Linwood is an

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 ...

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 so ...

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

. 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 40 in 2000. It is located within the Tyler-Jacksonville combined statistical area.

History

Joseph Durst and his wife Delilah were the first settlers in Linwood sometime before 1832. Another community named Lockranzie developed a half mile east of the community, but the post office moved to Linwood in 1851. It was platted by James H. Durst and Ann Harrison Terrell, promoting it as a port along the

Angelina River The Angelina River is formed by the confluence of Barnhardt and Shawnee creeks northwest of Laneville in southwest central Rusk County, Texas, United States. A tributary of the Neches River, the river flows southeast for and forms the bou ...

. Navigation along the river failed and the community grew sharply. Charles Chevallier, Henry Raguet and his brother (also named Charles) relocated here from

Nacogdoches Nacogdoches ( ) is a city in East Texas and the county seat of Nacogdoches County, Texas, United States. The 2020 U.S. census recorded the city's population at 32,147. Stephen F. Austin State University is located in Nacogdoches and specia ...

and opened stores here in the 1850s. Other early settlers included R.W. Mitchell, George Whitfield Terrell, and his son George B. Terrell. The Kansas and Gulf Short Line Railroad bypassed Linwood in the early 1880s, causing most of its businesses and residents to relocate to nearby

Alto The musical term alto, meaning "high" in Italian (Latin: '' altus''), historically refers to the contrapuntal part higher than the tenor and its associated vocal range. In four-part voice leading alto is the second-highest part, sung in ch ...

. The post office shut down in 1903 and the community had two businesses, a church, and ten residents in 1936. The last businesses closed, and the population went up to 40 from 1990 through 2000.

Geography

Linwood is located at the intersection of

Texas State Highway 21 State Highway 21 (SH 21) runs from the Texas-Louisiana boundary east of San Augustine to San Marcos in east and central Texas. SH 21 mostly follows the alignment of the Old San Antonio Road and the El Camino Real, except for the portion ...

and Farm to Market Road 241, southeast 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 southeastern Cherokee County.

Education

Linwood had its own school in 1936. Today, the community is served by the Alto Independent School District.

Notes

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