Tyler in the 1890s12 cards: 2 firsts, 2 claimed firsts and 8 beginnings
- Horace Chilton, Texas’ first native-born U.S. senatorHorace Chilton, a lawyer, was appointed to the U.S. Senate in 1891 by Gov. James Hogg and was Texas’ first native-born U.S. senator.
- A brick church called the first in Texas built by Black TexansBethlehem Baptist, on West Front Street, 1891.
- Patterson’s 5 Acre, a subdivision for Black buyersLots sold to Ezekiel Williams, Daniel Furch and others.
- Hispanic families appear in the city directoryDomingo Garcia, listed as Mexican, ran a restaurant at Broadway and Erwin.
- The Lake Bellwood dam, one of the earliest of its kindA hydraulic-fill dam for the waterworks; it cost $1,140.
- Texas College opens with six studentsCreated and supported by St. James CME Church.
- Telephone service comes to TylerTwo phone companies until the 1940s.
- Congregation Ahavath Achim is formedA wooden synagogue in 1910; Conservative from 1956.
- The Cotton Belt, called the first Southwest railroad to burn oilWood-fired locomotives, converted to Corsicana oil.
- Moving pictures are shown in Tyler for the first timeSponsored by a Methodist church; adults paid 35 cents.
- Five women’s clubs start a subscription libraryFree to the public by 1901; the Carnegie Library followed in 1904.
- Tyler Commercial College files its charterIts marker says it grew to be the nation’s largest commercial college.