Turnertown 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 have ...

in Rusk 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 sover ...

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 Wal ...

, the community had a population of 76 in 2000. It is located within the

Longview, Texas metropolitan area The Longview metropolitan statistical area is a metropolitan area in Northeast Texas that covers three counties— Gregg, Rusk, and Upshur. As of the 2010 census the MSA had a population of 280,000 (though a July 1, 2019 estimate placed the pop ...

History

Turnertown developed from another community further east, when it moved here after the roads were built. The

East Texas Oil Field The East Texas Oil Field is a large oil and gas field in east Texas. Covering and parts of five counties, and having 30,340 historic and active oil wells, it is the second-largest oil field in the United States outside Alaska, and first in tot ...

caused it to become a

boomtown A boomtown is a community that undergoes sudden and rapid population and economic growth, or that is started from scratch. The growth is normally attributed to the nearby discovery of a precious resource such as gold, silver, or oil, although ...

in 1930. Horace and Boger Turner, Sr., were given land grants to plat it. Its population was 1,500 with 25 businesses in 1936, a number which plummeted to 350 in the early 1940s, and up to the 1950s, it had three churches and a wide array of stores, oilfield supply houses, and machine shops. The population further declined to 150 in the mid-1960s, and by the end of that decade, it further declined to 76, where it remained through 2000. Turnertown has received mail from Selman City since the late 1960s or early 1970s. On April 26, 1991, an F2 tornado struck Turnertown, uprooting several trees.

Geography

Turnertown is located at the intersection of

Texas State Highway 42 State Highway 42 (SH 42) is a state highway located in the northeastern portion of the Texas in Gregg and Rusk Counties. This route was designated on December 12, 1962, over former SH 259 because of the creation of US 259 (which replaced cancel ...

and

Texas State Highway 64 State Highway 64 (SH 64) is a Texas state highway that runs from Wills Point via Tyler to Henderson. (Rusk, Smith, and Van Zandt Counties) History SH 64 was originally designated on August 21, 1923 to replace SH 15A from Wills Point to Carth ...

, west of

Henderson Henderson may refer to: People *Henderson (surname), description of the surname, and a list of people with the surname *Clan Henderson, a Scottish clan Places Argentina *Henderson, Buenos Aires Australia *Henderson, Western Australia Canada *He ...

and south of Longview in western Rusk County.

Education

Today, the community is served by the

West Rusk County Consolidated Independent School District West Rusk County Consolidated Independent School District is a public school district based in New London, Texas, United States. In addition to New London, small portions of the town of Overton and Henderson are within the district. There are ...

Notes

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