# Tyler Firsts

> Firsts and beginnings from Tyler, Texas, filed one to a card. Each card is dated as exactly as its sources allow, tells the story plainly, and lists the sources it came from.

Tyler Firsts is a drawer of 165 index cards on Tyler, Texas, from 1846 to 2025: 54 firsts, 20 claimed firsts and 91 beginnings. A card is a first only when its source says first; a claimed first is one a claimant or a single named source makes, and the card names whose word it is; a beginning is a dated start the source does not call a first. Every card shows its date as exactly as the source gives it (approximate dates as "ca.", "?" or a decade; "n.d." for none), a short plain account built from the checked claim, a note where sources disagree, and the sources with the words quoted from them; each line below names the card's primary fact in the shared fact file (@tm/core). The first facts were checked on 2026-09-29; the research pass that added most of the cards, on 2026-10-15. 23 cards carry an archive picture, each credited on its card and on /credits. It is an independent project by Tyler Sites (https://tylersites.com); it is not affiliated with the City of Tyler.

## Cards (oldest first)
- [Smith County’s commissioners’ court meets for the first time](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/commissioners-court-first-meets-1846): FIRST, 1846. Fact: commissioners-court-first-meets-1846. Note: April 11, 1846, is the day the legislature created the county; July 1846 is when it was marked off from the Nacogdoches District. They are two steps, not two answers.
- [The state’s inventory counts five courthouses in Tyler](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/thc-courthouse-inventory-five-courthouses): BEGINNING, 1846–1955 (sources differ). Fact: thc-courthouse-inventory-five-courthouses. Note: The Handbook of Texas gives other years: 1847 for the log courthouse in the center of the square, 1909 for the three-story courthouse and 1954 for the present one.
- [Tyler is authorized as a county seat](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/tyler-authorized-1846): BEGINNING, April 11, 1846. Fact: tyler-authorized-1846.
- [Smith County holds its first election](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/first-county-election-1846-08-08): FIRST, August 8, 1846. Fact: first-county-election-1846-08-08.
- [The county’s first court session meets in a log cabin](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/first-court-session-1846-supreme-court-1851): FIRST, December 1846. Fact: first-court-session-1846-supreme-court-1851.
- [A log courthouse, Tyler’s first civic building](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/first-civic-building-log-courthouse-1847): FIRST, 1847 (sources differ). Fact: first-civic-building-log-courthouse-1847. Note: The state’s courthouse inventory lists log courthouses of 1846 and 1848 rather than two of 1847.
- [Tyler gets its first post office](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/first-post-office-1847): FIRST, 1847. Fact: first-post-office-1847.
- [Commissioners lay out the town around a square](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/town-laid-out-1847): BEGINNING, February 6, 1847. Fact: tyler-site-bought-1847.
- [Marvin Methodist, called the first church in Smith County](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/marvin-methodist-first-church-1848): CLAIMED FIRST (per the 1968 marker), 1848 (sources differ). Fact: marvin-methodist-first-church-1848. Note: The Handbook of Texas dates a Methodist church to 1846. First Baptist’s marker dates that church to April 8, 1848, so which congregation came first depends on which Methodist date is right.
- [First Baptist Church of Tyler is organized](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/first-baptist-tyler-organized-1848-04-08): BEGINNING, April 8, 1848. Fact: first-baptist-tyler-organized-1848-04-08.
- [The Masons, Tyler’s first fraternal order](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/first-fraternal-organization-masons-1849): FIRST, 1849 (sources differ). Fact: first-fraternal-organization-masons-1849. Note: Filed under 1849, the year in the city’s National Register documentation; the Handbook of Texas says 1848.
- [Tyler’s oldest recorded school: four boys, west of town](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/oldest-recorded-school-1850): FIRST, About 1850. Fact: oldest-recorded-school-1850.
- [Tyler is incorporated](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/tyler-incorporated-1850): BEGINNING, January 29, 1850. Fact: tyler-incorporated-1850.
- [A female seminary opens, later Charnwood Institute](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/charnwood-institute-1851-1865): BEGINNING, 1851 (sources differ). Fact: charnwood-institute-1851-1865. Note: The sources date Charnwood Institute differently, and neither says they describe one school. The Handbook gives the name Tyler Female Seminary to another school, Tyler University’s women’s department.
- [The Tyler Telegraph, the county’s first newspaper](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/first-newspaper-tyler-telegraph-1851): FIRST, 1851. Fact: first-newspaper-tyler-telegraph-1851.
- [The 1852 courthouse, whose bricks went into later ones](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/courthouse-1852-bricks-reused): BEGINNING, 1852 (sources differ). Fact: courthouse-1852-bricks-reused. Note: The same inventory dates the next courthouse to 1910 in its own record, and the Handbook of Texas to 1909. These are building bricks, not street paving.
- [The Methodists’ Sunday school, called “the first”](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/methodist-first-sunday-school-1852): CLAIMED FIRST (per the city’s survey), 1852. Fact: methodist-first-sunday-school-1852. Note: “The first Sunday School” is the documentation’s phrase. Read in context it is the Methodists’ first, not necessarily the town’s.
