Designed by Frank T. Smith of Beaumont and built in 1902, this was the home of James L. (1844-1922) and Martha Slater (1840-1907) Kirby. James Kirby was superintendent of the Kirby Lumber Company, founded by his brother John Henry Kirby. Most of the home's materials came from the Kirby Mills. Colonial revival and Victorian stylistic features include vertical siding, 48 pillars, curved walls, and six shingled gable ends. The house was inherited by the Kirby's daughter Lucy and her husband Austin M. Hill, Sr. Their descendants lived here until 1990.

Named for John Henry Kirby, attorney, railroad builder, and timber, lumber, and oil king. With R.P. Allen, Kirby founded the town when their railroad -- Gulf, Beaumont, & Kansas City -- reached this point. Since 1904 city has also been terminus of the Jasper & Eastern Railroad.

A major business, Kirby Lumber Co. Sawmill (acquired in 1903), burned in 1917. City has been an area of timber conservation work since 1926; State Forest No. 1 is located 3 miles east. Today city is a trade center for Jasper and Newton counties and has electric power concerns.

A millionaire by his early thirties, Leonard Frederick Benckenstein made his first fortune in Detroit, where he was involved in the insurance, stock, and bond business. His friendship with prominent East Texas lumberman John Henry Kirby led him to Beaumont, where he was visiting when the Lucas gusher came in in 1904.

Benckenstein came out of retirement to begin investing in the great speculation that followed the oil discovery. While initially successful, he eventually suffered enormous losses. He remained active in the oil business, however, and later was given a lease to drill for oil on the Ged Gray Ranch in Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana. The successful venture resulted in the founding of Vinton Petroleum Company, which came to be owned by Benckenstein and Orange businessmen W.H. Stark and Dr.E.W. Brown.

After the death of his first wife, Genevieve (Peterson), in 1914, Benckenstein married Louise Sneed, and they moved to Orange, where he could better manage the affairs of Vinton Petroleum. While living in the city, he helped organize Orange's Red Cross chapter and became a board member of the First National Bank of Orange.

A native of Hanover, Germany, John Henry Lohmans emigrated to Texas in 1842. He settled in Austin where he opened a large dairy farm. In 1867 he moved into this area west of Austin and cleared a farm out of the abundant timberland. Lohmans worked on several road construction projects in the area and privately financed the building of Lohmans Ford Road. Lohmans Crossing Road (.5 mi.W) follows the general path of the early route. Lohmans Ford Road, along with others in the area, was significant in the formation of an early Colorado River crossing network.

The first land for this cemetery was granted by Mahulda Bonner McCree in 1866. At least two burials, for John Henry Jones (d.1862) and Elizabeth McCullough (d.1864), occurred before the graveyard was formally deeded. Over the years, the cemetery has been enlarged to cover over 3 acres. It contains the graves of Peters colonists, war veterans, and many persons associated with early area Methodist and Baptist churches. McCree Cemetery remains an important part of the recorded history of Dallas County.

Anglo settlement of the Gum Springs area in Smith County was underway when the community name changed to Starrville in 1852, in honor of pioneer Russel Julius Starr. Located on the Dallas-Shreveport freight route, Starrville included a post office, school, Masonic Lodge and Bethel Baptist Church. The Rev. Williamson Milburn was appointed pastor of the Baptist Church in 1854.

The Rev. Mr. Milburn bought land from Benjamin Harry in 1853 that was part of the A.J. LaGrone survey patented in 1850. This home was built by the Rev. Mr. Milburn in 1855. The structure was built with hand-picked knot-free lumber on a foundation put together with wooden pegs, and featured solid oak walls. Its wide doors and floor plan are indicative of a 19th-century house. Business owners W.D. and W.V. Hyer purchased the home and sold it to Jesse B. Gary, a local farmer, in 1880. John Henry Gary, Sr., bought the property from his father in 1900, and moved the house 400 yards north of its original location to access a better water supply. The home remained in the Gary family until 1964.

The home was uninhabited for many years. It was moved to this site in 1995.

