The History of Fruitvale, Texas

Fruitvale began with the railroad. When the Texas & Pacific Railway was built across northern Van Zandt County in 1873, a switch was installed on a rise between Mill Creek to the west and Caney Creek to the east. The switch was named Bolton — honoring a railroad official — and was originally known as Bolen Switch.

Early settlers put the land to work. W. B. Harl organized a timber-cutting camp to supply crossties for the railroad and cord wood for the Dallas area, and the small community grew up around the rail stop. But the area's true calling would soon reveal itself in its soil.

The first fruit nursery in the area operated during the 1870s and 1880s, promoted by Sykes Wheeler — brother of Benjamin Wheeler, for whom the nearby town of Ben Wheeler is named. Around 1900, growers came to realize that the sandy soil of this part of the Sabine River valley was ideally suited for growing fruits and vegetables.

As the fruit industry took hold, local growers petitioned to rename the town, and around 1901 Bolen Switch became Fruitvale — a name celebrating the orchards and gardens that defined it. A post office was established in 1903. The fruit-and-vegetable industry, along with the cord-wood trade, grew so important that a siding was added alongside the switch during the growing season to handle the shipping.

Through the 20th century, Fruitvale remained a small farming community in the fruit-growing belt of northeastern Van Zandt County, its life tied to the land and the seasons. The orchards and gardens that gave the town its name shaped generations of local families.

Today Fruitvale is a quiet rural town on U.S. Highway 80, anchored by its small Fruitvale ISD 'Bobcat' schools and its agricultural heritage, which it celebrates each year with a Heritage Festival. Near Lake Tawakoni and the famous market town of Canton, it holds onto its small-town, fruit-country character even as the wider region grows around it.