- [Oakwood Cemetery’s oldest marked grave](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/oakwood-cemetery-oldest-marked-grave-1852): BEGINNING, 1852. Fact: oakwood-cemetery-oldest-marked-grave-1852.
- [Tyler University opens as a Baptist academy](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/tyler-university-academy-1852): BEGINNING, 1852 or 1853 (sources differ). Fact: tyler-university-academy-1852. Note: The Handbook of Texas says it opened in 1852 or 1853; the city’s National Register documentation says it was established in 1854.
- [The first try at a railroad: a charter, and no track](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/dallas-tyler-railroad-charter-1854): FIRST, 1854. Fact: dallas-tyler-railroad-charter-1854.
- [The first brick buildings in Smith County](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/first-brick-buildings-ferguson-1855): FIRST, 1855–58. Fact: first-brick-buildings-ferguson-1855.
- [The first known record of a Disciples of Christ church](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/first-christian-church-1859-1889): FIRST, 1859. Fact: first-christian-church-1859-1889.
- [Camp Ford becomes a prison camp](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/camp-ford-prison-camp-1863): BEGINNING, July 21, 1863. Fact: camp-ford-origin-1862.
- [Missionary work begins what becomes Christ Episcopal Church](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/christ-episcopal-church-beginnings): BEGINNING, 1866–67. Fact: christ-episcopal-church-beginnings.
- [The first school for Black children in the Tyler area](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/first-black-school-late-1860s-freedmens-bureau): FIRST, Late 1860s. Fact: first-black-school-late-1860s-freedmens-bureau. Note: Neither source says the accounts describe the same school.
- [Murphey the Jeweler opens at Ferguson and Broadway](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/murphey-the-jeweler-1868): BEGINNING, January 1868. Fact: murphey-the-jeweler-1868.
- [Bonner and Williams, Tyler’s first bank](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/first-bank-bonner-williams-1870): FIRST, 1870. Fact: first-bank-bonner-williams-1870.
- [First Presbyterian Church is organized](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/first-presbyterian-1870): BEGINNING, 1870. Fact: first-presbyterian-1870.
- [St. James CME Church is organized](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/st-james-cme-organized-1870): BEGINNING, Probably 1870. Fact: st-james-cme-organized-1870.
- [The Tyler Tap Railroad is chartered](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/tyler-tap-chartered-1871): BEGINNING, December 1, 1871. Fact: tyler-tap-chartered-1871.
- [Second Colored Baptist Church, today’s True Vine, is founded](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/true-vine-baptist-1872): BEGINNING, 1872. Fact: true-vine-baptist-1872.
- [The first railroad reaches Tyler](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/first-railroad-reaches-tyler-1873): FIRST, 1873–74 (sources differ). Fact: first-railroad-reached-tyler-1873. Note: Sources differ on the year: the 2001 Tyler cover document and the Handbook’s Tyler Tap entry say April 1873; the Handbook’s Tyler entry and the downtown nomination say April 1874.
- [Gas lamps light the square](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/gas-lamps-on-square-1873): BEGINNING, January 1873. Fact: gas-lamps-on-square-1873.
- [Tyler’s first fair, as the city’s survey dates it](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/first-fair-1875): CLAIMED FIRST (per the city’s survey), 1875 (sources differ). Fact: first-fair-1875. Note: Sources disagree on when the fair began: 1875 in the city’s documentation, 1874 in the 2019 Rose Garden nomination, 1855 in a 1965 chapter by Morris Burton, and 1912, for the fair association, in a 1995 Texas House resolution. The East Texas State Fair counts its own years from a later start.
- [Christ Episcopal Church builds its first church](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/christ-church-first-building-1876): BEGINNING, 1876. Fact: christ-church-first-building-1876.
- [The new Court of Criminal Appeals sits in Tyler](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/court-of-criminal-appeals-met-in-tyler): BEGINNING, 1876. Fact: court-of-criminal-appeals-met-in-tyler.
- [The Governor Hubbard brings in the Tyler Tap’s first train](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/tyler-tap-first-train-1877): BEGINNING, October 1, 1877. Fact: tyler-tap-first-train-governor-hubbard-1877-10-01. Note: The Tyler Tap’s own first train, not the first railroad to reach Tyler, which came in 1873–74.
- [The first recorded sale of rose plants near Tyler](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/first-recorded-rose-sale-1879): FIRST, 1879. Fact: first-recorded-rose-sale-1879. Note: A 1990 marker counts Mathew and T. J. Shamburger among the first to raise roses commercially in East Texas, a first they share.
- [The railroad puts its shops and hospital in Tyler](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/texas-st-louis-shops-hospital-1879): BEGINNING, 1879 (sources differ). Fact: texas-st-louis-shops-hospital-1879. Note: Another Handbook of Texas entry says the Tyler Tap was renamed the Texas and St. Louis Railway on May 14, 1879, by an amendment to its charter, rather than acquired.
- [Tyler’s Catholics become a parish](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/catholic-parish-1880-first-church-1882): BEGINNING, 1880. Fact: catholic-parish-1880-first-church-1882.
