As the United States marks its 250th anniversary, understanding local history can offer a window into the forces that shaped communities across the country. In this week’s edition of The Lede, KETR’s Preston Norris visited the Audie Murphy American Cotton Museum in Greenville to explore the origins of Hunt County and the people, industries and events that helped define the region.
Museum Director Susan Lanning said the area’s earliest residents were primarily Caddo people before settlers from states including Kentucky and Tennessee arrived in the mid-1800s. Visitors to the museum can also see two of the county’s oldest surviving homes, including the 1857 Endicott-Gillard House, the oldest standing house in Greenville, and a log cabin that illustrates the contrast between everyday farm life and one of the area’s wealthier families during the period.
Lanning also explained how Greenville nearly received a different name. The community was originally considered for the name “Pinckneyville” after Texas Governor James Pinckney Henderson before ultimately being named for Thomas J. Green, a veteran of the Texas Revolution. Norris also traces the city’s growth through the arrival of the railroad, the cotton boom and the devastating impact of the boll weevil, which forced many farmers to shift to other crops, livestock or different industries altogether.
Listen to Preston Norris’ full feature below to learn more about the history of Greenville, Hunt County and the people whose stories continue to shape Northeast Texas.