East Texas History
A project by Sam Houston State UniversityEast Texas History is a free mobile app and web platform that places the past at your fingertips. Designed by the History Department at Sam Houston State University, the project seeks to highlight the distinctive people, places, and events that have shaped East Texas. Viewers may learn about the region through our interactive, map-based interface that includes historical stories, photographs, and oral interviews. Follow our progress on Twitter or connect with us on Facebook to learn more about the project or to become a participating author.
Read more About UsFeatured Stories
The Roberts-Farris Cabin
During the summer months of 2001, representatives from Huntsville’s Main Street Program worked with faculty members and students from Sam Houston State University to move the historic Roberts-Farris cabin from its location in West Sandy to a…
Goree Recordings
In his pursuit of folk music, John A. Lomax visited penitentiaries throughout the South specifically to document the music of African Americans that, because of racial segregation and the isolation of prison life, remained pure or relativity free of…
Joshua Houston
Born in 1822, Joshua Houston was raised as a slave on the Lea plantation near Marion, Alabama. When his master, Temple Lea, died in 1834, ownership of Joshua was transferred to Temple's daughter, Margaret Lea. There seems to have been little…
Featured Tours
The Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1867
12 Locations ~ Curated by Zachary Doleshal, Ph.D., SHSU Public History Students of 2017Random Stories
Darrington Prison Recordings
In 1933 and 1934, folklorist John A. Lomax and his son Alan visited the Darrington prison farm to record the music of African American convicts. At Darrington, they captured not only the vocals of inmates who sang as they worked in rhythm, but also…
Upshur Rural Electric Cooperative
Electric light came to the farmers of Upshur County, Texas in July 1938. Citizens of the county and surrounding rural areas created the Upshur Rural Electric Cooperative Corporation (URECC) in 1937. They applied for a loan of $140,000 from the Rural…
Huntsville State Park
Huntsville State Park is a scenic 2000-acre recreational area that adjoins Sam Houston National Forest. The park offers a venue for camping, hiking, biking, and fishing around Lake Raven.
Before European colonization, the park region was…
The Rice Building
The Rice Building at 909 Texas Avenue sits atop one of the most historic and fascinating pieces of real estate in all of Houston. Initially set aside by Augustus and John Kirby Allen for the Republic of Texas, the site served as home of the…
Sallie E. Gibbs
Successful businesswoman Sallie E. Gibbs was born Sarah Elizabeth Smith in Winston-Salem, North Carolina on October 18, 1844 to Mary Washington (Ledbetter) and Thomas Jefferson Smith. Her parents operated a large plantation, and she received…
Senator John Morris Sheppard
Morris Sheppard (1875-1941) served as a Democratic Congressman and United States Senator from Texas. He authored the Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which outlawed the production or consumption of alcoholic beverages, and…