HLRGazette Archives

Wood County History

By LOU MALLORY - Chairperson, Wood County Historical Commission

 Fort Le Dout. Fort Le Dout, reportedly located in what is now Wood County, was likely established during the 18th century by the French as a post for trade with the Caddo and Wichita Indians.

 Ledout, which means "redoubt" or "fortification," may have been located on the Sabine River or possibly on Lake Fork Creek.

 A 1989 archeological study suggested that the Woldert Site, located about five miles from the confluence of Lake Fork Creek and the Sabine River, might have been Fort Le Dout.

 Little Indiana, Texas. Little Indiana was a schoolhouse community on a county road east of FM 2225, north of FM 515, and 10 miles northwest of Quitman in northwestern Wood County.

 The community was settled in 1900 by a number of Indiana families who had been drawn by reports of plentiful timber and rich farmland. The area, near what is now the northeast arm of the Lake Fork Reservoir, turned out to be poor farmland that was susceptible to flooding. Many of the families returned to Indiana, but around 1901, those who stayed established a one-teacher school. It was built from local timber hauled by oxen to the nearby sawmill.

 Though Little Indiana grew for several years, by 1907, the community had been abandoned because of illness and continuing poor crops. A state historical marker identifies the site.

 Cloverhill, Texas. Cloverhill (Clover Hill, Clover Hill Church) is on FM 69 five miles northeast of Quitman in north central Wood County.

 In 1856, the area was settled by families from Georgia and Alabama. The next year, they built the Clover Hill Baptist Church on a hill covered with yellow clover. Before a school was established in the community, local children attended classes at Pleasant Grove, seven miles to the north. Another Clover Hill Baptist Church was reportedly organized in 1886 and, by 1896 Clover Hill had a public school with 31 students.

 By 1911, the community also had two sawmills, a store, and a cotton gin. In 1917, the local school was destroyed by a storm. A new school was built in 1918. The cotton gin closed about 1925, and by the mid-1930s, Clover Hill was comprised of a church, a cemetery, two businesses, and a number of dwellings concentrated along the roads.

 In 1943, Bobby Manziel made the fourth major oil field discovery in Wood County just a mile north of the community. The Manziel field, which led to a brief boom at Clover Hill, produced a large percentage of Wood County's total oil output for a time and was still operating in 1988.

 Around the same time as the oil field discovery, Clover Hill received telephone and electric service. In 1944, the community's school was consolidated with the Quitman schools, and by 1960, all that remained at Clover Hill was the church and the cemetery and a few widely scattered dwellings. The community did not grow significantly after Dry Creek was dammed in 1961-62 to form Lake Quitman.