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The county seat in 1849 was in Burkeville, Texas, and
it was there that the county court met. Burkeville is another one of those
towns near the Sabine River that began with the letter "B."
Burkeville is one of the oldest communities in the county that has continued
in existence as a trading center from its founding. The site is located
on Little Cow Creek in northern Newton County ten miles west of the Sabine
River and about eighty-five miles from the Gulf Coast. The town was laid
out by John R. Burke in 1844, but tradition has it that the community
had settlers in 1821. Another source states that there were six families
living there in 1813. The name of Burkeville first appears on a post office
list in 18 56. John R. Burke, for whom the town is named, was by birth
an Englishman, having been born in Liverpool, England, in 1792. He came
with his parents to New York while very young. He was an educated man,
and able to speak four languages. He brought with him to Burkeville, books,
fine furniture, silver, china, and even a piano was brought up from New
Orleans on a flat boat. He built a fine house in Burkeville, and it was
approximately 100 years old when it was dismantled.
During a county's history there are usually many shifts
in centers of interest and/or industrial centers. One feature that adds
to size and importance to a town is being the seat of its government.
This order was written in the February 20, 1849, court minutes. Ordered,
by the County Court that J. S. Thompson, Richard Simmons & Isaac McMahon
be appointed to superintend to the building of the Court house with the
means appropriated for that purpose by subscription and the sale of the
Town lots.
Burkeville was the county seat of Newton County from 1848
until 1853. There seem to be three stages of development in Burkeville
history. The first was the settlement period in which the community developed
from a few families into a small trading center with some two or three
stores, a post office, two churches, and several homes. The second stage
extended from the Reconstruction Era until the end of the lumbering operations
in 1942.
The third period began with the cessation of the mill
at Wiergate. Immediately after World War I a large sawmill was built three
miles away at Wiergate by the Wier Long-Leaf Lumber Company. For the next
twenty-five years the lumber industry dominated the economic lives of
the people. New homes and new businesses were built in Burkeville and
there was an influx of scholastics, churches, and trade.
The people of Burkeville were interested in establishing
school very early in its existence. The first school in Burkeville was
taught by Mr. W. B. Burnham in the old Methodist Church. Prior to this
time educational training was left to individuals or a few neighbors who
could secure a teacher to instruct a small group of pupils for a few months.
Usually the teacher was paid in part by products and board. After the
passage of the school law of 1854, Newton County used its pro rata part
of available funds to pay for public education. The County Commissioners'
Court would appoint a trustee to receive the money and pay for instruction.
Similar schools were held until 1880. Teachers began to be certified by
being able to pass a county teacher's examination which was given orally
by a board of examiners, as early as 1867.
Since the 1 % property tax passed by the Texas Legislature
was not enough to finance a school and buildings, a corporation was formed
in Burkeville and sold stock to finance more funds for the Blum Male and
Female College. Mr. Leon Blum, a merchant in Galveston, Texas, purchased
the greater amount of stock, and it was from him that the college got
its name. The capital stock was $20,000 which divided into 4000 shares
of $5 each. The charter was filed with the State on February 26, 1880,
and the school was in session until 1905. At that time it became a public
school. In 1912 the Burkeville School received the classification of high
school first class. In 1919 it became an independent school district.
The town of Burkeville has had its prosperous periods
and its periods of decline. In the early settlement period people crossed
the Sabine River on ferryboats which were located along the river at intervals
of ten to fifteen miles.
Burkeville first got its mail from Orange, Texas, delivered
by one carrier from Orange to Buck Holmes; then one carrier from Buck
Holmes to Newton; then from Newton to Burkeville.
Cotton was a major product in the period after the Civil
War. Several cotton gins operated in Burkeville. The early ones were powered
by water mills. One of the places of more than average historical interest
is the site of the Watt Wilson Water Mill on McGraw Creek. In December
1942 Wiergate sawmill cut its last virgin pine log and ceased to operate.
Many people found themselves suddenly without jobs, and the area entered
a period of economic decline. This condition has been offset somewhat
by added interests in farming, stock raising, poultry farming, revival
of small industries, and employment in plants along the Gulf Coast.
Diversified farming has been practiced throughout the
town's history. Fertile land is plentiful in the area surrounding Burkeville.
Thousands of acres of bottom land near the Sabine River have never been
cleared of forests. Large sections of upland and creek valleys arc awaiting
the farmer's plow.
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