The Redland Community - Wood County, TX
Posted by: 
TeamBPL
N 32° 39.285 W 095° 20.759
15S E 279972 N 3615444
Historical sign off of Wood Farm-to-Market Road 3056 describing the history of the Redland Community
Waymark Code: WMQAWP
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 01/25/2016
Views: 7
Inscription on sign:
The Redland Community
Redland has the distinction of being the first white settlement in Wood County. Martin Varner came to the area in 1841.
In 1866 a post office was established in the community. This area was first called Weimer, thought to have been named by John Reich who was born in Weimer, Germany. The post office was only open for one year, then reestablished in 1871 but only remained open for about four months before closing.
By 1899 the community was known as Redland and James K. Nicholson was appointed Postmaster. Only two other men, F. P. Dean and C. A. Peacock served as postmasters. Both men had stores they ran in conjunction with the post office.
Businesses in the community were sawmills, gristmills and gins. Crops produced were ribbon cane, cotton, corn and other grains. Redland was known for its excellent school, Macedonia School, and students came from surrounding communities. The Macedonia School was consolidated into the Hawkins School District in 1944.
R. B. Kuteman, a local sawmill operator, was said to be penniless when he came to the area. He worked at the local sawmill until he saved enough to buy it. Also, he bought land all over the county. Before he died in 1904 he was known as Wood County’s first millionaire.
Wood County Historical Commission
More information from The Handbook of Texas Online (link):
REDLANDS, TEXAS. Redlands (Redland), also known as Weimer (Weimar) and Macedonia, was a sawmill community in southeast Wood County twelve miles southeast of Quitman, the county seat, at the intersection of Farm roads 778 and 3056. Redlands was within the old Martin Varner land grant, which was said to be the site of the earliest white settlement in Wood County. The area was probably inhabited earlier still, as in the 1890s Indian artifacts were frequently found in the fields. In 1841 the Varner family moved to the area that was to become Redlands; three years later Varner was killed by Simón Gonzales, the holder of a nearby land grant. By 1866 the site had a settlement called Weimer (or Weimar), which had a post office from 1866 to 1867 and again briefly in 1871. It was reportedly named by John Reich, its first and only postmaster, after his native Weimar, Germany. Around 1870 a one-room frame building located near the Gentry Cemetery just to the southeast of the community served as both a church and a school. By 1880 the community was established; at its height it had at least one store, cotton gins, and syrup and grist mills. It was located in a sawmill area, and early resident sawmill operator R. B. Kuteman reportedly became the county's first millionaire through his sawmill and land-buying operations.
By 1885 a school called Macedonia had been built about a mile northwest of the 1870 building, which had been destroyed by fire. In 1896 the Macedonia school was serving seventy-six white and seventy-nine black students. From 1899 until 1907 the community had a post office named Redland. In 1932 the Macedonia school district's five teachers taught 134 white students in ten grades; no record exists that any black students attended school in the district at that time. Redland had twenty-five residents and two businesses in 1933. The Macedonia school was consolidated with the Hawkins district in 1944. By 1947 Redland had a population of fifty and two businesses. In 1960 the community's cemetery was called Redlands, one dwelling remained in the vicinity, and a quarry was located just south of the townsite. During the 1960s a state historical marker was erected at the Macedonia school site. The Wood County Historical Society also placed a historical marker near the site of the Varner homestead and cemetery, thought to be the first cemetery in Wood County. In 1988 the Redlands cemetery and a camp or lodge remained in the area, and the Macedonia church still stood about a mile to the east.