Maydelle is a small

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

Cherokee County, Texas Cherokee County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 census, its population was 50,412. The county seat is Rusk, which lies 130 miles southeast of Dallas and 160 miles north of Houston. The county was named for the Ch ...

, United States. According to the ''

Handbook of Texas The Texas State Historical Association (TSHA) is an American nonprofit educational and research organization dedicated to documenting the history of Texas. It was founded in Austin, Texas, United States, on March 2, 1897. In November 2008, the ...

'', the community had a population of 250 in 2000. It is located within the Tyler-Jacksonville combined statistical area.

History

The area in what is known as Maydelle today was first settled in the 1840s. It did not develop into a community until the

Texas State Railroad The Texas State Railroad, also referred to as the Lone Star and Eastern Railroad, is a historic heritage railroad between Rusk and Palestine, Texas. Built by inmates, it was founded in 1883 by the state of Texas to haul raw materials for a smel ...

built a track through the area in 1906. A nearby prison called Camp Wright housed convicts who were assigned to cut wood to make

charcoal Charcoal is a lightweight black carbon residue produced by strongly heating wood (or other animal and plant materials) in minimal oxygen to remove all water and volatile constituents. In the traditional version of this pyrolysis process, ca ...

for a prison iron

foundry A foundry is a factory that produces metal castings. Metals are cast into shapes by melting them into a liquid, pouring the metal into a mold, and removing the mold material after the metal has solidified as it cools. The most common metals pr ...

in Rusk. C.D. Jarrarr, N.A. Slover, and J.S. Sherman were given land grants surrounding the prison, and built a new townsite there in 1910. They named it Maydelle for Maydelle Campbell, who was the daughter of former Texas governor

Thomas Mitchell Campbell Thomas Mitchell Campbell (April 22, 1856April 1, 1923) was the 24th governor of Texas, serving two terms from 1907 to 1911. He was an attorney and businessman, working as a manager for the International-Great Northern Railroad before entering ...

. She sang during the opening of the townsite. Most people from the surrounding communities of Gent,

Java Java is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea (a part of Pacific Ocean) to the north. With a population of 156.9 million people (including Madura) in mid 2024, proje ...

, Mount Comfort, and Pine Town settled here. In 1914, the community had 150 residents, Baptist and Christian churches, four general stores, a bank, a

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 (); ...

, and a drugstore. It reached its population zenith of 450 in 1929. The

Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...

caused the population of Maydelle to plunge back to 150, but made a comeback after

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. The population grew to 250 in the early 1990s, with six businesses, and remained at that level through 2000. It became a popular tourist destination for people who wanted to ride on the restored Texas State Railroad.

Geography

Maydelle is located at the intersection of

U.S. Route 84 U.S. Route 84 (US 84) is an east–westUS 84 was signed north-south in parts of Colorado and New Mexico. United States Numbered Highway that started as a short Georgia–Alabama route in the original 1926 scheme. Later, in 1941, it h ...

and Farm to Market Road 2138, west of

Rusk A rusk is a hard, dry Biscuit#Biscuits in British usage, biscuit or a twice-baked bread. It is sometimes used as a teether for babies. In some cultures, rusk is made of cake rather than bread: this is sometimes referred to as cake rusk. In the ...

in west-central Cherokee County. It is also located east of

Palestine Palestine, officially the State of Palestine, is a country in West Asia. Recognized by International recognition of Palestine, 147 of the UN's 193 member states, it encompasses the Israeli-occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and th ...

Climate

The climate in this area is characterized by hot, humid summers and generally mild to cool winters. According to the

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...

, Maydelle has a

humid subtropical climate A humid subtropical climate is a subtropical -temperate climate type, characterized by long and hot summers, and cool to mild winters. These climates normally lie on the southeast side of all continents (except Antarctica), generally between ...

, ''Cfa'' on climate maps.

Education

On July 1, 1989, the Maydelle Independent School District merged into the

Rusk Independent School District Rusk Independent School District is a public school district based in Rusk, Texas, United States. The district serves the cities of Rusk, Gallatin, and Reklaw, rural areas in central Cherokee County (including Maydelle) and a small portion ...

In popular culture

The

James Garner James Scott Garner (né Bumgarner; April 7, 1928 – July 19, 2014) was an American actor. He played leading roles in more than 50 theatrical films, which included ''The Great Escape (film), The Great Escape'' (1963) with Steve McQueen; Paddy Ch ...

and

Joan Hackett Joan Ann Hackett (March 1, 1934 – October 8, 1983) was an American actress.Obituary, '' Variety'', October 12, 1983. She acted in film, television, and theatre. She played roles in '' The Group'' (1966), '' Will Penny'' (1968), '' Support Yo ...

movie '' The Long Summer of George Adams'' was filmed in Maydelle.

References

External links

* Gale Owens
Maydelle, the lady and the town
''Jacksonville Daily Progress'', September 4, 2010. Retrieved 2010-09-05. {{authority control Unincorporated communities in Cherokee County, Texas Unincorporated communities in Texas