Coltharp-Beall House
Edom, Van Zandt County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Built 1849 by James Coltharp. Used as stop for stagecoaches. Site of area's first sermon, and Hamburg post office. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1964
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
James Coltharp built this house in 1849, on the eve of the great migrations that filled East Texas. It served as a stagecoach stop, hosted the area's first sermon, and housed the Hamburg post office — a single building doing the work of inn, church, and civic hub. It was recorded as a Texas Historic Landmark in 1964.
Why it matters
Modest crossroads houses like this were the connective tissue of frontier Texas, where travel, worship, and the mail all passed through one door.
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Related people
- · James Coltharp
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Edom
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Edom is one of the oldest towns in Van Zandt County, and a restless one: it occupied three different sites before settling into its present place. Founded as Hamburg in 1849 by sawmill builders James Coltharp and A. C. Beall, it acquired a stagecoach station and post office, shifted west to a crossroads as Newburg, then moved again in the 1850s to become Edom. A church organized in 1857 and a post office in 1858 anchored the community, which finally incorporated in 1966.
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