Here we go! As mentioned in the intro, the purpose of the blog (and the related travel) is to stop in towns that you would normally drive through on your way to somewhere else. This place definitely qualifies. We were on our way to Texarkana (which may, itself, qualify!) and this was our first stop on the way.
This is Mount Vernon, Texas.
Mount Vernon is called a "town" by Wikipedia. I guess that's because there's only about 2,500 people there. It's about 110 miles northeast of Dallas off of I-30. It is the county seat of Franklin County.
Franklin county was carved out of Titus count in 1875. The town itself was sprang up in 1848 when the post office was established. Stephen Keith was the first postmaster as he's the guy the donated the land to the town.
There were two other cities in Texas called Mount Vernon so the original name was "Keith", then it was changed to "Lone Star". When the name "Mount Vernon" came available, they took it.
So we drove to the Bankhead Highway Visitors Center off county road 1010 which is supposed to be open (according to the website) daily. It is not. After further review, they are open on Tuesdays & Thursdays.
This is the Bankhead Highway Visitor's center and the Henry Clay Thruston House. Henry was born in 1830 and fought for the Confederacy during the Civil War. At 7'7 1/2" he was the tallest soldier during the Civil War. In 1871, he moved to Mt. Pleasant and bought this house (which was relatively new, being built in 1868). It's a 2-story dog trot style house that splits it in half. Kitchen/living on one side, bedrooms on the other.
The Bankhead Highway is famous for being the "cross country automobile highway" that connected Washington D.C. to San Diego, Ca. As it passes through Mount Vernon as part of Main Street (TX-37), they have several houses that were built prior to World War I that are still standing. Each of the houses has a little sign in front that looks like a realtor's sign. But the sign says when the house was built and who owned it. This is the Davenport House and it was built in 1920.
Franklin County Courthouse - The first one was built in 1875. There was some controversy over the vote taken to build this new one. The Texas Supreme Court had to step in and it was completed in 1912. The courthouse in 1875 was built of red brick.
This is the old Franklin County Jail, also built in 1912. The first floor now houses agricultural offices and the top floor has escape rooms.
The Franklin County public library is directly across the square from the courthouse. It's housed in the building that used to be the First National Bank. The building itself was erected in 1912 and was deeded to the library 1977.
The building that now holds the Franklin Genealogical Society (where the red SUV is parked) was built in 1880 and is one of the oldest buildings in Mt. Vernon. It was once Turner Dry Goods. Then J.M. Parchman became a clerk there. In 1892, he bought the store and it became Parchman Merchandise & Dry Goods Store. Jeff Meredith (Don Meredith's dad) began his career there and eventually bought the store, running it as Meredith Dry Goods. It now houses the Franklin Genealogical Society.
This building, also on the town square, was Rutherford Drugstore. The business opened in 1867 by John Griffith Lock Rutherford, was originally in Ruth Pattillo & Co Mercantile but was moved to this location in 1877. When the historical marker was put up in 1974, it was still the drugstore and in still in the same family. That is clearly not the case today.
Erected in 1910, the red building on the end of this block was the Merchants and Planters National Bank. It was founded in 1905. In 1932, it merged with the First National Bank, which was housed in the building that now houses the public library. After the merger, this building continued to be the home of several other business, including the Mount Vernon Post Office. It now belongs to the First National Bank and has offices their financial services team.
The Old Fire Station museum was built in the 1940's as part of the WPA program. It houses an exhibit of Don Meredith memorabilia among other things. The museum is open Tues-Sat 10 - 2 and admission is free. Unfortunately, I was there on a Monday. I would have liked to have gone in, though.
This building with the lovely Coca-Cola mural is the old Masonic Lodge. The first floor now houses Milano's Pizza and the second floor is vacant. Milano's wasn't open on Monday either.
Across the street from the Fire Station Museum is the Old Depot Museum. It's a restored 1894 train depot from the Cotton Belt line. It's painted the original colors and everything. Admission is free if you are here when it's open, which is Tuesday and Thursday 10 - 4
Also on the property is this log corn crib which is where they stored corn. It was built in the 1880's by Zachary Seay who settled in Mount Pleasant after the civil war.
Another famous home, this one is where Don Meredith lived as a child.
While a good portion of the town was closed because it was Monday, it was about what I expected. Driving in on US-37, it was quite rural. You don't really see much of a "town" until you actually turn onto Main Street. From the highway, you have your standard fast food (Sonic, McDonald's and Dairy Queen) and gas stations. The big grocery store is Brookshire's. The closest Wal-Mart is 20 miles away in Mt. Pleasant.
The median income is $28K a year. When you look at the demographics, the "industry" in this town is Health Care & Social Assistance, Manufacturing and Construction.
I liked Mount Vernon. I don't think I could live there but I can see there's a lot of history. I wouldn't mind digging in a little more to see what all the buildings around the town square are and what businesses they housed and what happened to them.
Maybe.
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