Tyler in the 1840s11 cards: 6 firsts, 1 claimed first and 4 beginnings
- Smith County’s commissioners’ court meets for the first timeElected, and seated before the end of 1846.
- The state’s inventory counts five courthouses in TylerLog cabins of 1846 and 1848, then 1852, 1910 and 1955.
- Tyler is authorized as a county seatThe Texas Legislature creates Smith County and its county seat.
- Smith County holds its first electionSmith County held its first election on August 8, 1846, choosing its first judge, clerk, sheriff, assessor, collector, treasurer and a three-member commission.
- The county’s first court session meets in a log cabinAn abandoned one-room cabin in Tyler, December 1846.
- A log courthouse, Tyler’s first civic buildingOn the north side of the square, 1847.
- Tyler gets its first post officeOne of several starts in 1847, with a courthouse plan and a congregation.
- Commissioners lay out the town around a squareA 100-acre site is bought for $150 and laid out in 28 blocks.
- Marvin Methodist, called the first church in Smith CountyOrganized in 1848 by the Revs. Sam Box and Alexander Douglas.
- First Baptist Church of Tyler is organizedSix charter members, meeting in the log courthouse.
- The Masons, Tyler’s first fraternal orderSt. John’s Lodge No. 53; the Odd Fellows followed in 1851.