- [Smith County’s fourth jail goes up](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/smith-county-jail-1881): BEGINNING, 1880–81. Fact: smith-county-jail-1881.
- [Tyler’s first fire department](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/first-fire-department-1882): FIRST, 1882. Fact: first-fire-department-1882.
- [Tyler Colored High School, called the first known Black school](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/tyler-colored-high-school-1882): CLAIMED FIRST (per the city’s survey), 1882 (sources differ). Fact: tyler-colored-high-school-1882. Note: The Handbook of Texas says children at a year-old Black school in Tyler were attacked in June 1868.
- [Tyler’s first public school opens](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/first-public-school-1883-hubbard-1886): FIRST, 1883. Fact: first-public-school-1883-hubbard-1886.
- [Voters approve a water plant on Victory Lake](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/water-plant-victory-lake-1883-bellwood-1894): BEGINNING, 1883 (sources differ). Fact: water-plant-victory-lake-1883-bellwood-1894. Note: Who built the Bellwood dam is disputed: the dam’s own nomination says the private Tyler Water Company did. And the Handbook of Texas says Lake Tyler’s first water came on January 12, 1949.
- [Land is bought for a Jewish cemetery](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/jewish-beth-el-cemetery-1884): BEGINNING, 1884. Fact: jewish-beth-el-cemetery-1884.
- [By 1885: a waterworks, an opera house and an ice factory](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/tyler-1885-waterworks-opera-house): BEGINNING, 1885 (sources differ). Fact: tyler-1885-waterworks-opera-house. Note: The city’s 2000 survey dates Tyler’s first ice factory a year later, to 1886.
- [Tyler’s first ice factory, as the city’s survey tells it](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/first-ice-factory-1886): CLAIMED FIRST (per the city’s survey), 1886 (sources differ). Fact: first-ice-factory-1886. Note: The Handbook of Texas lists an ice factory in Tyler by 1885.
- [The Grande Opera House opens](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/grande-opera-house-1887): BEGINNING, 1887. Fact: grande-opera-house-1887.
- [Moore Grocery, Tyler’s first wholesale grocery](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/moore-grocery-first-wholesale-grocery-1887): FIRST, 1887. Fact: moore-grocery-first-wholesale-grocery-1887.
- [Congregation Beth El is founded](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/temple-beth-el-founded-1887): BEGINNING, 1887. Fact: temple-beth-el-founded-1887.
- [Calvary Baptist, the first known white suburban church](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/calvary-baptist-first-suburban-church-1888): FIRST, 1888. Fact: calvary-baptist-first-suburban-church-1888.
- [The Cotton Belt’s hospital for railroad workers](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/cotton-belt-hospital-1888): BEGINNING, 1888 (sources differ). Fact: cotton-belt-hospital-1888. Note: The Handbook of Texas says the railroad located its hospital in Tyler in 1879, after acquiring the Tyler Tap.
- [Electric light comes to Tyler](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/electricity-arrives-1888): BEGINNING, 1888. Fact: electricity-arrives-1888.
- [West End Negro School, Tyler’s first public school for Black children](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/west-end-negro-school-first-public-black-school): FIRST, 1888 (sources differ). Fact: west-end-negro-school-first-public-black-school. Note: The same document elsewhere calls it “the 1882 West End Negro School”; 1888 is the year it gives where it describes the school in detail.
- [Cedar Street Methodist is organized as Tyler City Mission](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/cedar-street-methodist-1888): BEGINNING, September 1888. Fact: cedar-street-methodist-1888.
- [Savas Xydias, one of Tyler’s first Middle Eastern residents](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/savas-xydias-middle-eastern-1889): BEGINNING, 1889. Fact: savas-xydias-middle-eastern-1889.
- [St. James CME, the oldest surviving Black church building in Tyler](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/st-james-cme-oldest-black-church-building-1891): BEGINNING, Likely 1889–91. Fact: st-james-cme-oldest-black-church-building-1891.
- [Horace Chilton, Texas’ first native-born U.S. senator](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/chilton-first-native-born-us-senator): FIRST, 1891. Fact: chilton-first-native-born-us-senator.
- [A brick church called the first in Texas built by Black Texans](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/first-brick-church-texas-built-by-african-americans-1891): CLAIMED FIRST (per the City of Tyler), 1891. Fact: first-brick-church-texas-built-by-african-americans-1891. Note: The National Register documents cite the City of Tyler, one of them with “reportedly.” The building is gone; the congregation moved to West Lollar Street and built there in 1933.
- [Patterson’s 5 Acre, a subdivision for Black buyers](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/patterson-five-acre-black-subdivision-1892): BEGINNING, 1892. Fact: patterson-five-acre-black-subdivision-1892.
- [Hispanic families appear in the city directory](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/hispanic-families-city-directory-1893): BEGINNING, 1893. Fact: hispanic-families-city-directory-1893. Note: 1893 is the earliest directory listing found, not a date of arrival.
- [The Lake Bellwood dam, one of the earliest of its kind](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/hydraulic-fill-dam-lake-bellwood-1894): BEGINNING, 1894 (sources differ). Fact: hydraulic-fill-dam-lake-bellwood-1894. Note: Who built it differs: the dam’s own nomination says the private Tyler Water Company, bought by B. B. Cain in 1893; the city’s 2000 documentation says “the City built an earthen dam in 1894.”
