Panola County is a

county A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesChambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

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 ...

. As of the 2020 census, its population was 22,491. The

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or civil parish. The term is in use in Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, Taiwan, and the United States. The equivalent term shire town is used in the US st ...

Carthage Carthage was the capital city of Ancient Carthage, on the eastern side of the Lake of Tunis in what is now Tunisia. Carthage was one of the most important trading hubs of the Ancient Mediterranean and one of the most affluent cities of the classi ...

. Located in

East Texas East Texas is a broadly defined cultural, geographic, and ecological region in the eastern part of the U.S. state of Texas that comprises most of 41 counties. It is primarily divided into Northeast and Southeast Texas. Most of the region consi ...

and originally developed for cotton plantations, the county's name is derived from a

Choctaw The Choctaw (in the Choctaw language, Chahta) are a Native American people originally based in the Southeastern Woodlands, in what is now Alabama and Mississippi. Their Choctaw language is a Western Muskogean language. Today, Choctaw people are ...

word for

cotton Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus ''Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure cellulose, and can contain minor perce ...

. Until 2013, Panola County was one of about 30 entirely

dry counties A dry county is a County (United States), county in the United States whose government forbids the sale of any kind of alcoholic beverages. Some prohibit off-premises sale, some prohibit on-premises sale, and some prohibit both. Dozens of dry c ...

in Texas: the sale of alcohol was restricted or prohibited.

History

Jonathon Anderson, a migrant from the United States and founder of Panola County, donated about 500 acres of land in the 1800s to get the county started. Panola County was formed in 1846 from sections of Harrison and Shelby counties. Developed for cotton plantations, it was named after a Choctaw/

Chickasaw The Chickasaw ( ) are an indigenous people of the Southeastern Woodlands. Their traditional territory was in the Southeastern United States of Mississippi, Alabama, and Tennessee as well in southwestern Kentucky. Their language is classified as ...

word for cotton. In the antebellum years, planters used enslaved African Americans as workers on their large plantations. After the Civil War, freedmen worked largely as

tenant farmers A tenant farmer is a person (farmer or farmworker) who resides on land owned by a landlord. Tenant farming is an agricultural production system in which landowners contribute their land and often a measure of operating capital and management, ...

and

sharecroppers Sharecropping is a legal arrangement with regard to agricultural land in which a landowner allows a tenant to use the land in return for a share of the crops produced on that land. Sharecropping has a long history and there are a wide range ...

in this area.

Geography

According to the

U.S. Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau (USCB), officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The Census Bureau is part of the ...

, the county has a total area of , of which are land and (2.4%) are covered by water.

Major highways

U.S. Highway 59 U.S. Route 59 (US 59) is a north–south United States highway (though it was signed east–west in parts of Texas). A latecomer to the U.S. numbered route system, US 59 is now a border-to-border route, part of the NAFTA superhighway, NAFTA ...

** Interstate 369 is currently under construction and will follow the current route of U.S. 59 in most places. * U.S. Highway 79 * State Highway 43 * State Highway 149 * State Highway 315 *

Farm to Market Road 10 A farm (also called an Agriculture, agricultural holding) is an area of land that is devoted primarily to Agriculture, agricultural processes with the primary objective of producing food and other crops; it is the basic facility in food produ ...

Farm to Market Road 31 A farm (also called an agricultural holding) is an area of land that is devoted primarily to agricultural processes with the primary objective of producing food and other crops; it is the basic facility in food production. The name is used fo ...

* Farm to Market Road 124 * Farm to Market Road 1970 The TTC-69 component (recommended preferred) of the once-planned

Trans-Texas Corridor The Trans-Texas Corridor (TTC) was a proposal for a transportation network in the U.S. State of Texas that was conceived to be composed of a new kind of transportation modality known as supercorridors. The TTC was initially proposed in 2001 and a ...

went through Panola County.TxDoT, TTC Section E, Detailed Maps 1 & 2, 2007-12-21

Adjacent counties and parishes

* Harrison County (north) *

Caddo Parish, Louisiana Caddo Parish (French language, French: ''Paroisse de Caddo'') is a Parish (administrative division), parish located in the northwest corner of the U.S. state of Louisiana. According to the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, the parish ...

(northeast) *

De Soto Parish, Louisiana DeSoto Parish (French: ''Paroisse DeSoto'') is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. The parish was formed in 1843. At the 2010 U.S. census, the population was 26,656; at the 2020 census, its population increased to 26,812. Its pa ...

(east) * Shelby County (south) * Rusk County (west)

Communities

Cities

* Beckville *

(county seat) * Tatum (mostly in Rusk County)

Town

* Gary City

Unincorporated communities

* Grand Bluff *

Bethany Bethany ( grc-gre, Βηθανία,Murphy-O'Connor, 2008, p152/ref> Syriac: ܒܝܬ ܥܢܝܐ ''Bēṯ ʿAnyā'') or what is locally known as Al-Eizariya or al-Azariya ( ar, العيزرية, " laceof Lazarus"), is a Palestinian town in the West B ...

