Recently, Shelley Cleaver, member of the Cherokee County Historical Commission, recalled memories of his hometown, Lone Star, in an interview. Lone Star, first known as “Skin Tight” was a thriving small town in eastern Cherokee County, not far from the present town of Ponta, before the turn of the century.
In the early 1880s, cattle buyer Henry L. Reeves built a store on the joining lines of the G. Chisom and F.S. Manchaca Surveys, which became known as “Skin Tight” because of his close business practices. When the town that built up around this site petitioned for a post office, they were told that “Skin Tight” was not available. The post office was established June 13, 1883, under the name Lone Star, a more appealing and popular choice. George W. Tipton, a long-time resident and merchant, was Lone Star’s first postmaster.
Before the turn of the century, three or more general stores were open for business including those owned by W.L. Black and G.W. Tipton, J.C. Jones and John J. West, and John McCrimmon. Mollie Smith had a millinery shop. Most of the stores were destroyed by fire in 1893, including a blacksmith shop owned by F. G. Pierce.
J. B. (Bruce) Cleaver, grandfather of Shelley, owned the last blacksmith shop in Lone Star. He added a garage to his business and equipped it with tools acquired from Mack Duty. Cleaver also did some woodworking and horseshoeing in his shop. Shelley’s father repaired cars, mostly Fords, in the Lone Star Repair Shop next door. The sign on the wall read: “We repair automobiles. We fix Fords.”
At one time three denominations supported churches in Lone Star: Methodist, Church of Christ, and Universalist. The Church of Christ and Universalists erected their own buildings. The Methodists and the Baptists not attending nearby Myrtle Springs Church met in the Universalist Church building. When the town went down, all the congregations except the Methodist migrated to Ponta, a new town on the Texas and New Orleans Railroad.
Lone Star had a two-teacher school early in its history, which held classes on the first floor of the Masonic Lodge building. In addition to the public school, the Lone Star Institute, a private school was established by Col. Thomas A. Cache and Rev. Angus M. Stewart in 1889. As recounted by Bernard Mayfield in “Cherokee County History” the school “strongly emphasized cultural accomplishments in music and elocution…. The school attracted broad attention, and many families moved to Lone Star to enroll their children in it. Some of the teachers and music instructors at the institute during its four years of existence were Perry I. Wallace, a Mr. Weaver, and Erma Jones.
By the time Shelley Cleaver was born in Lone Star on December 24, 1934, Lone Star had seen its best days. Shelley was born in Henry Clay Cleaver’s house. At the time of his birth the ancestral home was owned by Bruce Cleaver, his grandfather and occupied by Shelley’s grandparents and his mother and father, Sissy and Curley. Shelley recounts that the family wanted him to be born on Christmas, but his mother wouldn’t put it off any longer and delivered a 12-pound baby on December 24.
Lone Star was a farming community, with cotton the most important cash crop until tomatoes became more profitable. Shelley remembers the T-Model “hoopy” that his father used to haul tomatoes. “He could haul more tomatoes in that hoopy than anyone else in Lone Star,” Shelley remembers. He still owns the turning plow his family used for four generations.
Shelley and his family moved to Jacksonville in 1940, though they retained their ancestral land in Lone Star. The town itself gradually disappeared in the years following World War II.
Today the site of Lone Star, on FM 235 about 4 miles southwest of New Summerfield, is marked with a historical marker erected in 1985. For a map to the exact location, see “Cherokee History Trails,” a free map and brochure describing all the markers in Cherokee County, available from the Historical Commission.
Living
From ‘Skin Tight’ to Lone Star
- Living
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Field Day
About 61 children with special needs from five schools competed and played at the Cherokee County Special Education Coop's annual field day on Friday.
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Bob Bowman's East Texas: Casablanca’s East Texan
When you talk to East Texas movie buffs about their favorite all-time films, the one everyone places near the top is Casablanca, a seventy-year-old love story made in 1942 starring Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman.
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Lescroart’s ‘The Hunter’ a psychological drama
The Hunter
By John Lescroart
Rather than a straight mystery by this prolific writer of suspense, The Hunter is a psychological drama, set in motion when Wyatt Hunt, a private investigator, receives an enigmatic text on his cell phone: How did your mother die?
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Preserving a wild and scenic river
The Neches River has been a lifeline for Cherokee County residents for centuries. Not only has the river provided a water source for irrigating crops, it has also provided fishing, recreation and transportation for residents living on the stretch.
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‘After high school comes college’
Children are classified as future leaders of the United States and educators are going above and beyond to guide them along the right path.
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The Book Shelf
In order to escape a violent stalker who is protected by his wealthy parents, beautiful, intelligent Ellie Sullivan leaves home, assumes a new identity and pursues a career path as a surgeon. Jogging on the last day of her residency, she observes a couple fleeing from an FBI sting gone wrong.
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Civic Theater announces cast members For ‘Dearly Departed’
Living and dying in the backwoods of the Deep South are seldom tidy, but, in the case of the dysfunctional Turpin family, are rib-tickling hilarious!
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Middle School student accepted to summer program
Jacksonville Middle School 8th graders and Duke Scholars Evan Murphy and Swanson Traylor have recently been accepted to the Duke Summer Studies program at Texas A&M.
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Church event aids Relay for Life
Jacksonville First United Methodist Church recently held a 1OK/5K run benefiting the Cherokee County Cancer Relay for Life. The event route, designed by Paul Travis and Greg Wade, was ran by 70 participants from several states.
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Lion Vic Whadford Speaks to Rusk Lions About His Life
PDG Lion President Ardys Brown opened the meeting by calling on Lion Billy Watson for the invocation, Lion Jim Cromwell to lead the pledges and Lion Jim Richings to lead the singing. Special guest was Boots Burfoot.
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