- [Texas College opens with six students](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/texas-college-first-class-six-students): BEGINNING, 1894. Fact: texas-college-first-class-six-students.
- [Telephone service comes to Tyler](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/telephone-service-1896): BEGINNING, 1896. Fact: telephone-service-1896.
- [Congregation Ahavath Achim is formed](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/ahavath-achim-1898): BEGINNING, 1898. Fact: ahavath-achim-1898.
- [The Cotton Belt, called the first Southwest railroad to burn oil](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/cotton-belt-first-oil-fuel-southwest): CLAIMED FIRST (per the city’s survey), 1898. Fact: cotton-belt-first-oil-fuel-southwest. Note: A first for the railroad, not for Tyler. The year comes from the Cotton Belt Building’s National Register nomination.
- [Moving pictures are shown in Tyler for the first time](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/first-movies-march-1898): FIRST, March 1898. Fact: first-movies-march-1898.
- [Five women’s clubs start a subscription library](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/public-library-1899-subscription): BEGINNING, 1899. Fact: public-library-1899-subscription. Note: The city’s National Register documentation records that the library’s goal was to make books available to all “[white]” citizens.
- [Tyler Commercial College files its charter](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/tyler-commercial-college-1899-largest): BEGINNING, 1899. Fact: tyler-commercial-college-1899-largest.
- [The Tyler Chamber of Commerce is created](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/tyler-chamber-of-commerce-1900): BEGINNING, 1900. Fact: tyler-chamber-of-commerce-1900.
- [The East Texas Conservatory of Music opens](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/east-texas-conservatory-1902): BEGINNING, 1902. Fact: east-texas-conservatory-1902.
- [The Carnegie Library, Tyler’s first public library building](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/carnegie-library-first-public-library-1904): FIRST, 1904. Fact: carnegie-library-first-public-library-1904.
- [A Baptist academy opens, later Butler College](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/butler-college-first-president-butler): BEGINNING, 1905 (sources differ). Fact: butler-college-first-president-butler. Note: Its early name differs by source: East Texas Baptist Academy on its marker, Texas Baptist Academy in the Handbook of Texas, East Texas Academy on another marker. The marker says the association voted to close the college in 1971; the Handbook says it closed in the summer of 1972.
- [Texas College organizes its first college-level class](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/texas-college-first-college-class-1905): BEGINNING, 1905. Fact: texas-college-first-college-class-1905.
- [Red brick goes down on Tyler’s streets](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/brick-paving-early-1900s): BEGINNING, Early 1900s (sources differ). Fact: brick-paving-began-1906-nomination. Note: Accounts disagree on the start: July 2, 1906, in the city’s National Register documentation; around 1912 in another account.
- [Sarah Bernhardt plays the Grand Opera House](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/sarah-bernhardt-grand-opera-house-1906): BEGINNING, April 2, 1906. Fact: sarah-bernhardt-grand-opera-house-1906.
- [W. C. Stallings, the nation’s first agent for a single county](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/first-county-agent-nation-stallings-1906): FIRST, November 12, 1906. Fact: first-county-agent-nation-stallings-1906.
- [Tyler becomes a city](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/city-status-1907-commission-1915): BEGINNING, 1907. Fact: city-status-1907-commission-1915.
- [The Tyler Gas Company begins supplying gas](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/tyler-gas-company-1908): BEGINNING, 1908. Fact: tyler-gas-company-1908.
- [Smith County builds a three-story courthouse](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/courthouse-1909-and-1954): BEGINNING, 1909 (sources differ). Fact: courthouse-1909-and-1954. Note: The state’s courthouse inventory dates this courthouse to 1910 and the present one to 1955.
- [J. J. Ray, Tyler’s first police officer](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/first-police-officer-1909-chief-1916): FIRST, 1909. Fact: first-police-officer-1909-chief-1916.
- [The city runs a public hospital](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/city-public-hospital-1910): BEGINNING, 1910. Fact: city-public-hospital-1910.
- [The East Texas Fair Association is founded](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/east-texas-fair-association-1912): BEGINNING, 1912 (sources differ). Fact: east-texas-fair-association-1912. Note: The East Texas State Fair marked its 110th year in 2026, a count a 1912 founding with wartime gaps does not neatly match. The city’s 2000 documentation dates the first Tyler fair to 1875.
- [The city’s first known money for parks](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/first-city-park-money-1912): FIRST, 1912. Fact: first-city-park-money-1912.
- [The Tyler Elbertas, a minor league team named for a peach](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/tyler-elbertas-minor-league-1912): BEGINNING, 1912. Fact: tyler-elbertas-minor-league-1912.
- [The city council approves buying Bergfeld Park](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/city-buys-bergfeld-park-1913): BEGINNING, June 21, 1913. Fact: bergfeld-park-bought-1913.
- [Tyler Traction runs its first streetcar, to the fair](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/tyler-traction-first-streetcar-1913): BEGINNING, September 1913. Fact: tyler-traction-first-streetcar-1913.
