Locust Grove
Elmo, Kaufman County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Established in the 1800s, the Locust Grove community included a saw mill, three churches, a grocery store, a doctor's office and a school. In 1891, J. H. Muckleroy and W. B. Martin sold three acres to James F. Smith and W. J. Waggoner for a school, church and burial ground. Smith and Waggoner donated the land to trustees the following year. A two-story building served as a schoolhouse and Baptist church. A post office, named for first postmaster James Hiram Hughes, operated from 1893 to 1906 and gave the community its later name of Hiram. Locust Grove Baptist Church prospered, and in May 1919 dedicated a new church house, which is still in use. The church and adjoining cemetery are the community's remaining historic landmarks. (2013)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Founded in the 1800s, Locust Grove grew into a typical East Texas farming community with a sawmill, stores, a doctor, three churches, and a two-story building that doubled as schoolhouse and Baptist church. A post office opened in 1893 under postmaster James Hiram Hughes, and the community was later renamed Hiram in his honor. Today the Locust Grove Baptist Church, whose 1919 church house still stands, and its cemetery are the community's remaining landmarks.
Why it matters
Locust Grove captures the rise and fade of the small rural crossroads communities that once knit together the American countryside before roads and consolidation drew life to larger towns.
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Related people
- · James Hiram Hughes
Themes & tags
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