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Also known as Willow Grove, this early Texas community was named for its founder, pioneer settler James Truitt (1795-1870). Truitt was a Republic of Texas congressman, a state legislator and military company leader in the Regulator-Moderator War (1839-1844). He and his eldest son, Alfred M. Truitt, later a veteran of the Mexican War and the American Civil War, opened a store here along an early trade route about 1840. The store became a stopping place for pioneers moving west after crossing through Louisiana. As the population grew in the community that developed around Truitt's store, churches, schools and organizations were established. Truitt Masonic Lodge No. 149 was chartered in 1854. Residents were meeting in homes for worship services by 1856, and the Christian Church that was founded in the Truitt community eventually became the First Christian Church of Center. Oral tradition hods that a school opened in Truitt by 1850, but the first written documentation establishes the founding of Jim Truitt School in 1884. In 1884-85, the Houston, texas and Central Railway laid its tracks just north of Truitt, through what became the Joaquin community. residents, businesses and institutions began moving to the new railroad town, and the population of Truitt went into a stead decline after 1900. The Masonic Lodge disbanded in 1886, and the Truitt school consolidated with Joaquin schools in 1921. At the dawn of the 21st century, the Willow Grove Community Church and cemetery marked the site of the Truitt community. (2002) |
