William Harrison Pitts
Pittsburg, Camp County, Texas
Marker Inscription
(1815 - 1898) Born in Georgia to Hardy and Drucilla (Neal) Pitts, William Harrison Pitts moved his plantation household to this area by 1854. He purchased 200 acres and built a home near this site. A settlement began to spring up, and a post office was established with the name "Pittsburg." Pitts acquired more land over the next few years, setting aside 50 acres for the town's development. In 1874, his offer of $50 toward a new courthouse was a deciding factor in the election of Pittsburg as the seat of the newly organized Camp County. The town became a junction of two railroad lines in the late 1870s and by 1880 it had a population of 750. The "Pittsburg Gazette" was first published in 1884. William Harrison Pitts was married four times and had two children. A merchant, civic leader, and veteran of the Creek Indian wars, he died in 1898. (2000)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Georgia-born William Harrison Pitts moved his plantation household to this corner of East Texas by 1854, bought land, and built a home around which a settlement gathered — earning the new post office the name "Pittsburg." A shrewd civic promoter, he set aside acreage for the town and in 1874 offered $50 toward a courthouse, tipping the election that made Pittsburg the seat of newly organized Camp County. By 1880 the railroad junction town numbered 750 people.
Why it matters
Pitts personifies the town-founding entrepreneur whose land gifts and small subsidies decided which frontier settlements survived to become county seats.
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Related people
- · William Harrison Pitts
- · Hardy Pitts
- · Drucilla Neal Pitts
Related events
- · Organization of Camp County
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Pittsburg
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Anglo settlement of this corner of East Texas began in the 1850s, and the family of W. H. Pitts arrived from Georgia in 1854, soon joined by other newcomers from the southern states. Pitts donated land for a townsite that took his name, and when Camp County was organized from Upshur County in 1874, Pittsburg became its seat of government. Two railroad lines reached the area by 1880, the town incorporated in 1891, and it has remained the commercial and cultural hub of the county ever since.
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