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Upshur County, which was created from territory originally in Harrison
and Nacogdoches counties and was organized in 1846, is situated in the heart of the piney woods of northeast Texas,
and the manufacture of the hard woods and the pine still constitutes one of the leading industries. As of
2000, the population was 35,291. The county seat is Gilmer. Upshur County is part of the Longview Metropolitan
Statistical Area as well as the LongviewMarshall Combined Statistical Area. The county is named for Abel P. Upshur
who was U.S. Secretary of State during President John Tyler's administration. Upshur was killed in the explosion
on the USS Princeton along with new United States Secretary of the Navy Thomas Walker Gilmer.
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The first railroad in the county was the main line of the Texas & Pacific, which was extended west from Longview beginning
about 1871, and passes through the southwestern portion of the county,
its first station being Big Sandy. About the same time the old Tyler
Tap Railway, a narrow gauge line, was built north from Tyler across the Sabine River into Upshur County to a connection with the Texas
& Pacific, and a few years later was extended north to Mount Pleasant, reaching the latter place in 1878. This
is now a part of1
the St. Louis Southwestern System. During the decade of the '90s the old Texas Southern, now the Marshall &
East Texas, a portion of the Missouri, Kansas & Texas System, was constructed centrally through the county, giving Gilmer
a station at the junction of two roads. The original railways did much to stimulate the lumber industry in the
county, and
later have promoted development along other lines. Thirty years ago, when the lumber business was at its height,
the manufacturing interests of the county comprised about eighteen sawmills and a number of shingle mills, and some grist mills for
the local trade. Some of the old centers of settlement in the county,
before Gregg and Camp counties were detached, are indicated by the
post offices in 1856, the names of which were Galloway, Coffeeville, Earpville, Gilmer, Omega, Pine Tree, Point
Pleasant and Red Rock. Besides the two railroads towns
of Gilmer and Big Sandy, the two largest centers in 1882 were Coffeeville
and Simpsonville. Other towns at the present time are Ewell, Glenwood, Ashland, Bettie, Latch and Smith.
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