- [The first train carload of rose bushes ships](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/first-rose-train-carload-1917): FIRST, 1917. Fact: first-rose-train-carload-1917. Note: The share of the nation’s rose bushes is a 1940s figure, and no longer holds.
- [Voters fund the county’s first paved roads](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/first-paved-roads-bond-1919-concrete-1921): FIRST, 1919. Fact: first-paved-roads-bond-1919-concrete-1921. Note: The Handbook of Texas calls the 1921 Dixie Highway, from Tyler to Winona, the county’s first hard-surface road; it was built of iron ore, gravel, asphalt and crushed limestone, not concrete. Both firsts can be true.
- [Emmett Scott High School is completed](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/emmett-scott-high-school-1920-closed-1970): BEGINNING, 1920. Fact: emmett-scott-high-school-1920-closed-1970.
- [Spanish surnames multiply in the city directories](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/hispanic-neighborhood-1920s): BEGINNING, The 1920s. Fact: hispanic-neighborhood-1920s.
- [The Dixie Highway, the county’s first hard-surface road](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/dixie-highway-first-hard-surface-road-1921): FIRST, 1921. Fact: dixie-highway-first-hard-surface-road-1921. Note: The city’s National Register documentation calls a 1921 road on the Tyler-Dallas Highway the county’s first concrete-paved road. The two firsts are for different surfaces.
- [Citizens National Bank builds Tyler’s first “skyscraper”](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/first-skyscraper-citizens-national-1924): FIRST, 1924. Fact: first-skyscraper-citizens-national-1924.
- [Martin Hall goes up at Texas College](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/martin-hall-texas-college-1924): BEGINNING, 1924. Fact: martin-hall-texas-college-1924.
- [The Tyler Trojans join the East Texas League](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/tyler-trojans-baseball-1924-1955): BEGINNING, 1924. Fact: tyler-trojans-baseball-1924-1955.
- [Tyler Junior College opens at Tyler High School](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/tyler-junior-college-opens-1926): BEGINNING, September 17, 1926. Fact: tjc-opened-1926.
- [Wood T. Brookshire opens a grocery on the square](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/brookshire-grocery-opens-1928): BEGINNING, September 1, 1928. Fact: brookshire-grocery-1928.
- [The fair’s first “Colored Day,” after a petition](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/fair-first-colored-day-1928): FIRST, September 27, 1928. Fact: fair-first-colored-day-1928.
- [Maurice Shamburger plants the first azaleas along Lindsey Lane](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/azaleas-planted-on-lindsey-lane-1929): FIRST, 1929. Fact: azalea-tradition-1929.
- [The Tyler Morning Telegraph debuts](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/tyler-morning-telegraph-debuts-1929): BEGINNING, November 14, 1929. Fact: tyler-morning-telegraph-debut-1929.
- [Tyler adopts its first city plan](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/first-city-plan-1931): FIRST, 1931. Fact: first-city-plan-1931.
- [Radio station KGKB moves to Tyler](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/kgkb-radio-moves-to-tyler-1931): BEGINNING, 1931. Fact: kgkb-radio-moves-to-tyler-1931.
- [The first producing oil well in Smith County](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/first-oil-well-smith-county-1931): FIRST, March 1931. Fact: first-oil-well-smith-county-1931.
- [Tyler’s airport opens on Highway 64](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/airport-opened-may-1931): BEGINNING, May 1931 (sources differ). Fact: airport-opened-may-1931. Note: The same document elsewhere calls Pounds Field “the local airport established in 1929,” the year the airport committee was appointed.
- [People’s Bank raises a 15-story tower](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/peoples-national-bank-15-story-1932): BEGINNING, 1932 (sources differ). Fact: peoples-national-bank-15-story-1932. Note: The city’s National Register documentation says People’s National Bank “is thought to date to 1896 or 1897.”
- [Texas College is accredited as a four-year college](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/texas-college-accreditation-milestones): BEGINNING, 1932. Fact: texas-college-accreditation-milestones.
- [The Woman’s Building is completed](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/woman-s-building-1932): BEGINNING, 1932. Fact: woman-s-building-1932.
- [Margaret Copeland is crowned the first Rose Queen](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/first-rose-queen-1933): FIRST, 1933 (sources differ). Fact: first-rose-queen-1933. Note: Sources differ on her name and her town: Copeland of Palestine, or, in the Handbook of Texas, Copland of Tyler.
- [The first rose festival opens in Tyler](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/first-rose-festival-1933): FIRST, October 11, 1933 (sources differ). Fact: first-rose-festival-1933. Note: Two figures for the money: $1,500 raised, in the Handbook of Texas; a budget of $1,800, in the National Register nomination.
- [Tyler Barber College, called the country’s first for African Americans](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/morgan-first-black-barber-college-1934): CLAIMED FIRST (per the downtown nomination), 1934 (sources differ). Fact: morgan-first-black-barber-college-1934. Note: A 2004 state marker says Morgan opened his college on Irwin Street with five chairs “by 1933”; the 2022 nomination says 1934.
- [Dr. Archie S. Senate moves his practice to East Erwin](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/senate-building-black-physician-1930s): BEGINNING, By 1934. Fact: senate-building-black-physician-1930s.
