Texas Fruit Palace, Anderson County Fair
Palestine, Anderson County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Soon after the Civil War, communities sponsored countywide activities that featured new farming equipment, and from this beginning county fairs developed. The Anderson County Fair, established in October 1898, became known as the Texas Fruit Palace because of the number of local orchards. Although Front Street was the original location of the Anderson County Fair, other locations have included a horse track and the courthouse square. In 1947, the fair board signed an agreement with the City of Palestine to lease 13 acres near U.S. Highway 79. The Anderson County Fair has always featured new farm products, local fruits and vegetables, and livestock competitions. During World War II home canning and victory gardens became the focus. In the 1950s, large ranches dominated the landscape and cattle competitions became popular. Vocational agriculture students entered their livestock in competitions which became the highlight of the Anderson County Fair and developed into the Youth Livestock Show. Entertainment at the fair featured the popular carnival and musical show called the Bill Hames Show and presented popular musicians like Roy Acuff, Hank Williams, and the Drifting Cowboys. Although the fair is now closed, the Youth Livestock Show continues to be held yearly on Highway 287 North. The dedication of many individuals throughout the years has been credited with the success of the Anderson County Fair. The Youth Livestock Show has survived from the Texas Fruit Palace/Anderson County Fair and is held yearly in the arena on land belonging to the Riding and Roping Club. (2012)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Growing out of the postwar county gatherings that showcased new farming equipment, the Anderson County Fair opened in October 1898 and earned the nickname "Texas Fruit Palace" for the region's many orchards. It roamed among Front Street, a horse track, and the courthouse square before settling on leased grounds in 1947, always featuring farm products, produce, and livestock. Its stages hosted the Bill Hames carnival and country stars like Roy Acuff and Hank Williams; though the fair has closed, its Youth Livestock Show carries on.
Why it matters
The fair captures the agricultural heart of small-town Texas and the enduring role county fairs played in binding rural communities together.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Related people
- · Roy Acuff
- · Hank Williams
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
The I&GN Railroad in Palestine
Palestine, TX
Named the Anderson County seat in 1846, Palestine first grew on Trinity River steamboat trade that stalled whenever low water forced residents back onto ox-drawn wagons. Local leaders courted the railroad, and when the line that became the International and Great Northern arrived in 1872 — soon relocating its headquarters, shops, and roundhouse here — it became the town's largest employer for decades. Recruited workers arrived from across the nation and abroad, and to spare the old courthouse square the noise of trains the line was routed west, spawning a separate 'New Town' that took years to blend with the old.
Eilenberger's Bakery
Palestine, TX
At the turn of the 20th century, waves of German immigrants brought Old World baking traditions to Texas towns, and F. H. Eilenberger was one of them—apprenticing in Galveston and Fort Worth before opening his own shop in Palestine in 1898. Moved to this site in 1918, the bakery became an East Texas institution, its bread carried across the region for decades. Today it endures for its fruit and pecan cakes, still made from the founder's family recipe and shipped worldwide.
Kolstad Jewelers
Palestine, TX
Soren Kolstad, a skilled clockmaker born in Norway in 1823, emigrated to Texas in 1852 and opened a jewelry store in Palestine the following year. Passed down through five generations of his family, the shop is believed to be the oldest retail business in Texas still run by its founding family. Its mahogany display cases, installed in 1916, moved with the store to its present home in 1933.
Hodges-Darsey House
Palestine, TX
After the International & Great Northern Railroad reached Palestine in the 1870s, brothers A. B. and Dan Hodges arrived from the Tennessee Colony settlement and became leading merchants. Dan built this Queen Anne home in 1895 for his wife Margaret Sue and their five children, a fine example of late-Victorian style. It was bought and lovingly restored in 1959 by oil-industry leader William Gray Darsey, Jr.