Tenaha, Texas, Shelby County. (original) (raw)

History in a Pecan Shell

Founded as a shipping point on the Houston, East and West Texas Railway in 1885, the community was named for Tenehaw Municipality, the original name of Shelby County.

A post office was granted in 1886 and by 1890 the population was 200. By 1896 it was publishing it's own weekly newspaper and had become a major shipping center for lumber and produce. The population had increased to 680.

Lumber-manufacturing and a large canning operation bolstered the local economy through the 40s and 50s. Toledo Bend Reservoir and the fishermen that it attracts are now a permanent economic mainstay.

A ghost staircase
TE Photo, July 2001

Marker for Loop 168,
the shortest highway in Texas
(395 feet long)
TE Photo, July 2001
See Texas Drives

Tenaha Welcome Sign
TE Photo, July 2001

Tenaha, Timpson, Bobo, and Blair ›

by Archie P. McDonald, PhD

Tenaha, Timpson, Bobo, and Blair are communities in Shelby County whose names were appropriated for a plea by crapshooters for good luck when seeking to roll double fives. Similarly, dice throwers hoping for an "eight" would sing out, "Eighter from Decatur, the County Seat of Wise." Later the alliteration in the sing-song phrase "Tenaha, Timpson, Bobo, and Blair" helped a folk song recorded by Tex Ritter popular.

How did the communities become involved with dice and popular music? ... more

Tenaha Time Capsule
TE Photo, July 2001

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