Shiloh, Gregg County, Texas facts for kids
Shiloh is a small farming community in Gregg County, Texas, United States. It's an unincorporated area, meaning it doesn't have its own city government. Shiloh is located near White Oak, Texas and was started by African Americans who had been enslaved, right after the American Civil War ended.
Shiloh's Early Days
The land where Shiloh is located was once part of Mexico after it became independent in 1821. For a while, many Cherokee Native American families traveled through this area. They were moving west because they had been forced out of their original homes. By 1839, the Cherokee people had left the region. Around this time, more settlers from America arrived, along with some African Americans who were enslaved.
During the mid-1800s, the main way people made a living here was by growing cotton. After the 1860s, cutting down trees for wood also became a big business.
How Shiloh Was Started
Shiloh was one of several Black communities created in Gregg County during the Reconstruction era. This was the time after the Civil War when the country was being rebuilt.
Local stories say that a formerly enslaved man named Butcher Christian, his former enslaver Gideon Christian, and a church leader named Reverend John Baptist started the Shiloh Baptist Church in 1871. The first church services were held in a simple log building. Butcher Christian gave the land for the church, which was about 3 acres. Gideon Christian had enslaved 32 people in the area before the Civil War. Families in Shiloh say that the Christian family gave land to many of the people they had formerly enslaved.
Next to the Baptist Church, there is a cemetery that is still used today. The oldest marked graves there date back to 1882.
Soon after the Civil War, the newly free Black community in Shiloh started a one-room school. This school taught children until a big storm destroyed it in the 1890s. After that, classes were held in the Shiloh Baptist Church. In 1920, with help from the Rosenwald school program, the community built a new two-room school. This program helped Black communities build schools across the southern United States.
Oil Boom and Changes
In the 1930s, a big oil boom happened in Gregg County. Finding oil brought a lot of money and people to the area. Oil was discovered on the land belonging to Shiloh Baptist Church. The money from this oil was used to build a new church building in 1936.
In 1933, the community built a new brick school. It had an auditorium and a separate section for junior high students. By 1937, the school had expanded to include high school grades.
By the 1960s, the oil industry was the most important business in the region. Not many farms were left. Shiloh School closed in 1966. This happened because schools in the area were desegregated, meaning Black and white students could attend the same schools. Children from Shiloh then went to schools in the White Oak Independent School District.
The old school building was later used to store chemicals. In 1993, it was damaged in a chemical fire, which might have been set on purpose. Today, a historical marker stands at the site of the building on Shiloh Road. The Shiloh Baptist Church still serves the community with many programs.
After World War II, Shiloh's population started to get smaller. By the 1990s, the church and some of the original families still lived there, but many people had moved away.
