The Free State of Van Zandt
Van, Van Zandt County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Pioneer nickname appropriate to this area's many freedoms-- particularly from want and fear. (Food was obtained with little effort; and although the Indians fought white men here as late as 1842, the settlers by 1847 slept in the open with no dread of Indians or wild animals.) According to tradition, Van Zandt County (created 1848) also by a legal accident had freedom from sharing debts of its parent county, Henderson-- and was proud of that unusual advantage. Other parts of Texas share "Free State" traditions. An 1826 "Republic of Fredonia" was proclaimed in Nacogdoches and endured for a few weeks. Along the Mexican border, citizens maintained in 1839-1840 the "Republic of the Rio Grande." Because it developed great self-reliance in recurring border troubles, Hidalgo County called itself a republic, 1852-1872. A Panhandle County formed the secessionist "Free State of Ochiltree" in the 1890s. All secessions have been brief. When Texas in 1845 voted to become a part of the United States, it was given (but declined) the right to become five states. Such movements as "The Free State of Van Zandt" soon lost force. Memories of the ten proud years of the Republic give the people unusual loyalty to Texas. (1968)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Van Zandt County, created in 1848, earned the proud nickname "The Free State of Van Zandt" from the abundance and self-reliance of its early settlers, who by 1847 slept in the open without fear. Local tradition even held that a legal accident freed the county from sharing its parent county's debts. The marker sets the nickname among Texas's other short-lived "republics," from Fredonia to the Rio Grande, all echoes of the fierce independence bred by a decade as a sovereign nation.
Why it matters
These "free state" traditions capture the fierce localism and pride of independence that lingered in Texas after the Republic joined the Union, a distinctive strand of American frontier identity.
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