Editing Anderson County, Texas (section)

===Incorporation===
The First Legislature of the State of Texas formed Anderson County from [[Houston County, Texas|Houston County]] on March 24, 1846. The county was named for [[Kenneth Lewis Anderson]]. Palestine was named the county seat.<ref>{{cite web|title=Palestine, Texas|publisher=Texas Escapes - Blueprints For Travel, LLC.|url=http://www.texasescapes.com/TOWNS/Palestine/Palestine_Texas.htm|access-date=May 2, 2010}} Texas Escapes - Blueprints For Travel, LLC.</ref>

Anderson County voted for [[Texas in the American Civil War|secession]] from the Union.<ref>{{cite web|title=Anderson County in the Civil War|author=Bradberry Jr, Forrest E.|publisher=Palestine Herald Press|url=http://files.usgwarchives.net/tx/anderson/history/acth007.txt|access-date=May 2, 2010}}</ref> When the [[American Civil War]] began, former Palestine district judge [[John Henninger Reagan|Judge John H. Reagan]]<ref>{{Handbook of Texas|name=Reagan, John Henninger|id=fre02|author=Procter, Ben H.|authorlink=Ben H. Procter|retrieved=May 2, 2010}} Texas State Historical Association</ref> served in the cabinet of the [[Confederate States of America|Confederate]] government as postmaster general, being captured at the end of the war and spending 22 months in solitary confinement. During [[Reconstruction era of the United States|Reconstruction]], District Nine Court Judge Reuben A. Reeves,<ref>{{Handbook of Texas|name=Reeves, Reuben A.|id=fre23|author=Caraway, Georgia Kemp|retrieved=May 2, 2010}} Texas State Historical Association</ref> a resident of Palestine, was removed from office as "an obstruction to Reconstruction" in part because of his refusal to allow blacks to participate as jurors in the judicial process.

In 1875, the [[International – Great Northern Railroad]]<ref>{{Handbook of Texas|name=International-Great Northern Railroad|id=eqi04|author=Werner, George C.|retrieved=May 2, 2010}} Texas State Historical Association</ref> placed its machine and repair shops and general offices in Palestine, causing the community to double in size over the next 5 years. For a time, it was a rough railroad town, dominated by male workers.

White violence against blacks occurred in the county, most frequently by lynchings of black men. But in July 1910, at least 22 blacks were killed in white rioting near Slocum, a majority-black community, in what is called the [[Slocum, Texas#Slocum massacre of 1910|Slocum Massacre]]. <!-- There may have been 8 times that number of victims, as bodies were found in the swamps and canebrake, and there were stories of whites burying blacks to cover up the evidence of their riot before police investigated. --> Racial and economic tensions had been high in the post-Reconstruction era and southern states had [[Disfranchisement after Reconstruction era|disenfranchised blacks]] and imposed [[Jim Crow]] in furtherance of [[white supremacy]].<ref>[https://eji.org/sites/default/files/lynching-in-america-third-edition-summary.pdf ''Lynching in America, Third Edition: Supplement by County''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171023063004/https://eji.org/sites/default/files/lynching-in-america-third-edition-summary.pdf |date=October 23, 2017 }}, p. 9, Equal Justice Initiative, Mobile AL (2017)</ref> Anderson County tied for 13th place in a list of the 25 American counties with the highest number of lynchings between 1877 and 1950 (all were located in the South).<ref>[http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/the-history-of-lynchings-and-racial-terror Josh Marshall, "The History of Lynching and Racial Terror"], ''Talking Points Memo'', February 10, 2015; accessed May 15, 2018</ref>

Oral tradition in the African-American community holds that as many as 200 blacks may have been killed in the massacre. An estimated 200 whites rioted and attacked blacks on the roads, in the fields, and in [[Slocum, Texas|Slocum]] on July 29–30, 1910. Many black homes were burned, and black families fled for their lives, having to abandon their property and assets. This town is about 20 miles east of the county seat at Palestine.<ref name=davies/>

