Freestone County, Texas History - 1900s TEXAS AND TEXANS, VOLUME II by Frank W. Johnson Editor: Eugene C. Barker, Ph.D. published by The American Historical Society Chicago and New York, 1916 TEXAS AND TEXANS, VOLUME II page 772 .... FREESTONE COUNTY This is one of a group of counties lying between the upper waters of the Trinity and the Brazos rivers, and while Limestone and Navarro were prairie counties, Freestone was situated in the heavily timbered area along the west side of the Trinity River. Thirty years ago it was estimated that only about one-seventh of the county’s area was prairie, while the rest was densely wooded. In successive years a great amount of the wood land has been cleared away and the land brought under cultivation, but the presence of heavy timber has been a factor in the county’s development from the earliest times. At the last census of a total area of 564,480 acres, 319,006 acres were occupied as farms, but only about 151,000 acres were classified as improved land, while the remainder was classed as “wood land in farms. ” Thus the acreage, in cultivation is much smaller than in many counties lying to the west. In spite of its situation in the woods, Freestone County for many years, beginning before the war, was one of the chief centers of cotton production in the upper Trinity Valley. The first settlers brought many slaves with them, and while the negroes worked the fields and gathered the cotton, Trinity River furnished a means of transporting the bales to market. Economically the county has passed through several periods of vicissitudes. The war freed the slaves, and almost completely overturned industrial conditions, and a large acreage returned to the wil[-] derness. When the railroads were built into this section of Texas, the Houston & Texas Central barely crossed the extreme northwest page 773 - TEXAS AND TEXANS, VOLUME II corner, while the International & Great Northern touched the county on the southeast. Until seven or eight years ago the county had only about four miles of railway. Between 1904 and 1907 the Trinity & Brazos Valley Railroad built its main line through the county from Cleburne through Mexia, thence to Teague in Freestone County, and on south to Houston. In the same period a branch of that road was constructed from Teague north to Corsicana. That railroad developed the first important town in the county, Teague, which in 1910 had a population of 1,288. Up to the early years of the present century cotton had remained the one great staple crop, and Freestone farmers make little attempt to use the soil for any other purposes. In 1903 the ravages of the boll weevil reduced the crop from about 30,000 bales to 3,000, and since then there has been only a gradual recovery, and the introduction of diversified methods of farming. Thus between 1900 and 1910 the number of farms decreased from 3,302 to 3,158, and there was a considerable falling off in the amount of acreage classified as “improved land.” Cattle and hogs became a more profitable resource than agriculture, though recent years have witnessed a gradual evolution of better conditions throughout the county. A brief survey of the county agriculturally is found in the statistics reported by the last census. At that time there were 24,689 cattle; about 8,400 horses and mules; 20,557 hogs; 1,144 goats; 78,278 poultry. The cotton acreage in 1909 was 66,101; 42,115 acres of corn; while minor crops were peanuts, 775 acres, potatoes and other vegetables, about 1,250 acres, and about 73,000 trees in orchard fruits. The taxable values of the county at different years have been : In 1870, $984,188 ; in 1882, $2,354,305 ; in 1903, $3,662,- 855; and in 1913, $7,859,305. A few pioneers went into the country bordering the upper Trinity before the close of the Texas revolution, but were all driven out by Indian hostilities. In the early ’40s the Texas rangers prosecuted a vigorous campaign against the Indians, and about the close of the Republic permanent settlers began to arrive. Some located above Troy, also known as Pine Bluff, which was established about l847 and for a long time was the chief town in the county. In 1850 the Butler community sprang up, and settlement began at what was known as Mound Prairie, near the present site of Fairfield, the county seat. In 1855 the county had seven postoffices : Avant, Butler, Cotton Gin, Fairfield, Flowerdale, Keechi and Troy. Freestone was then the wealthiest and most prosperous of all the surrounding counties. On September 6, 1850. the eastern section of Limestone County was cut off under the name Freestone County. Fairfield was designated as the county seat, the postoffice being established there in November, 1851. The Trinity River, on the east side of the county, was the first important factor in introducing settlement and in the upbuilding of towns. About twenty years after the county was created the Houston & Texas Central Railway was built close to the western border of the county, and that caused a grouping of population in that section. Outside of Fairfield the oldest inland town was Cotton Gin, a village that began about 1849. Most of the business of the county centered at Fairfield until the construction of the railway to Mexia in 1871. At that time Colonel Wortham laid out a village on the brief stretch of railway Page 774 - TEXAS AND TEXANS, VOLUME II through the western edge of Freestone County, giving it the name Wortham. By 1880 Fairfield and Wortham were the chief towns of the county and smaller centers were Sunshine, Cotton Gin, Luna, Brewer, Bonner, Butler, Dew, Mills, Young and Steward's Mill. In 1882 the county had two sawmills, one flouring mill, a number of corn mills and cotton gin. For many years, until about 1889, the Fairfield Methodist College was a noted institution in the county. At the present time besides a number of rural villages, the chief towns are Teague, Fairfield, Wortham and Kirvin. The population of Freestone County for successive decades has been: In 1860, 6,881 ; in 1870, 8,139 ; in 1880, 14,921 ; in 1890, 15,987 ; in 1900, 18,910 ; and in 1910, 20,557 (8,772 negroes). ....