Omen (Canton) Community
Omen, Smith County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Promoters Alexander Douglas, Thomas Weatherby, and Mitus White platted the townsite of Canton in 1850 near the junction of two main roads, one leading to the county seat at Tyler. Although the post office was renamed Clopton in 1852 and the name was changed to Troup in 1854, the village continued to be known as Canton for many years. The first store opened in 1852 and soon the community had a tanyard, blacksmith shop, cabinet and wagon shop, hotel, school, several doctors, churches, and a Masonic Lodge. The 1860 census showed 34 households in the town. When the International & Great Northern Railroad bypassed Canton in the 1870s, many businesses moved away. In 1880 the town and post office adopted the name Omen. For 30 years, Omen was the location of the Summer Hill Select School, a coeducational boarding school directed by A. W. Orr (1849-1924) of Georgia. This highly-regarded institution drew students from all parts of Texas as well as from out of state. The closing of the post office in 1906 and the school hastened Omen's decline. Oil discoveries during the 1930s revived the community briefly, but with the depression the population dwindled further and Omen became a rural village.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Platted as Canton in 1850 near a crossroads on the way to the Smith County seat, this East Texas village cycled through several names before settling on Omen in 1880. It grew into a full frontier community—stores, a tanyard, blacksmith, hotel, churches, and a Masonic lodge—but the arrival and then the bypass of the railroad in the 1870s began a long decline. For three decades its Summer Hill Select School drew boarding students from across Texas, and even a 1930s oil flurry couldn't reverse the town's slide into a quiet rural crossroads.
Why it matters
Omen's rise and fall traces the whole arc of the inland Texas town—crossroads promise, railroad snub, and the classic educational institution that briefly made a small place matter.
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Related people
- · A. W. Orr
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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