Etoile, Texas, Nacogdoches County. (original) (raw)

History in a Pecan Shell

Baptist Minister James Sims, could be credited with forming the community. Sims built a church at Macedonia Springs, and a community formed around the church in the 1870s.-

The people applied for a post office in the 1880s and it was granted under the name of Etoile � which is French for �star.�

By 1915 Etoile had 300 residents and most essential businesses but by the mid 1920 it had decreased to just 100. After railroad service was discontinued it dropped again and only 50 people remained.

The building of the Sam Rayburn Dam and Reservoir in the late 50s through 1965 changed the face of Etoile. Bait stores and boat storage facilities emerged and the community became something of a retirement community.

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