- [Tyler Pipe, an iron foundry, dates to 1935](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/tyler-pipe-dates-to-1935): BEGINNING, 1935. Fact: tyler-pipe-1935.
- [Church women start a day care for low-income families](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/church-women-day-care-1936): BEGINNING, 1936. Fact: church-women-day-care-1936.
- [Sam Greenberg’s smokehouse, the start of Greenberg Turkeys](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/greenberg-smoked-turkeys-1937): BEGINNING, 1937. Fact: greenberg-smoked-turkeys-1937.
- [Mother Frances Hospital opens a day early](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/mother-frances-hospital-opens-1937): BEGINNING, March 18, 1937. Fact: mother-frances-hospital-1937.
- [The Mayfair Club opens for the Queen’s Ball](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/mayfair-club-1938): BEGINNING, 1938. Fact: mayfair-club-1938.
- [Live rose bushes fill the Rose Show for the first time](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/rose-show-first-live-bushes-1938): FIRST, 1938. Fact: rose-show-first-live-bushes-1938.
- [City Hall, the first building to hold all the city’s offices](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/tyler-city-hall-1938-first-to-house-all-offices): FIRST, 1938 (sources differ). Fact: tyler-city-hall-1938-first-to-house-all-offices. Note: The city’s National Register documentation calls it “the 1937-38 Tyler City Hall,” and the downtown nomination says it was completed in 1938 in one place and built in 1939 in another.
- [The Blackstone Building holds Tyler’s first union bus terminal](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/blackstone-building-first-union-bus-terminal-1938): FIRST, February 1938. Fact: blackstone-building-first-union-bus-terminal-1938.
- [The Ella Reid Library, once the Negro Public Library](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/ella-reid-negro-public-library-1940s): BEGINNING, About 1940–41. Fact: ella-reid-negro-public-library-1940s.
- [The city’s survey dates Tyler’s first Black officers to the 1940s](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/police-first-black-officers-1940s): CLAIMED FIRST (per the city’s survey), The 1940s (sources differ). Fact: police-first-black-officers-1940s. Note: No names are given. KETK has called Ira Brown Tyler’s first African American policeman; see his card.
- [An Army Signal Corps school trains at Tyler Commercial College](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/signal-corps-school-tyler-commercial-1942): BEGINNING, April 1942. Fact: signal-corps-school-tyler-commercial-1942.
- [Construction begins on Camp Fannin](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/camp-fannin-1942-1943): BEGINNING, December 1, 1942 (sources differ). Fact: camp-fannin-1942-1943. Note: The Handbook’s Smith County entry says the camp was constructed in 1943.
- [Prisoners of war arrive at Camp Fannin](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/camp-fannin-first-pows-1943): BEGINNING, October 1943 (sources differ). Fact: camp-fannin-first-pows-1943. Note: The Handbook of Texas says all but the cantonment was declared surplus on January 19, 1946.
- [Voters create a separate junior college district](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/tjc-independent-district-1945): BEGINNING, November 1945. Fact: tjc-independent-district-1945.
- [Delta flies from Tyler again](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/delta-airlines-tyler-1946): BEGINNING, 1946. Fact: delta-airlines-tyler-1946.
- [Texas College houses a campus of Tyler Junior College](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/texas-college-tjc-campus-1946-1966): BEGINNING, 1946–66. Fact: texas-college-tjc-campus-1946-1966.
- [The Tyler Foundation and a rose research foundation start](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/tyler-foundation-rose-research-1946): BEGINNING, 1946. Fact: tyler-foundation-rose-research-1946.
- [Camp Fannin becomes a tuberculosis sanatorium](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/east-texas-tb-sanatorium-1947-first-patients-1949): BEGINNING, 1947 (sources differ). Fact: east-texas-tb-sanatorium-1947-first-patients-1949. Note: The Handbook’s Camp Fannin entry says the base became the sanatorium the year after 1947, in 1948.
- [The Apache Roses perform for the first time](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/apache-roses-first-perform-1947): FIRST, September 27, 1947. Fact: apache-belles-formed-1947.
- [The first Black attorney to try a case in the county courthouse](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/first-black-attorney-tried-case-1948): FIRST, 1948. Fact: first-black-attorney-tried-case-1948.
- [Bergfeld Center, called Tyler’s first suburban shopping center](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/bergfeld-center-opens-1949): CLAIMED FIRST (per the city’s survey), 1949 (sources differ). Fact: bergfeld-first-suburban-shopping-center-sources. Note: One survey, both wordings: “Tyler’s first suburban shopping center” and “one of Tyler’s first.” The card keeps both.
- [First water fills the original Lake Tyler](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/first-water-in-lake-tyler-1949): FIRST, January 12, 1949. Fact: lake-tyler-original-lake-mud-creek.
- [Tyler Civic Theatre opens a building for theatre in the round](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/civic-theatre-in-the-round-1951): CLAIMED FIRST (per the theatre), 1951. Fact: tyler-civic-theatre-in-the-round-1951. Note: “Nation’s first” is the theatre’s own claim.
