Van Zandt County is a

county A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

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 ...

, in the northeastern part of the state. As of the 2020 census, its population was 59,541. Its

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...

is Canton. The county is named for

Isaac Van Zandt Isaac Van Zandt (July 10, 1813 – October 11, 1847) was a political leader in the Republic of Texas. Van Zandt County, Texas, was named in his honor. Early life Van Zandt was born on July 10, 1813, in Franklin County, Tennessee, to Jacob and ...

(1813–1847), a member of the Congress of the

Republic of Texas The Republic of Texas (), or simply Texas, was a country in North America that existed for close to 10 years, from March 2, 1836, to February 19, 1846. Texas shared borders with Centralist Republic of Mexico, the Republic of the Rio Grande, an ...

History

Van Zandt County is commonly known as the Free State of Van Zandt. The title was particularly prevalent through the

Reconstruction Era The Reconstruction era was a period in History of the United States, US history that followed the American Civil War (1861-65) and was dominated by the legal, social, and political challenges of the Abolitionism in the United States, abol ...

, but is still in use today. Many versions of the county's history may account for this moniker, and historians, even within the county and throughout its existence, do not agree how exactly it became known as the Free State. One story of how the Free State of Van Zandt came to be originates with the county's formation. In 1848, Henderson County was split into three counties: Kaufman, Van Zandt, and what remained as Henderson County.Elvis Allen, "Building A County: One Hundred Fifty Years of Van Zandt County"(http://vanzandttx.org/History.htm), updated April 22, 2009, accessed May 25, 2015 Henderson County had been deeply in debt, yet the new Van Zandt County was founded without any obligations.Gerald F. Kozlowski, "FREE STATE OF VAN ZANDT," Handbook of Texas Online (https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/pdf01), accessed May 21, 2015. Uploaded on June 12, 2010. Published by the Texas State Historical Association. Many believed that this was a mistake on the state's part,William Samuel Mills, "History of Van Zandt County", Canton, Texas, 1950 and bitter citizens and politicians from Henderson County referred to the new county as the Free State. Van Zandt County tried on two distinct occasions to separate itself from Texas. The first was in 1861 when Texas seceded from the United States. About 350 citizens of Van Zandt County met to protest the secession. The practice of slavery was infrequent in the county. Slave owners, worried about losing their slaves in the Civil War, refused to bring their slaves to Van Zandt, because slavery was so uncommon there. The majority of Van Zandt wanted to stay with the Union, and reasoned that if Texas could secede from the United States, they could secede from Texas, and began organizing a government until they were threatened with military intervention.Canton Texas, History (http://www.cantontx.gov/about/history ), 2010, accessed May 25, 2015 Although the secession was unsuccessful, the title of "Free State" stuck. After Texas re-entered the Union after the Civil War, Van Zandt County again tried to secede from Texas, the

Confederate States of America The Confederate States of America (CSA), also known as the Confederate States (C.S.), the Confederacy, or Dixieland, was an List of historical unrecognized states and dependencies, unrecognized breakaway republic in the Southern United State ...

, and the United States. A convention was held in 1867 in which the citizens elected delegates, and the delegates voted for secession, and penned a Declaration of Independence modeled after the

United States Declaration of Independence The Declaration of Independence, formally The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen States of America in the original printing, is the founding document of the United States. On July 4, 1776, it was adopted unanimously by the Second Continen ...

.Thomas Ayres, "That's Not in My American History Book: A Compilation of Little-known Events and Forgotten Heroes", Taylor Trade Publishing, 2000, pg 40-42 The event was seen as a rebellion by the nation, and when word reached General Sheridan, he dispatched a cavalry unit to quell it. The citizens of Van Zandt called an emergency meeting that ended with the delegates declaring war on the United States. The wooded landscape at the time made moving difficult for horses, so the citizens of Van Zandt, familiar with the area, were able to ambush the unit, until they retreated. The citizens, elated with their victory, celebrated with an excess of alcohol. During their celebration, they were surrounded by Sheridan's troops, and were put in anklets and in a rough prison of wooden posts. Two ex-Confederate soldiers, W.A. Allen and Hardy Allen, were in the group, and W.A. Allen used a hidden knife to wear down the anklets. A combination of the beginning of the rainy season and a decreasing of the guard to one man allowed the prisoners to easily escape. After that, not much action on the part of Van Zandt or the United States was taken in the issue. Arrest warrants were sent, but none was carried out, and none of the prisoners went to trial.

Geography

According to the

U.S. Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, 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 U.S. Census Bureau is part of the U ...

, the county has a total area of , of which (2.0%) are covered by water. Van Zandt County is unique in topography. The western and northwestern parts of the county are in the eastern edge of the Texas Blackland Prairies, the central part of the county is located in the post oak belt of Northeast Texas, and the eastern part of the county stretches into the

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 ...

Piney Woods. Two major rivers, the Neches and the

Sabine The Sabines (, , , ; ) were an Italic people who lived in the central Apennine Mountains (see Sabina) of the ancient Italian Peninsula, also inhabiting Latium north of the Anio before the founding of Rome. The Sabines divided int ...

, flow through Van Zandt County. Van Zandt County is referred to as the "Gateway to East Texas" due to its diverse topography.

Major highways

* Interstate 20 * US 80

U.S. Highway 80 * Texas 19

State Highway 19 * Texas 64

State Highway 64 * Texas 110

State Highway 110 * Texas 198

State Highway 198

Adjacent counties

* Rains County (north) * Wood County (northeast) * Smith County (east) * Henderson County (south) * Kaufman County (west) * Hunt County (northwest)

Communities

Cities

* Canton (county seat) * Edgewood *

Edom Edom (; Edomite language, Edomite: ; , lit.: "red"; Akkadian language, Akkadian: , ; Egyptian language, Ancient Egyptian: ) was an ancient kingdom that stretched across areas in the south of present-day Jordan and Israel. Edom and the Edomi ...

