PALESTINE

Founding

A trading post was established by Anglo-Americans circa 1843, and some settlers gathered around it. In 1846, the Texas Legislature incorporated Palestine to serve as a seat for the newly established Anderson County. James R. Fulton, Johnston Shelton, and William Bigelow were hired by the first Anderson County commissioners to survey the surrounding land and lay out a town site. This consisted of a central courthouse square and the surrounding 24 blocks.

The city was named after Palestine, Illinois, as suggested by Micham Main and or Daniel Parker, a minister of Pilgrim Church who had migrated with the Main family and numerous other settlers from that town.

By 1858, Palestine had grown to a population of about 2,000. An 1861 state almanac showed that the city was connected to the rest of Texas by a thrice-weekly stagecoach that served Huntsville, Crockett, and Nacogdoches. In 1861, a joint resolution called for the construction of the Metropolitan Railroad from Texarkana to Austin, passing through Palestine, Henderson, and Fairfield. These plans were interrupted when the American Civil War broke out.

A book burning took place in Palestine shortly before the Civil War. The town government passed a resolution to examine textbooks to ensure they were supportive of slavery, to prohibit northerners from teaching, and to discourage local merchants from doing business with northerners who did not support slavery. The next day, a vigilance committee destroyed textbooks that they considered an antislavery conspiracy.

In the postwar period, during the Reconstruction era, the timber trade and town growth were stimulated in the 1870s by the construction of a railroad through there. The city had a population of more than 10,000 by 1898.

Railroad

The International Railroad and the Houston and Great Northern Railroad first connected Palestine to the city of Hearne in 1872. Later that year, it was connected northeast to Longview. The railroad merged in 1873 to become the International and Great Northern Railroad (IGN).

The IGN later became part of the Missouri Pacific Railroad, and ultimately, the Union Pacific Railroad. In 1875, IGN president H.M. Hoxie moved to Palestine and built the first Victorian mansion there. Successful merchant owners and railroad executives built other elaborate homes along South Sycamore Street.

The IGN built a major depot in 1892 and a modern passenger coach shop in 1902, making Palestine an important locomotive and coach location. These shops continued to operate until 1954. At that time, the present facility was built, which is exclusively for freight-car repair.

Today, the Palestine Car Shop is one of only two car shops on the Union Pacific Railroad that perform major modifications and repairs to freight cars. The Palestine UP workforce has more than 100 employees.

After the state completed the Rusk Penitentiary near the city of Rusk, the state leased convict labor to the railroad as workers. The railroad originally transported raw materials to the iron smelter located at the Rusk Penitentiary. In 1906, the line reached Maydelle, and by 1909, the line was completed when it reached Palestine.

Regularly scheduled train service ceased in 1921. The line was leased to various railroad companies until 1969, when they abandoned it during national restructuring of the industry. The Texas Legislature adapted the railroad as a state park in 1972, to be devoted to operating trains that showed some of the state's railroad history.

The Texas State Railroad is a state park that allows visitors to ride trains pulled by diesel and steam locomotives between the park's Victorian-style depots and through the forests of East Texas. This short railroad line dates to 1883.

Modern era

In 1914, the county's fourth courthouse was completed; it is still in use. One of the many historical sites is Sacred Heart Catholic Church, which was designed by Nicholas J. Clayton.

In 1928, oil was discovered at Boggy Creek, east of Palestine. The production of oil resources added to and diversified the town's economy. Palestine became a center for oil-well servicing and supplies in support of other producing fields found later elsewhere in Anderson County.

Construction of the earth-filled Blackburn Crossing Dam on the Upper Neches River, creating Lake Palestine as a reliable source of water, was begun in 1960 and completed in 1962. A municipal water authority manages this resource. The dam was enlarged from 1969 to 1972 to 75 feet high, and 5,720 feet long.

Debris from the 2003 Space Shuttle Columbia disaster was found in and near Palestine and other East Texas towns. Palestine's NASA Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility (renamed in honor of the shuttle crew), has flown 1,700 high-altitude balloons for universities and research agencies.

On November 15, 2015, a mass shooting took place at a campsite several miles northwest of Palestine. Six people were killed by an intoxicated neighbor (who was armed with a .22-caliber revolver and a .45-caliber revolver) who was upset about losing his family's land. The shooter, 33-year-old William Mitchell Hudson, was charged with capital murder. He was convicted and sentenced to death by a Brazos County jury on November 15, 2017.