Ironton is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either hav ...

in Cherokee County, located in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sove ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

. According to the

Handbook of Texas The ''Handbook of Texas'' is a comprehensive encyclopedia of Texas geography, history, and historical persons published by the Texas State Historical Association (TSHA). History The original ''Handbook'' was the brainchild of TSHA President ...

, the community had a population of 110 in 2000. It is located within the Tyler-Jacksonville combined statistical area.

History

C.H. Martin named the town for the ruins of a nearby iron manufacturing plant and promoted settlement in the area in 1904. That same year, a post office was established, and Charley J. Pool deeded land grants. Two years later, a

gristmill A gristmill (also: grist mill, corn mill, flour mill, feed mill or feedmill) grinds cereal grain into flour and middlings. The term can refer to either the grinding mechanism or the building that holds it. Grist is grain that has been separated ...

and

cotton gin A cotton gin—meaning "cotton engine"—is a machine that quickly and easily separates cotton fibers from their seeds, enabling much greater productivity than manual cotton separation.. Reprinted by McGraw-Hill, New York and London, 1926 (); a ...

were established by Louis A. Pritchett. A

blacksmith A blacksmith is a metalsmith who creates objects primarily from wrought iron or steel, but sometimes from #Other metals, other metals, by forging the metal, using tools to hammer, bend, and cut (cf. tinsmith). Blacksmiths produce objects such ...

shop and a garage were built south of the gin. A plunge dip was built to help establish a

Babesiosis Babesiosis or piroplasmosis is a malaria-like parasitic disease caused by infection with a eukaryotic parasite in the order Piroplasmida, typically a '' Babesia'' or ''Theileria'', in the phylum Apicomplexa. Human babesiosis transmission vi ...

program. U.S. Highway 79 was routed east of the International-Great Northern Railroad and bypassed Ironton toward

Palestine __NOTOC__ Palestine may refer to: * State of Palestine, a state in Western Asia * Palestine (region), a geographic region in Western Asia * Palestinian territories, territories occupied by Israel since 1967, namely the West Bank (including East J ...

. The last store in the community burned to the ground in 1930 and another was built on the east side of the highway. Edgar W. Brittain took over and opened a service station in 1931, operating both until 1968 and serving as postmaster until mail was transferred to Jacksonville in 1955. It only had one church and no businesses in 1990 and had a population of 110 through 2000.

Geography

Ironton is located on U.S Highway 79, southwest of

Jacksonville Jacksonville is a city located on the Atlantic coast of northeast Florida, the most populous city proper in the state and is the largest city by area in the contiguous United States as of 2020. It is the seat of Duval County, with which the c ...

and northeast of the Anderson County line in northwestern Cherokee County.

Education

George N. Harris served as the first teacher at Ironton School in 1910. Children had originally attended school in either Owl's Creek Chapel or Earle's Chapel. Student enrollment declined during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

and students were bussed to

Jacksonville Independent School District Jacksonville Independent School District is a public school district based in Jacksonville, Texas, United States. Brad Stewart is currently the superintendent of JISD. In addition to Jacksonville, the district serves the towns of Cuney and Ga ...

in 1954.

Notes

{{authority control Unincorporated communities in Cherokee County, Texas Unincorporated communities in Texas