* Fruitvale * Grand Saline * Van * Wills Point

Census-designated places

* Ben Wheeler * Callender Lake * Myrtle Springs

Other unincorporated communities

* Alsa * Colfax * Martin's Mill * Midway *

Oakland Oakland is a city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. It is the county seat and most populous city in Alameda County, with a population of 440,646 in 2020. A major West Coast port, Oakland is ...

* Phalba * Primrose * Silver Lake *

Tundra In physical geography, a tundra () is a type of biome where tree growth is hindered by frigid temperatures and short growing seasons. There are three regions and associated types of tundra: #Arctic, Arctic, Alpine tundra, Alpine, and #Antarctic ...

* Walton * Wentworth * Wise

Ghost towns

* Cana * Clifton * Clower *

Corinth Corinth ( ; , ) is a municipality in Corinthia in Greece. The successor to the ancient Corinth, ancient city of Corinth, it is a former municipality in Corinthia, Peloponnese (region), Peloponnese, which is located in south-central Greece. Sin ...

* Denman Crossroads * Elwood * Four Mile Prairie * Holly Springs *

Jackson Jackson may refer to: Places Australia * Jackson, Queensland, a town in the Maranoa Region * Jackson North, Queensland, a locality in the Maranoa Region * Jackson South, Queensland, a locality in the Maranoa Region * Jackson oil field in Durham, ...

* Jones * Lawrence Springs *

Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun. It is also known as the "Red Planet", because of its orange-red appearance. Mars is a desert-like rocky planet with a tenuous carbon dioxide () atmosphere. At the average surface level the atmosph ...

* Odom * Owlet Green * Pruitt * Redland * Roddy * Sand Flat * Scott *

Small Small means of insignificant size Size in general is the Magnitude (mathematics), magnitude or dimensions of a thing. More specifically, ''geometrical size'' (or ''spatial size'') can refer to three geometrical measures: length, area, or ...

* Wallace * Watkins * Whitton

Demographics

As of the

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

of 2000, 48,140 people, 18,195 households, and 13,664 families resided in the county. The

population density Population density (in agriculture: Standing stock (disambiguation), 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 geog ...

was . The 20,896 housing units averaged . The racial makeup of the county was 91.96% White, 2.94% African American, 0.62% Native American, 0.18% Asian, 2.74% from other races, and 1.56% from two or more races. About 6.65% of the population was Hispanic or Latino of any race. Of the 18,195 households, 31.80% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 62.60% were married couples living together, 8.70% had a female householder with no husband present, and 24.90% were not families. Around 22.00% of all households were made up of individuals, and 11.60% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.59 and the average family size was 3.01. In the county, the population was distributed as 25.50% under the age of 18, 7.30% from 18 to 24, 25.20% from 25 to 44, 24.90% from 45 to 64, and 17.00% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40 years. For every 100 females, there were 97.00 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 93.70 males. The median income for a household in the county was $35,029, and for a family was $41,175. Males had a median income of $31,887 versus $21,344 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...

for the county was $16,930. About 10.30% of families and 13.30% 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 ...

, including 15.90% of those under age 18 and 12.10% of those age 65 or over.

Education

These school districts serve Van Zandt County: * Canton ISD * Edgewood ISD * Fruitvale ISD * Grand Saline ISD * Martin's Mill ISD * Van ISD * Wills Point ISD

Media

The only radio station licensed to Van Zandt County is KWJB broadcasting on 1510 AM and 95.1 FM. Van Zandt County receives outlying signals on the outer signal edges of

Dallas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...

Fort Worth Fort Worth is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat of Tarrant County, Texas, Tarrant County, covering nearly into Denton County, Texas, Denton, Johnson County, Texas, Johnson, Parker County, Texas, Parker, and Wise County, Te ...

DMA. Local media outlets are: KDFW-TV,

KXAS-TV KXAS-TV (channel 5) is a television station licensed to Fort Worth, Texas, United States, serving the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. It is owned and operated by the NBC television network through its NBC Owned Television Stations division alon ...

WFAA-TV WFAA (channel 8) is a television station licensed to Dallas, Texas, United States, serving as the ABC affiliate for the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. It is owned by Tegna Inc. alongside Decatur-licensed independent station KFAA-TV (channel ...

, KTVT-TV, KERA-TV, KTXA-TV, KDFI-TV, KDAF-TV, and KFWD-TV. Other nearby stations that provide coverage for Van Zandt County come from the Tyler/ Longview/

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 ...

market and they include: KLTV, KYTX-TV, KFXK-TV, KCEB-TV, and KETK-TV.

Newspapers and publications

* ''Canton Herald'' * ''Wills Point Chronicle'' * ''Canton Guide'' * ''Van Zandt County News'' * ''East Texas Homes and Farms''

Government and politics

County commissioners

County officials

Transportation

Airports

* Van Zandt County Regional Airport (Wills Point) * Canton-Hackney Airport (Canton)

References

Sources

* Clausen, C. A. ed., ''The Lady with the Pen: Elise Wærenskjold in Texas'' (Northfield, Minnesota: Norwegian-American Historical Association, 1961) * Hall, Margaret Elizabeth ''A History of Van Zandt County'' (Austin, Texas: Jenkins, 1976)

External links

Van Zandt County government's website

KWJB RADIO the only broadcasting station in Van Zandt County

Van Zandt County News
* {{coord, 32.56, -95.84, display=title, type:adm2nd_region:US-TX_source:UScensus1990 1848 establishments in Texas Populated places established in 1848