Larissa, Texas Explained

Official Name:Larissa, Texas
Settlement Type:Unincorporated community
Pushpin Map:Texas#USA
Pushpin Label:Larissa
Pushpin Map Caption:Location in Texas##Location in the United States
Coordinates:32.0586°N -95.3247°W
Subdivision Type:Country
Subdivision Type1:State
Subdivision Type2:County
Subdivision Name2:Cherokee

Larissa is an unincorporated community in Cherokee County, Texas, United States. Larissa lies west of U.S. Highway 69, off Farm to Market Road 855 and approximately halfway between Jacksonville and Bullard. Larissa is about northwest of the county seat of Rusk.

History

Settlement

Larissa was originally settled by the Killough, Wood, and Williams families. Larissa was the scene of the Killough Massacre, possibly the worst single Indian incident in the history of east Texas.[1] The settlers had moved there from Talladega County, Alabama, in 1837.

Unaware, apparently, that the land made available to them was hotly disputed by the Cherokee Indians who lived in the area, Isaac Killough and his homesteaders began building homes and clearing land for crops. Only a year before, however, the area surrounding their settlement had been set aside to the Cherokee under a treaty negotiated and signed by Sam Houston and John Forbes.[2] When the Senate of the Republic of Texas refused to ratify the treaty and then in fact nullified it, the Cherokee, who already thought they had conceded enough, became extremely agitated.[3]

The immediate and increasing influx of Anglo settlers into lands thought to have been theirs did nothing to calm resentments among the Indians[4] and there being also residual bitterness among some Tejanos still loyal to Mexico, the atmosphere in the region became tense in early 1838. Complicating matters was the fact that some militant Cherokee were also loyal to Mexico.[5] By the summer of that year, there were rumblings of coming insurrection from either or both of those factions, and evidence did exist for collusion between them.[6]

Fearing this growing unrest, Killough, his relatives and friends, fled to Nacogdoches for refuge.[7] On condition they would leave the area after doing so, the Cherokee leaders agreed to their safe passage if they would return simply to harvest their crops. They did so. But on October 5, 1838, a band of Cherokee who had not been party to the agreement attacked the settlement. Most of the Killough group—a total of eighteen—were killed or abducted as they worked their fields. Those who survived fled for a time to Lacy's Fort on the San Antonio Road, just west of present-day Alto, Texas.[8]

Following the massacre, it was not until 1846 and the removal of the Cherokee by Mirabeau B. Lamar that any significant resettlement took place. In that year, Thomas H. McKee, a Presbyterian minister who had immigrated from Lebanon, Tennessee, led an immigrant group to the area. Hoping to avoid the decadent lifestyle of nearby Talladega, known for its saloon and gambling dens,[9] the McKee party moved north of that location to settle near the older Killough compound. Their settlement was at first called McKee Colony.

Development

When T.N. McKee, Thomas' son, laid out a townsite, the new town was given the name, Larissa, after the Grecian city of that name thought to have been a center of learning. The Larissa post office also opened in 1847, followed by a Masonic lodge the following year. In 1848, McKee built a one-room schoolhouse, originally named Larissa Academy. In 1855, he secured financial support from the Brazos Synod of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church and they assumed responsibility for the school, which was renamed Larissa College. Chartered by the State of Texas in 1856, it eventually boasted a three-story college building, two dormitories and a curriculum that included Latin, French, Spanish, chemistry, physics, rhetoric, logic and mathematics. It also boasted an observatory with a telescope said to have been more powerful than that at Yale University.[10] Larissa College was a co-educational school, but the men and women were taught separately, with a hill between the male and female "departments."[11] When the nearby community of Talladega faded away in the 1850s, much of the commerce done there moved to Larissa, which by then was a vibrant small town with several stores,[12] a salt works, a church, and, of course, Larissa College.[13]

Larissa was in its hey-day.

Decline

The Civil War sapped much of the vitality of the community and decimated enrollment at Larissa College, forcing it to close for the duration.[14] Reconstruction took its toll as well. The college resumed operations after the war, but lacking students and faculty, it never recovered.[15] By 1866 the Presbyterian Synod had withdrawn financial support,[16] consolidating its efforts at Trinity University, which opened at Tehuacana in 1869.

By 1870 Larissa College was forced to close. Its assets, including the telescope, were transferred to Trinity University.[17]

The college having developed as its reason for existence, the town of Larissa itself entered a period of steady decline and disappointment. In 1872, the Great Northern Railway line laid its tracks eight miles south of Larissa.[18] That same year, a meningitis epidemic took a number of the remaining residents, and finally, in 1882, tracks for the Kansas and Gulf Short Line Railroad, which might otherwise have saved the town, was laid three miles east of Larissa. Those who had remained, including prominent founders of Larissa, moved on to the newly established community of Mount Selman, on the railroad.[19]

As of 1990, little remained at the town-site to suggest Larissa had ever been there, much less of the promise it seemed to offer. There is an historical marker at the site of the college, placed there in 1936 on the occasion of the Texas Centennial. Another monument stands at the site of the Killough Massacre,[20] and there are three cemeteries where are interred many founders of the town, including members of the Killough and McKee families.[21]

Otherwise, the homes and outbuildings of a typical farming community dot the landscape, all having little connection with what was once there.

