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The legislature of the State of Texas created Trinity County out of Houston County in 1850. A group of seven commissioners was appointed to locate and survey a site for the seat of government. The town of Sumpter was founded in this area, near the geographic center of the county. Trinity County's first seat of justice grew slowly. Early settler Solomon Adams operated a small general store, and his log home also served as a hotel. The courthouse was a small frame building located on the plaza, near which a log schoolhouse was erected. When Goodwin Woodson and R.D. Crow opened a saw and grist mill four miles south of Sumpter in 1857, the town began to develop rapidly and was incorporated five years later. As the population increased, a larger courthouse was built. An influx of businesses, such as drugstores and saloons, appeared on around the courthouse square. A number of plantations flourished in the area until the coming of the Civil War. In 1872, the courthouse at Sumpter burned, and a rail line was built through the town of Trinity. Sumpter was gradually abandoned, and the nearby cemetery is all that remains of the once-thriving community. (1994) |
