Wood County Historical Commission, Quitman, Texas

10/01/2026

RAIN OR SHINE…The City of Quitman and the Wood County Metal Detecting Club are working together on CLEAN SWEEP at the Jim Hogg Park Sat., Oct. 3, and Sat., Oct. 10, 2026. We will be there from 8:00 a.m. until 4 p.m. both days. Don Mayborn is the point man on this project. It is named CLEAN SWEEP because participants will be gathering all the trash above ground AND below the ground. We will be donating everything found to the Jim Hogg Museum. All the scrap metal will be recycled. Everyone is invited to come out and visit and/or help with this community project. Hope to see y’all there!! A little rain won’t damper our spirits for this project!! Come on!! Joyce Alexander Williams Jerry Tinney Don Mayborn

09/26/2026

Special thanks to Dan Mills and his lovely wife, Pam, for the wonderful tour of the beautifully restored Cartwright Community Center, formerly the old Cartwright school, on Thurs., Sept. 17, 2026, 9:00 a.m. It was known as Cartwright Common School District No. 5, Wood County, Texas, and remained open until the summer of 1964.

WCHC’s regular business meeting was held after the tour, followed by a team-building lunch. Various Mexican foods were served and enjoyed by all. Andrew Carnegie once stated that "Teamwork is the ability to work together toward a common vision." The common vision of WCHC is to preserve Wood County history.

A point of interest, Cartwright School itself predates the common-school district system. The first school there was a log school built around 1874. Amanda Cartwright deeded an acre for the school in 1882. The building burned in 1895 and was replaced by a two-room school.

In 1884, Wood County was formally divided into public school districts, and Cartwright was specifically listed as one of those districts. By 1940, contemporary records explicitly identified Wood County as having 47 common school districts and listed “Cartwright, No. 5” with five teachers and its own trustees. The Texas Historical Commission notes that by the 1963–64 school year, only Lone Grove, Cartwright, Lloyd, and New Hope remained from Wood County’s common-school system.

Thank you, again, Dan and Pam, for the fabulous tour and for your extraordinary hospitality.⭐️🌟✨💫 You’re the best!!❤️

09/10/2026

🟢 OWN A PIECE OF WINNSBORO HISTORY! 🟢Ever wanted to take home an authentic piece of our town’s heritage? We are hosting a Silent Auction for 24 of our retired, vintage green historical marker signs!

🗓️ Save the Date: Saturday, September 26, 2026
📍 Location: Winnsboro Historical Museum (The Depot)

We’ll be sharing more details soon about the bidding process and how you can participate. Be sure to follow our page and RSVP to our official Event so you don't miss any updates!



Event page: https://www.facebook.com/share/1BmcsCtEwS/

08/06/2026

Here’s the old oak tree referenced in the organization of Wood County on August 5, 1850. Photos courtesy of Joyce Alexander Williams.

08/06/2026

AN IMPORTANT DATE TO REMEMBER…
Wood County, Texas, was organized on August 5, 1850, under a large post oak tree on George (Gaines) Greer's farm, roughly four miles east of present-day Mineola on FM 49. About 25 men, including appointed commissioners Reuben Elledge, Joseph Fisher, George Greer, Henry Stout, and Gilbert Yarbrough, gathered there to hold the county's first election to officially organize the local government, divide the territory into precincts, and lay out the county seat of Quitman.

First Election Results:
County Judge: D.C. Norton
County Clerk: Ambrose Fitzgerald
Sheriff: Henry Stout
Tax Assessor/Collector: Gilbert Yarbrough

(Historical Context: Wood County was created by the Texas Legislature on February 5, 1850, and was carved from Van Zandt County.)

07/29/2026

Ron Schell, WCHC Cemetery Committee Chair, is working with the City of Winnsboro and the Johnston Unit to level and reset gravestones at Winnsboro City Cemetery. Work began on Tues., July 28 and will continue through Thurs, July 30. Preservation in Progress!! Sue Hamm

07/19/2026

The following Wood County Monitor article from Sept. 15, 2022, provides some background information about Common Schools and the WCHC interviewing project. Interviews are posted separately on the WCHC YouTube channel.

The Wood County Historical Commission recently conducted a project on the history of the Wood County Common School System. The first part of this article gave the history of the Texas common school system that was established in 1884 and continued until 1967 in Wood County. Research found that eight...