HLRGazette Archives

Wood County History
By LOU MALLORY - Chairman Wood County Historical Commission

Leslie Gould Hall-Fouke Community
Leslie Gould Hall was the fourth child of eleven children born to Buster and Carrie Chism Hall. He was born on April 25, 1897, at Hawkins in Wood County.
He was educated in the Fouke Public Schools under principals Ida V. Hawkins, H.M. Johnson, K. S. E. Henry and Byron Freeman. He chose carpentry as his vocation.
Gould used his skills to build his own home and many others in his community. In 1937, he joined the Center Point Lodge #208 and was responsible for remodeling the original building. During the 1940s, the L.G. Hall Chapter #19 of Royal Arch was organized.
In March of 1951, the Crowe-Fouke Common School District was consolidated with the Hawkins ISD. The Hawkins School Board granted the building and the top surface of the land to be used for a community center.
With the help of the community, L.G. Hall led the rebuilding of the Fouke Community Center. Subsequently, the idea of forming a family reunion came from Gould. The first Hall reunion was held on the second Sunday in September of 1965 at the B. H. Hall estate on the banks of the newly created Lake Hawkins.
In 1966, Gould and his nephew, M.C. McCalla, were the first to build boat houses for the owners of lake front location on the new lake. The development of the new lake brought many people from the Dallas area who were seeking locations to build and establish permanent homes in the area.
The first question most buyers would ask was how they would get water for their homes and if a deep well would be the only way to get water.
At this point, Leslie Gould Hall became interested in forming a corporation that would solve this problem.
In March of 1969, Gould began taking donations of $50 per family to make a down payment to take care legal procedure. Meetings were held, house to house. From these meetings, the persons to serve as initial directors were named. They included LG. Hall, L.D. Gage, Mrs. Leon Wells, R.S. Ray, Mrs. Helouise Wilson, and J.W. Clanton, all of Hawkins, along with W.E. Morris of Mineola and V.G. Gore and J.M. Whittikes, both of Winnsboro.
The Fouke Water Corporation was born on July 8th, 1971. It started with approximately 125 members and later grew to 1,270 members with about 200 miles of water lines.