Palestine, TX news and local guide

By 1858 Palestine had about 2,000 people, and in 1861 a stagecoach ran three times a week to Huntsville, Crockett and Nacogdoches. Plans for a Metropolitan Railroad from Texarkana to Austin through Palestine were halted by the Civil War. Shortly before the war the town government resolved to examine textbooks to make sure they supported slavery, to bar Northerners from teaching and to discourage trade with Northerners who opposed slavery, and the next day a vigilance committee destroyed textbooks it considered part of an antislavery conspiracy. After the war, a railroad built in the 1870s spurred the timber trade and the town's growth. The International Railroad and the Houston and Great Northern linked Palestine to Hearne and Longview in 1872 and merged in 1873 as the International and Great Northern, later part of the Missouri Pacific and Union Pacific. By 1898 the city had more than 10,000 people. Sources Wikipedia: Palestine, Texas