Freestone County, Texas
Communities


Old Ghost Towns:




Hall's Bluff

  In 1834, James Hall moved his goods from Bean's Saline (in present day 
southwest corner of Smith County) down the Trinity River to trade.  James
built a fur trading post by James Hall to trade items with the Kawakoni and 
Keechi Indians. The Keechi Indian settlement was near present-day Butler. The 
Kawakoni Indians had a large settlement on the west bank of the Trinity.  The 
trading post served as a place to reprovision point for a surveying team led 
by I.W. Burton in 1835 that laid out the original twenty four land titles 
consisting of at least one league each.  

School: 
none

Social Organizations:
none

Churches:
none

Cemeteries:
none

Businesses:
James Hall's trading post

Known Former Residents:
Hall, James

-------------------------------------------------

West Point / West Point Hill  

  In 1852, at a location nearby modern Butler was known as West Point Hill 
where John T. Gill built a store and warehouse, which he moved a few miles away
from the Trinity River the following year.  
  Steamboats and flat boats going up and down the Trinity River stopped at
the West Point docks which lay just below the settlement.  According to old
mileage charts, it was 558 miles upriver to the docks at Pine Bluff. *1*
  Settlers arrived in earnest about 1853 such as several families from Butler 
County, Alabama, including the Mannings, McDaniels, Mayeses, and Mobleys, 
settled in the area at the same time. In 1854 a church was organized, and the 
next year a post office by the name of West Point was established.  In 1855, 
the well digger Mr. Wilson was buried alive working on Mr. Gill's well.
  On Sept. 17, 1856, J. A. Formwalt ran an advertisement in the Trinity 
Advocate as a receiving, forwarding and commission merchant at West Point.  


Post Office:

West Point Post Office 
  Aug 7, 1855 to May 23, 1856 with John T. Gill as postmaster.
  On May 23, 1856, it was renamed the Butler Post Office.
  
School: 


Social Organizations:


Churches:
West Point church (started in 1854)

Cemeteries:


Businesses:


Known Former Residents:
Formwalt, J. A.
Gill, John T.
Wilson, Mr.