Additional reading

Notes and References

  1. Book: King, Dick. Ghost Towns of Texas . 1953 . The Naylor Co.. San Antonio, Texas. 98 . The site was the locale on October 5, 1838 of one of the bloodiest chapters in Texas history..
  2. Web site: Handbook of Texas Online. Cherokee War . On February 23, 1836, a treaty made by Sam Houston and John Forbes,qqv who represented the provisional government, gave title to the lands between the Angelina and Sabine rivers and northwest of the Old San Antonio Road to the Cherokees and their associated bands. . December 7, 2012.
  3. Web site: Handbook of Texas Online. Cherokee War . The treaty was tabled by the Texas Senate on December 29, 1836, and was declared null and void by that body on December 16, 1837, despite Houston's insistence that it be ratified.. December 7, 2012.
  4. Web site: Whittington. Mitchel. A monument to the Killough Massacre. Texas Escapes Online Magazine . 1998. The Cherokee weren’t all that happy with the treaty because it greatly reduced their lands – since they were led to believe that it would give them a permanent home, however, they accepted the terms. Some bitterness still existed among many tribe members, and the nullification of the treaty only exacerbated those feelings..
  5. Web site: Lipscomb. Carol A.. Cherokee Indians. Handbook of Texas Online. Texas State Historical Association. 5 January 2013. Although a majority of the Cherokees had agreed to peace with the Texans, a militant faction of the tribe remained pro-Mexican, a fact that greatly complicated Texan-Cherokee relations..
  6. Web site: Herring, Rebecca J. . "Cordova Rebellion," Handbook of Texas Online . The capture of two Mexican agents after the rebellion produced new evidence pointing to an extensive Indian and Mexican conspiracy against Texas. On about August 20, 1838, Julián Pedro Miracle was killed near the Red River. On his body were found a diary and papers that indicated the existence of an official project of the Mexican government to incite East Texas Indians against the Republic of Texas. . December 7, 2012 .
  7. Book: Baker, Lindsey T.. Ghost Towns of Texas. University of Oklahoma Press. Norman, OK. 1986. Fearing hostilities as a result of unrest among the Cherokee who occupied the same general area, the Killough family retreated ... to a vicinity nearer to Nacogdoches..
  8. Web site: Whitington. Mitchel. A Monument to the Killough Massacre. The survivors, [who] included Issac’s wife Urcey, began a harrowing journey to Lacy’s Fort, forty miles south of the Killough settlement..
  9. Web site: Long. Christopher. Talladega, TX . The Handbook of Texas Online. Austin, TX. During the early 1850s Talladega had the saloon and several stores; the town's life was said to have revolved around the saloon, a gambling hall, and a racetrack. The population grew rapidly, but the community's unsavory character caused most of the merchants to move to Larissa, and by 1852 Talladega had been abandoned..
  10. Book: Baker, T. Lindsey. Ghost Towns of Texas. 1986. University of Oklahoma Press. 978-0-8061-2189-5. 81. The school also gave instruction in astronomy claiming to have a telescope three times as powerful as the one at Yale University..
  11. Book: Roach, Hattie Joplin . Hills of Cherokee. 1976. News Printing Co.. Although a co-educational institution, a hill separated the male and the female departments. A large, two-story frame building and several two-room dormitories for men were erected on "a commanding elevation in the pleasant little village of Larissa..
  12. Book: Roach, Hattie Joplin . Hills of Cherokee. 1976. News Printing Co.. During its earlier years Larissa rivaled Old Jacksonville as a trading center. Christine Rierson, a native of Norway, opened the first store. Among other mercantile houses around its public square were Dewberry & Johnson, Dunning & McKee, Wadley's Grocery, A. M. Denman, Bilhik & Westheimer, Clapp & Brown, Barnett & Harrington and J. W. Brooks. McKee Inn, operated by S. L. McKee..
  13. Book: King, Dick. Ghost Towns of Texas. 1952. University of Oklahoma Press. 81.
  14. Book: Roach, Hattie Joplin . The Hills of Cherokee . 1934 . Fort Worth TX . 54 . The session of 1859-60, with one hundred and twenty-five students enrolled, marks the turning point in the history of the institution. The Civil War suspended classes. .
  15. Book: Baker, Lindsey T.. Ghost Towns of Texas. University of Oklahoma Press. . 1986 . [The college] reopened after the war but never regained its former vigor as an educational institution..
  16. Book: Roach, Hattie Joplin . The Hills of Cherokee . 1934 . Dallas, Texas . 54 . Soon after the war work was resumed but, for reasons never made clear to the public, the Brazos Synod abruptly severed relations with Larissa. .
  17. Book: King, Dick. Ghost Towns of Texas. 1953. The Naylor Company. San Antonio, Texas . 98 . The church withdrew its support of the institution in 1866 and after an attempt to live as a private college the material assets of Larissa College were transferred in early 1870 to Trinity University..
  18. Book: Baker, Lindsey T.. Ghost Towns of Texas. University of Oklahoma Press. Norman, OK. 1986. In 1972, the Great Northern Railway built across Cherokee County, through Jacksonville, and missed Larissa by about eight miles..
  19. Book: Roach, Hattie Joplin . The Hills of Cherokee . 1934 . Dallas, Texas . 54 . In 1884 four Larissa citizens - Doctor R. D. Bone, J. W. Wade, W. T. and J. N. McKee - bought homesteads on the newly-built railroad, now the Cotton Belt, and called the settlement Selman for Doctor Selman, the former owner of the land. Later the Post Office Department changed the name to Mt. Selman..
  20. Web site: Whitington. Mitchel. A Monument to the Killough Massacre. [T]he stone obelisk is quite impressive – the stone composition has the same look as W.P.A. buildings from the 1930s. The graves of those who were found dead are around its base, and the entire area is surrounded by a fence with a historical marker near the entrance. .
  21. Web site: Larissa, Cherokee County, Texas. 5 January 2013. The largest of the three, known as Larissa Cemetery, located on FM 855, The Old Baptist Cemetery 1/4 mile SW of the corner of CR 3409 and CR 3405, and The Old Larissa Cemetery located about 1/2 mile west of Old Larissa on the road to the Killough Monument..

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