Ratcliff 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 ...

Houston County, Texas Houston County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 census, its population was 22,066. Its county seat is Crockett. Houston County was one of 46 entirely dry counties in the state of Texas, until voters in a Novembe ...

, 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 consists of approximately 38 counties. It is roughly divided into Northeast Texas, Northeast, Southeast Texas, Sout ...

, 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 106 in 2000.

History

When a

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

wagon train brought a group of immigrants into eastern Houston County around 1875, Ratcliff was established. It was given that name in honor of Jesse H. Ratcliff, who on February 6, 1889, erected a post office and built a

sawmill A sawmill (saw mill, saw-mill) or lumber mill is a facility where logging, logs are cut into lumber. Modern sawmills use a motorized saw to cut logs lengthwise to make long pieces, and crosswise to length depending on standard or custom sizes ...

in a region of virgin pines. The massive sawmilling enterprise known as Four C Mill was built on the foundation of Ratcliff's sawmill, which was sold to Central Coal and Coke Company in 1901. More than 5,000 people lived there during the boomtime of the sawmills. Up until the early 20th century, Ratcliff was a thriving lumber town. The of the surrounding forest had been cleared by 1920, and the town fell into decline until the middle of the 1930s. The establishment of

Davy Crockett National Forest Davy Crockett National Forest in Kennard, Texas is off U.S. Highway 69 lying west of Lufkin, Texas and east of Crockett. It is administered by the United States Department of Agriculture Forest Service local headquarters in Lufkin. There are ...

, land sales, and a reforestation project run by the

Civilian Conservation Corps The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was a voluntary government unemployment, work relief program that ran from 1933 to 1942 in the United States for unemployed, unmarried men ages 18–25 and eventually expanded to ages 17–28. The CCC was ...

all contributed to the economy's recovery. A mile west of the town, the campground known as Ratcliff Lake Recreation Area attracted tourists. Two Texas historical markers were placed in Ratcliff: one for the town itself in 1972 and another for the Four C Mill in 1973. Ratcliff had two enterprises in 1980, and 106 people lived there in 1990 and 2000. The community had three stores in operation around the time the post office opened. Ratcliff himself served as postmaster. Doctors H.L. McCall and Jake Jackson practiced medicine in the community. On April 13, 2019, an F1 tornado struck Ratcliff. This tornado snapped and uprooted trees and severely damaged a double-wide mobile home, pushing it into a wooded area. Four of its occupants were injured but later released from the hospital. Another EF0 tornado hit the Davy Crockett National Forest, but the full path is unknown.

Geography

Ratcliff is located at the intersection of Farm to Market Road 227 and

Texas State Highway 7 State Highway 7 (SH 7) is an east–west state highway in the U.S. state of Texas that runs from Interstate 35 at Eddy to U.S. Highway 84 about west of the Louisiana state line. Between Crockett and Nacogdoches, SH 7 passes ...

, east of Kennard, east of Crockett, and southwest of

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 ...

in eastern Houston County.

Texas State Highway 103 State Highway 103 (SH 103) is a state highway that runs through east Texas from an intersection with State Highway 7 (Texas), SH 7 near the Neches River through Lufkin, TX, Lufkin to an intersection with State Highway 21 (Texas), SH 21 near th ...

also travels through the community.

Education

The Old Ratcliff School was established in 1890. Dora Hager was the teacher there. The school moved closer to the community in 1901, then joined the

Kennard Independent School District Kennard Independent School District is a public school district based in Kennard, Texas, United States. It has two campuses - Kennard High School (grades 7-12) and Kennard Elementary School (kindergarten-grade 6). It is mostly located in Hou ...

in 1955.

Notable person

Richard H. Keith, coal and lumberman.

Gallery

File:Ratcliff Lake sign IMG_0982.JPG, Entrance sign to Ratcliff Lake Recreation Area at Ratcliff, Texas File:Ratcliff Lake, Ratcliff, TX IMG_0985.JPG, Ratcliff Lake in the

File:Ratcliff, TX, Baptist Church IMG_7528.JPG, Ratcliff Baptist Church on

References

{{authority control Unincorporated communities in Texas Unincorporated communities in Houston County, Texas Logging communities in the United States