mitchell was no exception. He arrived in Nacogdoches County in 1837, and he got to work.

For a spell he was associated with a man named John Durst in a mercantile firm, which is a fancy way of saying they were in the business of selling things to people who needed things. That partnership was brief, but Mitchell was just gettin' started. In 1849 he picked up and moved to Cherokee County, and here is where the story gets interesting.

His land sat on the upland divide between the Neches and Angelina Rivers, and that piece of ground, that high ground, became the townsite of Alto. Alto. Latin for high.

You don't just stumble onto a place like that. You settle it. Mitchell did more than settle it, though.

He ran a store and a gin in Alto. He ran a hotel north of the Old San Antonio Road. He was, by any honest account, a leader in the development of that town and the surrounding area.

Robert F. Mitchell kept at it until April 10, 1878. The town of Alto is still there, still sitting up on that upland divide, right where he put it.

What the marker says

(Nov. 13, 1801 -- Apr. 10, 1878) Ohio native Robert F. Mitchell came to Nacogdoches County, Texas in 1837. Briefly associated with John Durst in a mercantile firm, Mitchell moved to Cherokee County in 1849 and, soon after, his land on the upland divide between the Neches and Angelina Rivers was used for the townsite of Alto (Latin for high). He later ran a store and gin in Alto and a hotel north of the Old San Antonio Road and served as a leader in the development of the town and area.