This congregation was organized in 1891 as the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and boasted 56 members in its first year. The Rev. J. David Crockett served as its first pastor. A church structure built in 1891 was destroyed by a tornado in 1893. A second structure completed by the congregation that year was replaced by this late Victorian-Era Queen Anne style building in 1912. It features a symmetrical form with a central gable and flanking bell towers. The church has sponsored an annual harvest festival to fund missionaries throughout the world, including Japan and Africa.

On June 12, 1837, President Sam Houston authorized the formation of Houston County, the first newly created county in the Republic of Texas. Andrew W. Gossett (1812-1890) donated land, which included this square, for the townsite. He and his father, Elijah, both veterans of the Battle of San Jacinto, named the county for Sam Houston, and the county seat for David Crockett, a former Tennessee friend.

The first county courthouse, a log structure which served as a fortress during Indian attacks, was in use at this location by 1838. A brick building, which replaced the first courthouse in 1851, was destroyed by a fire of mysterious origin in 1865. County business was conducted in the L.E. Downes building on the southwest corner of the square until a two-story frame structure was finished in 1869. A jail addition burned in 1871 while it was under construction. The third courthouse and jail burned in 1882. The fourth courthouse, completed at this site in 1883, was razed in 1938. While this three-story structure was under construction, county business was conducted in the Crockett Hotel. In 1975 the third-floor jail was moved to a separate building and the fifth Houston County courthouse was remodeled.

Distinguished Ranger, frontier surveyor, Indian fighter, lawman, statesman and military commander. Born in Tennessee. Followed David Crockett to Texas to fight in War for Independence. Commanded one of the "Twin Sisters" cannon in the Battle of San Jacinto, April 21, 1836. Served in the Congress of the Republic of Texas. In 1846, during war with Mexico, led Ranger company in successful scouting mission 100 miles behind enemy lines. During 1849 California gold rush was sheriff of Sacramento County. Home again in 1852 became U.S. Marshal, Eastern District of Texas. Led Texas volunteers in San Antonio Feb. 16, 1861, when U.S. arsenal was surrounded and its surrender demanded--an encounter in a charged atmosphere that could have become the first armed conflict of the Civil War, although it ended without the firing of a shot, and with U.S. troops leaving the state. President Jefferson Davis offered him first General Staff Commission in the Civil War. Made a Brigadier General on May 14, 1861, he had charge of troops in Arkansas and Indian territory. Was the Confederate Commander in victory at Wilson Creek, Mo., 1861. Was killed in Battle of Pea Ridge, Ark.

Mrs. Elizabeth Crockett, wife of David Crockett, born in Buncombe Co., NC, May 22, 1788, married to David Crockett in Lawrence Co., Tenn., 1816; died in Johnson Co. -- now Hood Co. -- Jan. 31, 1860, age 82 years.

One of first ports of entry into Texas for Anglo-Americans. Opened early as 1814; heavily used by 1817. Named for 1819-21 ferry owner Henry Jones (1789-1861).

Claimed by both Mexico and the United States, town was 1828-37 county seat of Miller County, Ark. Community had 2,350 people by 1834. At this crossing Sam Houston (1832) and David Crockett (1835) entered Texas. A well-known road led southeastward to other colonies by way of Nacogdoches.

In 1836, Clarksville became Red River District's capital. By 1840 Jonesboro had lost its trade and many settlers to other areas.

Because overland travel in early Texas was an enterprise often fraught with hardship, frustration, and danger, many individuals looked to rivers for a solution to the problem. From 1829 to the Civil War, optimistic Texans attempted to ply the area's long, meandering rivers, but met repeated disappointment.

The most serious drawback to navigation of the Colorado was "the raft." This was a series of timber masses -- some floating, some sunken -- choking off the river about 10-25 miles above its mouth. The length was variously given as 3-8 miles. In spite of this, the keelboat "David Crockett" became the first boat to navigate the river, in 1838. After that, flatboats brought cotton, hides, lumber, and pecans down as far as the raft, but there the goods had to be taken off and hauled laboriously by wagon to Matagorda. The Republic of Texas incorporated 2 companies to clear the river and the State authorized the construction of a new channel around the raft, but the obstruction remained an impediment and hazard.

Although shallow-draft boats managed occasional trips, the more-efficient railroads eventually took away much business. After the Civil War, Texas Rivers ceased to be an important factor in transportation.

Virginia-born Samuel Erwin was married in 1819 in Tennessee to Sally Rodgers Crisp (1795-1860), in a ceremony performed by local magistrate David Crockett. First settler in the Honey Grove area, Erwin arrived here in 1837 and surveyed land grants for other pioneers. A surveyor by profession, he platted the townsite for his friend B.S. Walcott in 1848. He was the town's first postmaster and one of Fannin County's earliest Justices of the Peace.

Entered Texas at this point. The 1813 road from St. Louis brought in great numbers of pioneers: Stephen F. Austin, his settlers, Sam Houston, James Bowie, David Crockett and others who died in the Texas Revolution. From here pointed southwest. Crossed the Sulphur at Epperson Ferry, going south to Nacogdoches, linking "Southwest Trail" with the King's Highway to Mexico.

Surveyed by Nicholas Trammel (born in Nashville, Tenn., 1780; died, LaGrange, Texas, 1852), one of a family of U.S. surveyors and scouts. Mapped many trails, but only this one bears his name.