Woodlawn

Woodlawn is at the intersection of U.S. Highway 59 and Farm Road 1997, on the Union Pacific Railroad eight miles north of Marshall in north central Harrison County. The site of the community was settled prior to 1850, when what would eventually become Woodlawn Baptist Church was organized by thirteen charter members as Bethesda Baptist Church. The Texas and Pacific Railway built through the area in the 1870s, and the town reportedly developed on property owned by W. B. Blalock. A post office opened in 1874, and in 1878 Woodlawn had a voting box and was the scene of an alleged election fraud. By 1884 the town had an estimated 100 inhabitants and a steam gristmill, a cotton gin, and two general stores, and shipped cotton, wool, and fruit. By 1896 the community had four gristmills and gins. In 1904 Woodlawn's school system included five schools serving some 370 black pupils and two schools serving fifty-five white pupils. The population was consistently estimated at 100 inhabitants until the 1940s, when it dropped to seventy. The community had three churches and two businesses in 1949. Woodlawn began to grow again in the 1960s, possibly in response to the development of the nearby Woodlawn gas field. In 1966, 1988, and 1990 the population was estimated at 370. The population remained at 370 in 2000.