Troup

Troup, also known as Troupe, Troup City, and Zavala, is a small town at the intersection of Farm roads 13, 15, 346, and 347 and State highways 110 and 135, three miles south of Arp in extreme southeastern Smith County. The area, originally part of the Eason Gee survey, was settled as early as 1848 by Southerners, predominantly Virginians. A community did not develop there, however, until the railroad boom of the 1870s. Early in that decade the Houston and Great Northern built a line that passed through the area, and soon thereafter Dr. E. M. Hanna established the first hotel at the townsite. In 1872 the town was platted at the point where the line split; the branch went to Tyler, and the main line, to Longview. On January 8, 1873, a post office called Zavala opened at the community, with John R. Thomas as postmaster; within five days the first town lot was purchased. Also that year, Rev. W. W. Brimm came from Tyler to preach the first sermon, and in September a temporary structure was completed to house the eight-member Presbyterian congregation. In 1875 the Zavala City Cemetery was established on land donated by the railroad company, which in 1876 also deeded a new building site to the Presbyterian trustees. But the fellowship continued to meet in the original building, which they shared with Dixie Lodge No. 272.