- [The Tyler Municipal Rose Garden officially opens](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/rose-garden-opens-1952): BEGINNING, 1952. Fact: rose-garden-opened-1952. Note: “Largest” is the nomination’s word, and its count is from the spring of 2018.
- [KLTV Channel 7 signs on](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/kltv-signs-on-1954): BEGINNING, October 14, 1954. Fact: kltv-signed-on-1954. Note: The details about Lucille Buford and the hangar are KLTV’s own account.
- [Elvis Presley plays the Mayfair Club](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/elvis-mayfair-1955): BEGINNING, 1955. Fact: elvis-mayfair-1955. Note: The nomination dates a stage photograph to January 25, 1955. It does not give the day of the first show.
- [Andrew Melontree Sr., a first in the hospital laboratories](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/melontree-hospital-lab-firsts-1956): CLAIMED FIRST (per a 2020 county release), 1956. Fact: melontree-hospital-lab-firsts-1956. Note: The firsts are the county’s own, from a news release KLTV published.
- [Downtown trade declines for the first time](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/downtown-commerce-first-decline-1960s): FIRST, The 1960s and 1970s. Fact: downtown-commerce-first-decline-1960s.
- [Judge Justice rules that Texas must desegregate its schools](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/us-v-texas-1970-justice-tyler): BEGINNING, 1970. Fact: us-v-texas-1970-justice-tyler.
- [A federal judge orders Tyler’s schools desegregated](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/us-v-tyler-isd-desegregation-1970): BEGINNING, July 27, 1970. Fact: us-v-tyler-isd-desegregation-1970.
- [Tyler State College is founded](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/tyler-state-college-founded-1971): BEGINNING, 1971. Fact: ut-tyler-history.
- [The chest hospital joins the University of Texas System](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/east-texas-chest-hospital-joins-ut-1977): BEGINNING, 1977. Fact: east-texas-chest-hospital-joins-ut-1977.
- [Plyler v. Doe begins in Tyler](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/plyler-v-doe-tyler-1977-1982): BEGINNING, September 6, 1977. Fact: plyler-v-doe-tyler-1977-1982.
- [Andrew Melontree Sr., the county’s first Black commissioner](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/melontree-first-black-county-commissioner-1982): CLAIMED FIRST (per the county), 1982 (sources differ). Fact: melontree-first-black-county-commissioner-1982. Note: KLTV’s headline limits the first to the 20th century, which leaves room for Black officeholders during Reconstruction.
- [Adopt-a-Highway starts in Tyler](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/adopt-a-highway-starts-in-tyler-1985): FIRST, March 9, 1985. Fact: adopt-a-highway-started-tyler-1985.
- [Herb Hayter, the police department’s first minority supervisor](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/herb-hayter-first-minority-supervisor-1995): FIRST, 1995. Fact: herb-hayter-first-minority-supervisor-1995.
- [Charnwood becomes Tyler’s first National Register historic district](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/charnwood-first-historic-district-1999): FIRST, August 20, 1999. Fact: charnwood-first-national-register-district-1999.
- [JoAnn Hampton, in her words the first Black woman commissioner](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/joann-hampton-first-black-woman-commissioner-2003): CLAIMED FIRST (per JoAnn Hampton), January 1, 2003. Fact: joann-hampton-first-black-woman-commissioner-2003. Note: The first is her own statement, in a 2023 interview.
- [Barbara Bass, Tyler’s first woman mayor](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/barbara-bass-first-woman-mayor-2008): FIRST, May 2008. Fact: barbara-bass-first-woman-mayor-2008.
- [Heritage Neighborhood No. 1, Tyler’s first local historic overlay](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/heritage-neighborhood-no-1-2009): FIRST, December 11, 2009. Fact: heritage-neighborhood-no-1-2009. Note: The overlay governs the buildings; no source says it covers the brick pavement.
- [Stanley’s neon sign, called the first in Tyler to get a marker](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/stanleys-neon-sign-marker-2011): CLAIMED FIRST (per the North Texas SBDC), 2011. Fact: stanleys-neon-sign-marker-2011. Note: The “first” comes from one source, the North Texas SBDC.
- [Viva La Rosa brings a quinceañera float to the Rose Parade](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/viva-la-rosa-float-begins-2022): BEGINNING, 2022. Fact: viva-la-rosa-began-2022.
- [The UT Tyler School of Medicine seats its first class](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/ut-tyler-medicine-first-class-2023): FIRST, July 2023. Fact: ut-tyler-medical-school-first-class-2023.
- [The East Texas State Fair adds its first PRCA-sanctioned rodeo](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/state-fair-first-prca-rodeo-2025): FIRST, 2025. Fact: east-texas-state-fair-first-prca-rodeo-2025.
- [Bethlehem First Baptist, Tyler’s first Black Baptist congregation](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/bethlehem-first-baptist-first-black-baptist-congregation): FIRST, Undated. Fact: bethlehem-first-baptist-first-black-baptist-congregation. Note: No founding year is given; the source says only that it formed after the Civil War.
