2020-2021
JACKSONVILLE PROGRESS 21
HISTORY OF TROUP
The City of Troup , located in the rolling hills of East Texas near Tyler , is partially in North Cherokee and Southern Smith counties , and was born out of two nearby communities . The International Railroad Company opened the Palestine-Troupe Line on November 9 , 1872 . The town of Troupe , named after a governor or possibly a county in Georgia , was surveyed and the streets laid out by the railroad in 1872 . A map of the town site was filed for record February 27 , 1873 .
On July 22 , 1880 , Troupe was almost totally destroyed by fire , but the townspeople commenced to rebuild and the burned district was soon covered with even more substantial buildings than those burned . In November 1881 another fire occurred , which destroyed the entire southern portion of the business street . Again , the people rebuilt .
On November 11 , 1909 , the " e " was dropped from Troupe at the request of the railroad . For many years , cotton was its mainstay . At one time , Troup had five active cotton gins and the community marketed from 6,000 to 8,000 bales of cotton annually ; some of which were shipped directly to Italian spinners in Genoa , Italy . Although cotton was king , other principle money crops were bell peppers and tomatoes .
Troup is presently comprised of approximately 100 businesses , more than a dozen churches of varying denominations , an award-winning school system .