(partly in Caddo Parish, LA) * Clayton *

Corinth Corinth ( ; el, Κόρινθος, Kórinthos, ) is the successor to an ancient city, and is a former municipality in Corinthia, Peloponnese, which is located in south-central Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform, it has been part o ...

* Deadwood * DeBerry *

Galloway Galloway ( ; sco, Gallowa; la, Gallovidia) is a region in southwestern Scotland comprising the historic counties of Wigtownshire and Kirkcudbrightshire. It is administered as part of the council area of Dumfries and Galloway. A native or i ...

* Long Branch * Midyett * Murvaul * Panola * Riderville

Ghost towns

* Center Point *

Mineral Springs Mineral springs are naturally occurring springs that produces hard water, water that contains dissolved minerals. Salts, sulfur compounds, and gases are among the substances that can be dissolved in the spring water during its passage under ...

Demographics

''Note: the US Census treats Hispanic/Latino as an ethnic category. This table excludes Latinos from the racial categories and assigns them to a separate category. Hispanics/Latinos can be of any race.'' As of the

census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses incl ...

of 2000, 22,756 people, 8,821 households, and 6,395 families resided in the county. The

population density Population density (in agriculture: standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geographical term.Matt RosenberPopul ...

was 28 people per square mile (11/km²). The 10,524 housing units averaged 13 per square mile (5/km²). The

racial makeup A race is a categorization of humans based on shared physical or social qualities into groups generally viewed as distinct within a given society. The term came into common usage during the 1500s, when it was used to refer to groups of variou ...

of the county was 78.78% White, 17.67% Black or African American, 0.36% Native American, 0.24% Asian, 1.87% from other races, and 1.07% from two or more races. About 3.5% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. Of the 8,821 households, 32.00% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 57.90% were married couples living together, 11.30% had a female householder with no husband present, and 27.50% were not families; 25.10% of all households were made up of individuals, and 12.80% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.53 and the average family size was 3.02. In the county, the population was distributed as 25.20% under the age of 18, 9.20% from 18 to 24, 25.10% from 25 to 44, 24.60% from 45 to 64, and 15.80% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 39 years. For every 100 females, there were 92.30 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 87.10 males. The median income for a household in the county was $31,909, and for a family was $37,595. Males had a median income of $31,333 versus $19,017 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or total income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. It is calculated by dividing the area's total income by its total population. Per capita i ...

for the county was $15,439. About 11.60% of families and 14.10% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for t ...

, including 16.50% of those under age 18 and 16.10% of those age 65 or over.

Education

These school districts serve Panola County: *

Beckville ISD Beckville Independent School District is a public school district based in Beckville, Texas ( USA). Beckville ISD also serves a small portion of the nearby city of Tatum. Finances As of the 2010–2011 school year, the appraised valuation of ...

* Carthage ISD * Elysian Fields ISD (mostly in Harrison County) * Gary ISD * Joaquin ISD (mostly in Shelby County) * Tatum ISD (mostly in Rusk County) * Tenaha ISD (mostly in Shelby County)

Panola College Panola College is a public community college in Carthage, Texas, the county seat of Panola County. As defined by the Texas Legislature, the official service area of Panola College includes: *all of Marion, Panola, and Shelby Counties, and *all ...

, a

junior college A junior college (sometimes referred to colloquially as a juco, JuCo or JC) is a post-secondary educational institution offering vocational training designed to prepare students for either skilled trades and technical occupations and workers in su ...

, has operated in Carthage since 1947.

Notable residents

Tex Ritter Woodward Maurice Ritter (January 12, 1905 – January 2, 1974) was a pioneer of American country music, a popular singer and actor from the mid-1930s into the 1960s, and the patriarch of the Ritter acting family (son John, grandsons Jason and ...

, country music singer, born in Murvaul *

Jim Reeves James Travis Reeves (August 20, 1923July 31, 1964) was an American country and popular music singer-songwriter. With records charting from the 1950s to the 1980s, he became well known as a practitioner of the Nashville Sound. Known as "Gentleman ...

, country music singer, born in

Points of Interest

Texas Country Music Hall of Fame The Texas Country Music Hall of Fame, located in Carthage in Panola County in East Texas, honors those who have made outstanding contributions to country music and were born in the state of Texas. This includes singers, songwriters, disc jocke ...

and Tex Ritter Museum is located in

Politics

References

External links

Panola County government’s website
*
Dry counties in Texas
from the TABC {{Coord, 32.16, -94.31, display=title, type:adm2nd_region:US-TX_source:UScensus1990 1846 establishments in Texas Populated places established in 1846