- [The Cotton Belt, called the first railroad to go all diesel](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/cotton-belt-first-full-diesel-claim): CLAIMED FIRST (per H. J. McKenzie), Undated. Fact: cotton-belt-first-full-diesel-claim. Note: The claim rests on McKenzie’s own account and carries no date.
- [The Douglas Addition, the first with a park and curving streets](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/douglas-addition-first-curving-streets): FIRST, Undated. Fact: douglas-addition-first-curving-streets. Note: The plat is not dated; the passage sits among 19th-century plats.
- [McDonald Lorance, Tyler’s first mayor](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/first-mayor-mcdonald-lorance): FIRST, Undated. Fact: first-mayor-mcdonald-lorance. Note: The Handbook of Texas does not give the year he took office; it places him just before the 1850 incorporation.
- [Budding roses on dog-rose stock, called a first for local nurserymen](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/first-rose-budding-dog-rose-stock): CLAIMED FIRST (per the Rose Garden nomination), Undated. Fact: first-rose-budding-dog-rose-stock. Note: The first is not dated or tied to a place; the nomination cites an unpublished 2011 slide-show script by Sam C. Kidd.
- [Gustavo Ramirez, as of 2019 the only Hispanic elected to the council](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/gustavo-ramirez-first-hispanic-council-member): CLAIMED FIRST (per KETK), Undated. Fact: gustavo-ramirez-first-hispanic-council-member. Note: Neither story gives his years in office. “Only” is KETK’s word, as of October 2019.
- [Ira Brown, called Tyler’s first Black policeman in a headline](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/ira-brown-first-black-policeman): CLAIMED FIRST (per KETK), Undated (sources differ). Fact: ira-brown-first-black-policeman. Note: The city’s 2000 documentation says Tyler’s first African American officers were hired in the 1940s.
- [KLTV calls its founder the first woman to own and operate a TV station](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/kltv-founder-first-woman-owner): CLAIMED FIRST (per KLTV), Undated. Fact: kltv-lucille-buford-first-woman-owner. Note: These are KLTV’s words about its own founder, and they carry no date.
- [Quincy Beavers, Smith County’s first Black judge](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/firsts/quincy-beavers-first-black-judge-smith-county): FIRST, Undated. Fact: quincy-beavers-first-black-judge-smith-county. Note: The story does not give the year he first took office.

## By decade
- [1840s](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/decades/1840s): 11 cards
- [1850s](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/decades/1850s): 11 cards
- [1860s](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/decades/1860s): 4 cards
- [1870s](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/decades/1870s): 13 cards
- [1880s](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/decades/1880s): 19 cards
- [1890s](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/decades/1890s): 12 cards
- [1900s](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/decades/1900s): 12 cards
- [1910s](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/decades/1910s): 8 cards
- [1920s](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/decades/1920s): 11 cards
- [1930s](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/decades/1930s): 19 cards
- [1940s](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/decades/1940s): 14 cards
- [1950s](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/decades/1950s): 5 cards
- [1960s](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/decades/1960s): 1 card
- [1970s](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/decades/1970s): 5 cards
- [1980s](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/decades/1980s): 2 cards
- [1990s](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/decades/1990s): 2 cards
- [2000s](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/decades/2000s): 3 cards
- [2010s](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/decades/2010s): 1 card
- [2020s](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/decades/2020s): 3 cards
- [Undated](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/decades/undated): 9 cards

## By shelf
- [Town and land](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/shelves/town): The founding of Tyler and its square, its neighborhoods and historic districts, and its water, light, gas and parks.
- [Civic and government](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/shelves/government): The county and its courthouses, the courts, City Hall, the police, the fire department, the city’s plans and the wartime camps.
- [Rails and roads](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/shelves/transport): The railroads and their shops, the brick streets, the first paved roads, a streetcar, a bus terminal and the airport.
- [Roses and gardens](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/shelves/roses): Rose fields and nurseries, azaleas, the rose festival and its queens, and the municipal rose garden.
- [Schools and colleges](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/shelves/schools): Schools, colleges and libraries, from a school for four boys to the court cases over who could attend.
- [Health and medicine](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/shelves/health): Hospitals, a sanatorium, a laboratory and a medical school.
- [Churches and faith](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/shelves/faith): Congregations, churches and synagogues, and the cemeteries beside them.
- [Black Tyler](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/shelves/black): Schools, churches, businesses and public offices of Tyler’s African American community, and the segregation they were built against.
- [Business and work](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/shelves/business): Banks, stores, a grocery and a foundry, an oil well, a skyscraper and a shopping center.
- [Media, stage and fair](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/shelves/media): Newspapers, radio and television, theaters and an opera house, the fair, and the ball clubs.

## Pages
- [The drawer](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/)
- [Every card, with search and filters](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/browse)
- [Decades](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/decades)
- [Shelves](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/shelves)
- [On this day](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/on-this-day)
- [Make a share card](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/share)
- [Sources and method](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/sources)
- [Picture credits](https://firsts-ruby.vercel.app/credits)

## What this site does not claim
- A laying pattern (running bond, herringbone) or maker stamps for Tyler's bricks
- "Tyler grows half the nation's roses" in the present tense
- A single start year for the brick streets (say "early 1900s into the 1940s")