This information was copied from The Cass County Genealogical Society, 1976, Vol. III, No. 2, pg 8.

WEBMASTER NOTE: In the last paragraph, the quote tag (") is not right. It begins with the word "growing.....the begins again (without the first one ending) at "The idea.......then ends only one time at the end of the paragraph. I did not begin it a second time, and made it one large quote.

DESCRIPTION OF CASS COUNTY IN 1878
Book by John D. Hanes, Pg. 72

Cass County today with its fine roads, beautiful homes and public buildings, man-made lakes, parks, oil wells, industries and scientific methods of farming, was a very different place in the early days of Texas, according to accounts of history books and encyclopedias of 1878 and 1879.

In "A Pictorial History of Texas" published in 1879, one of the outstanding spots in the county was described as being "an interesting Indian mound near the East Line Railroad." The history also points out that the section "produces the greatest abundance of peaches and apples" and mentioned the cultivation of grapes and tropical products. The population in 1870 was 8,875 and the assessed value in 1876 was $1,429,162.

"The Encyclopedia of the New West", published in 1878 in Marshall, Texas, gives a short description of railroad towns of Texas. Of Atlanta it says: ".....the next shipping point of importance on the Jefferson division of the Texas And Pacific above Jefferson, 27 miles, is Atlanta. Though one of the newest villages along the line, it has twenty stores, six brick buildings, and five or six new buildings have been erected in the last year (1878). It has the peculiarity of drawing its trade from portions of three states - Texas, Louisiana and Arkansas -- the line of the last being 10 miles distant."

Queen City receives glowing mention in the encyclopedia as a "growing railroad village on the Jefferson division of the Texas and Pacific and but two miles north of Atlanta. Beautifully situated among tall and stately oaks on a slight eminence from whose base issue never failing springs of the purest water, the location is as happily chosen for health and comfort as it is convenient to the business of a country. The idea of rearing a town on the spot and in such proximity to Atlanta, already established, originated with a single individual of enterprise, some capital, and more pluck. The first house was built in October 1876, but the place now contains (1878) about four hundred population, seventeen stores, besides two saloons, one shoe shop, one livery stable, one silversmith, a tan yard and an iron factory."