Hemphill
Hemphill, Sabine County, Texas
Marker Inscription
In 1858, Sabine County organized the community of Hemphill, named for Texas Supreme Court Justice John Hemphill (1803-1862). An election determined that the county seat would be moved from Milam to this new settlement in the center of Sabine County. Earl Percy Beddoe surveyed and laid out the town site on an 80-acre tract owned by Richard Fendall Slaughter and his wife, Anna (Holman). A post office was established in Hemphill in 1859. Builders constructed the first courthouse in Hemphill shortly after the community's establishment; it was replaced in 1864 by another building, which burned down in 1875. Builder completed another courthouse in 1877, which was eventually replaced by the current structure in 1906. Other significant early institutions included Sabine Valley University, established in 1879, and First National Bank, which opened in 1907 and closed during the Great Depression. Hemphill Common School District No. 1 organized in the late 1800s, and by 1890 listed three trustees, two teachers and eighty-eight students. The population of Hemphill increased steadily between 1850 and 1930, due in great part to the presence of the Knox Sawmill in the western part of town. Temple Lumber Company later bought the mill, which burned in 1937. Combined with post-World War II rural-to-urban migration trends and the lack of major thoroughfares in the town, the closing of the sawmill promoted a decline in the community's population. Today, Hemphill remains the seat of the Sabine County government, and is home to several national, state and local offices, remaining a community of vital importance in the state of Texas. (2008)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Sabine County organized the town of Hemphill in 1858, naming it for Texas Supreme Court Justice John Hemphill and moving the county seat to the county's center on land surveyed from the Slaughter tract. A post office, courthouses, a bank, and Sabine Valley University followed, while the nearby Knox Sawmill drove steady growth into the twentieth century. When the mill burned in 1937 and postwar migration pulled people toward cities, Hemphill's population declined, though it remains the seat of Sabine County government.
Why it matters
Hemphill's rise and decline trace the arc of many East Texas timber towns, whose fortunes rose and fell with the sawmills that built them.
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Related people
- · John Hemphill
- · Earl Percy Beddoe
- · Richard Fendall Slaughter
Related events
- · Organization of Hemphill (1858)
- · Closing of the Knox/Temple sawmill (1937)
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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