At the time, as was usual, white newspapers described such events as a "race riot" by blacks. Texas newspapers had contributed to problems by reporting false rumors that 200 blacks were arming. Afterward, 11 men were arrested and seven were indicted, including James Spurger, said by many to be the instigator, but no prosecution resulted. The massacre had been preceded by racial tensions, rumors, and, for 6 months, at least one lynching per month of Blacks in East Texas.<ref name=davies>[http://tpr.org/post/should-texas-remember-or-forget-slocum-massacre David Martin Davies, "Should Texas Remember Or Forget The Slocum Massacre?"], Texas Public Radio, January 16, 2015; accessed May 15, 2018</ref>

In January 2016, the state installed a highway historical marker in Slocum to recognize this unprovoked white attack on the black community.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/texas-marks-a-racial-slaughter-over-a-100-years-later/2016/01/15/fb194dd0-ba4e-11e5-99f3-184bc379b12d_story.html|title=Texas marks racial slaughter more than a century later|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]|author=Tim Madigan|date=January 16, 2016|access-date=January 17, 2016}}</ref> It was part of a history of white violence against blacks.

In 1926, the Humble Oil and Refining Company, in partnership with the Rio Bravo Company, started an exploration drilling program along Boggy Creek, in what turned our to be the Boggy Creek [[salt dome]]. On March 19, 1927, the Elliott and Clark No. 1 encountered the [[Woodbine Formation]] at a depth of {{convert|3838|ft|m}} and produced 62 barrels of oil per hour, but showed salt water after producing only 15,000 barrels. On November 10, 1927, the Elliott and Clark No. 2, 150 feet to the west, was completed as a gas well. On February 4, 1928, the first oil-producing well in Anderson County, the [[Humble Oil|Humble]]-Lizzie Smith No. 1, was completed, producing 80 [[BOPD]]. By May 1931, 80 wells had been drilled in the '''Boggy Creek Oil Field''', 6 of which produced gas, 33 oil, and 41 were dry holes.<ref>{{cite web |last1=McLELLAN |first1=H.J. |last2=WENDLANDT |first2=E.A. |last3=MURCHISON |first3=E.A. |title=BOGGY CREEK SALT DOME, ANDERSON AND CHEROKEE COUNTIES, TEXAS |url=https://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/aapgbull/article/16/6/584/544835/Boggy-Creek-Salt-Dome-Anderson-and-Cherokee?searchresult=1 |website=GeoScience World |publisher=AAPG |access-date=August 21, 2020 |pages=584–600 |date=1932}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Eaton |first1=R.W. |title=Boggy Creek Field, in University of Texas Publication No. 5116: Occurrence of Oil and Gas in Northeast Texas |url=http://archives.datapages.com/data/etgs/1951/510029/510029.htm |website=AAPG Datapages |publisher=AAPG |access-date=August 21, 2020 |pages=29–34 |date=1950}}</ref><ref>{{Handbook of Texas|name=Anderson County|id=hca01|author=Caraway, Georgia Kemp|retrieved=May 2, 2010}} Texas State Historical Association</ref>

The Fairway Oil Field was discovered in 1960, and straddles the border of Anderson and Henderson Counties. Oil is produced from the [[Lower Cretaceous]] James [[Limestone]] member of the Pearsall [[formation (geology)|formation]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Terriere|first1=Robert|editor1-last=Braunstein|editor1-first=Jules|title=Geology of Fairway Field, East Texas, in North American Oil and Gas Fields|date=1976|publisher=The American Association of Petroleum Geologists|location=Tulsa|isbn=0891813004|pages=157–176}}</ref>

The [[Gus Engeling Wildlife Management Area]] was purchased by the state between 1950 and 1960,<ref>{{cite web|title=Gus Engeling Wildlife Management Area|publisher=Texas Parks and Wildlife Department|url=http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/huntwild/hunt/wma/find_a_wma/list/?id=10|access-date=May 2, 2010| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100403084813/http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/huntwild/hunt/wma/find_a_wma/list/?id=10|archive-date=April 3, 2010| url-status=live}}</ref> much of it formerly owned by Milze L. Derden. The area was renamed in 1952 for Gus A. Engeling, the first state biologist assigned to the area who was killed by a poacher on December 13, 1951.