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Carthage, Texas
Located in the
Piney Woods
region, the town of Carthage, Texas is in
Panola
county.
Carthage is at the intersection of U.S. highways 59 and 79, forty-two miles west of Shreveport, Louisiana, near the center of Panola County. Carthage is Panola County's second county seat. When an act of the Texas legislature delineated the county in 1846, the temporary county seat was Pulaski, a settlement on the east bank of the Sabine River. In 1848 the county commissioners selected a site at the county's geographic center as the permanent county seat. Jonathan Anderson, who owned the proposed site, agreed to donate 100 acres for the town. Spearman Holland is credited with naming the community in honor of Carthage, Mississippi. A post office was established in 1849. The first courthouse, made of peeled pine logs and financed by the sale of town lots, was completed in August of the same year. The log courthouse was used until 1853, when a brick structure was built. In 1860 Carthage had a school, a church, and the Panola Male and Female Academy, founded by L. C. Libby.
Courtesy The Handbook of Texas Online
Credits:
Old Postcards courtesy www.txgenweb.org/postcards
Courthouse Photos courtesy www.barnfield.net
State Park and Historic Site Photos courtesy State of Texas.
Misc. City Photos courtesy local tourism offices.
Misc. Photos courtesy All Across Texas.
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