The History of Edgewood, Texas

Edgewood was founded in 1878 as a railroad depot town. After Canton won the contest to be the seat of Van Zandt County, Canton residents built a shipping depot on the Texas and Pacific tracks about nine miles away. They named the site Edgewood because it sat on the edge of the East Texas Timberline — where the open prairie country meets the woods.

The new railroad town drew settlers, many of them from Mississippi, and grew steadily. By 1895 the original wooden shanties were giving way to brick buildings, a sign of a community putting down permanent roots and prospering from the trade the railroad brought.

Edgewood thrived as an agricultural shipping center. It established itself as a cotton trader's paradise, and its population flourished in the boom years from 1900 to 1920 as cotton moved out by rail. The depot town was a busy hub for the farms of the surrounding countryside.

When the cotton economy faded after the Great Depression, Edgewood reinvented itself, becoming known as the 'Tomato Capital of East Texas' and launching an annual tomato festival to celebrate the crop. Then in 1960, the discovery of the Northeast Gas Field revitalized the local economy, bringing new business and population growth. Each era — cotton, tomatoes, and natural gas — left its mark on the town.

Edgewood's proudest modern achievement is its dedication to history. Founded in 1976 as a Bicentennial project, the Heritage Park Museum of East Texas has become the focal point of the town. Covering three city blocks, it re-creates a bygone village with more than 20 historic buildings and an extensive collection of antique artifacts dating from the 1800s to the 1920s.

The park is also a gathering place, home to numerous community celebrations through the year. For a small town to assemble and maintain such an ambitious open-air museum speaks to Edgewood's deep sense of heritage. Today the town remains a quiet, close-knit community in the cattle-and-hay country of Van Zandt County — proud of a past it works hard to preserve.