Mount Selman 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,

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 ...

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

History

Mount Selman was established in 1884 along the Kansas and Gulf Short Line Railroad. Dr. R.D. Bone, J.W. Wade, and J.N. and W.T. McKee named the community Selman for Dr. James Selman, who donated land for the community. Its

post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letter (message), letters and parcel (package), parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post o ...

opened the same year as its creation and was renamed Mount Selman because there was another community named Selman elsewhere in the state. In 1892, Mount Selman had 125 residents, alongside a

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

and gin, a Presbyterian church, a general store, a drugstore, dry goods, and grocery stores. The community became a shipping center along the railroad for

peach The peach (''Prunus persica'') is a deciduous tree first domesticated and Agriculture, cultivated in China. It bears edible juicy fruits with various characteristics, most called peaches and the glossy-skinned, non-fuzzy varieties called necta ...

es,

plum A plum is a fruit of some species in Prunus subg. Prunus, ''Prunus'' subg. ''Prunus'.'' Dried plums are often called prunes, though in the United States they may be labeled as 'dried plums', especially during the 21st century. Plums are ...

s, and

tomato The tomato (, ), ''Solanum lycopersicum'', is a plant whose fruit is an edible Berry (botany), berry that is eaten as a vegetable. The tomato is a member of the nightshade family that includes tobacco, potato, and chili peppers. It originate ...

es. Its population peaked at 500 in 1914, and the town began to decline after that point. It went down to 220 and had five businesses in the early 1950s, causing many of the remaining stores to close. The post office closed in 1973 while mail was sent from Bullard, and the population was estimated at 200 in 2000. It had several churches, a community center, and several scattered houses in 1990. In 1986 and 1990, Mount Selman had two of the tallest structures standing higher than 400 meters: Pinnacle Towers Mount Selman for

KETK-TV KETK-TV (channel 56) is a television station licensed to Jacksonville, Texas, United States, serving as the NBC affiliate for East Texas. It is owned by Nexstar Media Group alongside Tyler-licensed low-power MyNetworkTV affiliate KTPN-LD (cha ...

and KOOI and Media General Operations Tower Youngstown (see

List of tallest structures The tallest structure in the world is the Burj Khalifa skyscraper at . Listed are guyed masts (such as telecommunication masts), self-supporting towers (such as the CN Tower), skyscrapers (such as the Willis Tower), oil platforms, electricity t ...

). On April 9, 2015, an EF-2 tornado struck Mount Selman, snapping and uprooting trees, damaging outbuildings, and removing the roof and collapsing a few exterior walls of a house.

Geography

Mount Selman is located at the intersection of

U.S. Route 69 U.S. Route 69 (US 69) is a major north–south United States highway in the central United States. When it was first created, it was only long, but it has since been expanded into a Minnesota to Texas cross-country route. The highway's ...

and

Farm to Market Road 177 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 ...

, north 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 northern Cherokee County. It is also located north of

Jacksonville Jacksonville ( ) is the most populous city proper in the U.S. state of Florida, located on the Atlantic coast of North Florida, northeastern Florida. It is the county seat of Duval County, Florida, Duval County, with which the City of Jacksonv ...

Education

Today, the community is served by the

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 ...

References

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