Gladewater’s history is
mostly unwritten
The public archives hold only 2 old photos of Gladewater. The rest are in attics, shoeboxes and the historical society. Help start the collection.
The story
from WikipediaRead it all ↗Gladewater was founded by the Texas and Pacific Railway Company in 1873 on land bought from Jarrett Dean and Anderson White. A community called St. Clair, 2 miles (3 km) to the east, moved to Gladewater when the railroad announced that the only mail stop in the area would be there; residents from Point Pleasant, also bypassed by the railroad, moved to Gladewater. The first post office at Gladewater was established on August 22, 1873. The town's name probably originated from its proximity to Glade Creek, a tributary of the Sabine River that rose in a rather barren region called the Glades.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Timeline
built from the dates on the items belowStart Gladewater’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Gladewater’s history is told.
1 of 10 decades since 1900 have photos 🔁Retake an old viewTexas - Gladewater through Glen S…, 1917: stand where they stood+15 📦Share a family photoSign in to add one+10Famous people from Gladewater
See all 11 →
Gladewater, decade by decade
1990s
Nothing in Gladewater is on the National Register yet
That’s true of most small towns. It doesn’t mean Gladewater has no history, only that no one has written up a nomination. The closest listed place is John and Eva O'Bryne House in Union Grove, 3.6 miles away.
Gladewater and the nearest listed places
How a place gets listed
Then & now
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as Texas - Gladewater through Glen Springs (1917) and it appears here side by side.
🔁 Retake this view · +15Stories next door
nearby towns’ historyFrom Wikimedia Commons (6). Images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.