Oldest Masonic Lodge in Tyler County in continuous existence under original charter; founded at a site (2 mi. N) on oldest land grant in county, issued on March 17, 1834, to Gavino Araujo by state of Coahuila and Texas. On Oct. 13, 1852, James and Samuel Barnes, John I. Davis, William Sterling, and G.B. Wallace, trustees of Mount Hope Chapel, acquired building site there for a free Protestant church, schoolhouse, and lodge hall. Lodge was organized by H.W. Carter, Benjamin Enloe, William Harrison, Jefferson Laird, William L. Mann, William Priest, William P. Sansom, Israel Sneed, Henry West, and H.A. Willson. Samuel H. Barnes, G.W. Payne, and J.W. Rotan were initiated under dispensation. The charter was granted on Jan. 23, 1853. After town of Chester was founded on the same old land grant, the lodge moved here, dedicating its new hall on March 4, 1892. Samuel Bronson Cooper (soon to be a U.S. Congressman) and lumber magnate John Henry Kirby -- both from this county -- were program speakers. The centennial anniversary of Mount Hope Lodge was celebrated May 23, 1953, with Texas Governor Allan Shivers -- also a Tyler countian -- making an address. Judge J.E. Wheat of Woodville gave the lodge history. Later generations continue works of the founders.

Located on land once included in Stephen F. Austin's Colony, the community of Nada was first settled in the 1880s by German and Czech immigrants. John William Schoellman brought his family here from nearby Frelsburg in 1881. He built the area's first store, which was operated by his son, John Henry Schoellmann. Other early settlers included the families of Joseph Laby, Florian Frnka, Gerhard Eggemeyer, Ernest Krenk, Joseph Schneider, and Diedrich Frels.

A public school, known as Red Bluff, opened in 1883. In 1889 the Schoellmann and Laby families donated land for a Catholic Church and Parochial School. The Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary was built in 1896 and has served as a center of community activities since that time.

A U.S. post office was established in 1894 with William Engbrock as postmaster and the town was named Nada. By 1904 the community boasted homes, schools, stores, a church, cotton gin, and dance hall. Nada has remained an agricultural community. Many descendants of pioneer German and Czech settlers continue to live in the area.

Nelson Henry Rice and Sarah Ann Stanley married in September 1841 in Alabama. They had 11 children. John Henry Nelson, Mary Ann Elizabeth, and an unnamed son and daughter all died in Alabama. Cicero Napoleon Wesley, Jerymiah Josephus, Samuel Adolphus, Thomas Jefferson and Margerette Rivers Rice moved to Texas with their parents in 1854. The family settled first in Nacogdoches County, then moved to Newton County. During this time two more children, Emery Josephine and Frank Patrick, were born. The family migrated to this area in 1865 and purchased about one thousand acres on which to establish a family farm and homestead. According to oral history, Nelson Henry Rice and the Reverend Frank Wilson were walking the Rice property when Nelson Henry Rice placed a stake in the ground on this site and declared that this was where he wanted to be buried. The first burial on the Rice family burial ground was that of a daughter-in-law, Margaret Leona McMahon Rice, who died in March 1870. Nelson Henry Rice deeded the site for a cemetery in September of that year. He also deeded an acre of land for Wilson Chapel about a mile from the Rice home and conveyed plots of land to his children. The area became known as Rice community.

Nelson Henry Rice died in 1891. Sarah Ann Stanley Rice died in 1889 while visiting their son, Thomas Jefferson, in Milam County and was interred there. Several veterans of the Civil War, World War I and World War II are interred here. The burial ground serves Rice family descendants and other community members. It was enlarged in the 1960s and in the early 21st century held 142 graves.

Formerly on Great Northern Railway, organized 1898 by John Henry Kirby, a leading Texas lumberman. Named for the Brooke family, donors of depot site.

In 1960, when Sam Rayburn Dam was built, G.N. Railway (part of Santa Fe system) was relocated. This 1914 depot -- once center of community life -- became surplus.

Moved 40 miles, it has had unique features preserved in conversion to farm house by Mr. and Mrs. Ray H. Horton.