OLDEST Community in Navarro County - Spring Hill, TX
N 31° 56.484 W 096° 42.225
14R E 717056 N 3536242
Dating to 1838, when Martin Van Buren was President of the United States, Spring Hill is the oldest community in Navarro County, TX, per a Texas Historical Marker at the site.
Waymark Code: WM14977
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 05/22/2021
Views: 1
Placed in 1974, the historical marker reads:
Oldest community in Navarro County
The springs at this site supplied water to Indians for centuries before white settlers arrived. In 1838 Dr. George Washington Hill (1814-60) built a trading post near the springs, and in October of that year a skirmish between a surveying party and Kickapoo Indians occurred in this vicinity.
After serving as Republic of Texas Secretary of War under President Sam Houston, Dr. Hill returned here about 1843, reopened the trading post, built a home, and began practicing medicine. In Jan. 1847, his brother-in-law, Robert Harve Matthews (1814-94), settled here. A post office was established on Nov. 5, 1849, with Dr. Hill as postmaster. A building erected in 1850 served as both church and schoolhouse; by 1855, Matthews had opened a store. During the Civil War, a Confederate training camp was located here.
At the height of its growth, in the 1870s, Spring Hill boasted general mercantile stores, blacksmith shops, saloons, a drugstore, hotel, Masonic lodge, flour mill, cotton gin, and rock quarry. Decline began in 1881, when the community was bypassed by the Cotton Belt Railroad. The post office closed on June 15, 1906. The cemetery and a few foundations bordering deserted streets remain to mark site of Spring Hill.
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As the marker indicates, there are a few bits and pieces remaining, but today, Spring Hill is essentially a small rural community with easy access to Liberty Hill Park on Navarro Mills Lake. George Washington Hill is buried in the Spring Hill Cemetery just down the road, but he lived to enjoy the honor of having his name given to the next county to the west and northwest when it was created in 1853. A Texas Centennial Marker was also placed at his gravesite when Texas celebrated its centennial in 1936.
FIRST - Classification Variable: Place or Location
Date of FIRST: 01/01/1838
More Information - Web URL: [Web Link]
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