The History of Palestine, Texas

Palestine was incorporated in 1846 as the seat of the newly created Anderson County. The town took its name from Palestine, Illinois, the hometown of pioneer preacher Daniel Parker, who had migrated to Texas and helped establish the community. (The Texas pronunciation, PAL-uh-steen, follows the Illinois town, not the Middle Eastern region.)

The early town grew steadily as a county-seat trading center, reaching about 2,000 residents by 1858. Set in the rolling, dogwood-dotted woods of central East Texas, it was a typical antebellum farm town — until the railroads arrived and changed its trajectory.

The railroad made Palestine. In 1872, rail lines connected the town to Hearne and on to Longview, and in 1873 they merged into the International and Great Northern Railroad — the IGN — which would later become part of the Missouri Pacific and Union Pacific systems. The IGN made Palestine a major operating point, building a substantial depot in 1892 and a passenger coach shop in 1902.

For decades, Palestine was an important locomotive and coach center, and the railroad shops were the heartbeat of the local economy, employing generations of workers until they closed in 1954. The town's beautiful Victorian-era downtown and its many historic homes — 23 sites in Palestine are on the National Register of Historic Places — are legacies of that prosperous railroad age. An oil discovery at Boggy Creek in 1928 added well-servicing and supply businesses to the mix.

Palestine's railroad heritage lives on in one of the most charming attractions in East Texas: the Texas State Railroad. The line dates to 1883, when it was built — originally using prison labor — to connect the iron furnace at the prison in nearby Rusk to the outside world. After the line was abandoned for freight in 1969, the state adapted it as a park in 1972.

Today the Texas State Railroad runs excursion trains, pulled by both steam and diesel locomotives, between handsome Victorian-style depots in Palestine and Rusk, carrying passengers through 25 miles of Piney Woods scenery. It's a living piece of the railroad history that built the town.

Two things define modern Palestine's identity beyond the railroad. The first is its famous dogwoods: each spring, the blooming of the wild dogwood trees in the surrounding woods is celebrated with the Texas Dogwood Trails festival, and Davey Dogwood Park preserves acres of the blossoming forest. The second is science: just outside town, the NASA Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility — renamed in honor of the Space Shuttle Columbia crew after debris was recovered nearby in 2003 — has launched some 1,700 high-altitude research balloons for universities and agencies around the world.

Today Palestine is a city of about 18,500. Its economy is anchored by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, one of the area's largest employers, along with healthcare, small business, and a notable retiree population drawn by the affordable, scenic setting. Sitting roughly equidistant from Dallas, Houston, and Tyler, Palestine has become a quiet getaway town as well as a working East Texas community — and its train, its dogwoods, and its Victorian streets keep its history close at hand.