Cherokee County is a county in Texas, United States, in the east-central part of the state along the Neches River. It had a population of 50,412 at the 2020 census and covers 1,062 square miles (2,750 km2), of which 1,053 square miles (2,730 km2) is land and 9.3 square miles (24 km2) is water, centred near 31°50′N 95°10′W.<\/p>\n
Rusk is the county seat, located about 130 miles southeast of Dallas and 160 miles north of Houston; its postal code is 75785. The county has six incorporated cities, four incorporated towns, one census-designated place, and more than twenty unincorporated communities. It observes Central time.<\/p>\n
Cherokee County groups its places into six cities, four towns, one CDP (Shadybrook) and a long list of unincorporated communities and former settlements scattered through the county’s timberland. Two of the towns, Bullard and Troup, sit mostly across the line in Smith County, and Reklaw straddles the Rusk County line — each is included here because part of its footprint lies in Cherokee County.<\/p>\n
| Place<\/th>\n | Type<\/th>\n | Pop.<\/th>\n | ZIP<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jacksonville<\/td>\n | City<\/td>\n | 14,825<\/td>\n | 75766<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Rusk<\/td>\n | City · seat<\/td>\n | 5,313<\/td>\n | 75785<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| New Summerfield<\/td>\n | City<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | 75780<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Reklaw<\/td>\n | City<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | 75784<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Gallatin<\/td>\n | City<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Alto<\/td>\n | Town<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | 75925<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Bullard<\/td>\n | Town<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | 75757<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Troup<\/td>\n | Town<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | 75789<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Cuney<\/td>\n | Town<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | 75759<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Wells<\/td>\n | Town<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | 75976<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Shadybrook<\/td>\n | CDP<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Blackjack<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Central High<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Circle<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Concord<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Cove Springs<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Craft<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Dialville<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Elm Grove<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Forest<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Gould<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Henry’s Chapel<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Ironton<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Linwood<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Maydelle<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Mixon<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Mount Selman<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| New Hope<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Oakland<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Pine Grove<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Ponta<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Reese<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Salem<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Shady Grove<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Sweet Union<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Weeping Mary<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n Weeping Mary is a historically Black freedmen’s community founded by formerly enslaved families after the Civil War, one of several such settlements in this part of East Texas. A handful of names from the old list — Atoy, Brunswick, Bulah, Corine, Emmaus, Griffin, Java, Larissa, Lone Star, Mewshaw, Morrill, Pierces Chapel, Prices, Redlawn, Rock Hill, Tecula, Turney, and Wild Hurst (Wildhurst) — are historical ghost-town sites rather than present-day places and have been dropped from the table; Cherokee Landing (a lake-access point on Lake Palestine, not a settlement) and Hudson Chapel and Mittie were also removed for the same reason.<\/p>\n ZIP Codes<\/h2>\nGallatin and the smaller unincorporated communities have no ZIP code of their own and are served by the post office of the nearest town listed above.<\/p>\n Geography<\/h2>\nCherokee County lies in the East Texas Piney Woods, a hilly, densely forested belt of pine and hardwood timberland cut by the Neches River, which forms most of the county’s western boundary, and by Lake Palestine, which laps into the county’s northwest corner. Angelina National Forest lies to the southeast and part of the Neches River National Wildlife Refuge falls within the county.<\/p>\n The county borders Smith County<\/a> to the north, Rusk County<\/a> to the northeast, Nacogdoches County<\/a> to the southeast, Angelina County<\/a> to the south, Houston County<\/a> to the southwest, Anderson County<\/a> to the west, and Henderson County<\/a> to the northwest.<\/p>\n Cherokee County had a population of 50,412 at the 2020 census, spread across 1,053 square miles of land for a density of roughly 48 people per square mile. Jacksonville is the largest community by a wide margin, followed by Rusk, the county seat. Median household income in the county runs well below the Texas median of $75,780, consistent with the county’s rural, timber- and manufacturing-based economy.<\/p>\n Timber and forestry remain central to the county’s economy, alongside poultry processing, light manufacturing, and healthcare centred on Jacksonville. Jacksonville College, a private two-year college founded in 1899, and Lon Morris College’s former Jacksonville campus have long anchored the city’s identity as an education hub; the East Texas region’s tomato-growing heritage also gave Jacksonville the nickname “Tomato Capital of the World” in the early 20th century. Rusk is home to the Texas State Railroad, a heritage steam railroad running between Rusk and Palestine, and to the Rusk State Hospital.<\/p>\n Cherokee County was created from Nacogdoches County and organized on July 13, 1846, taking its name from the Cherokee people who had settled in the area in the early 1800s after being displaced from the southeastern United States. In 1839, following rising tensions with Anglo-American settlers, the Republic of Texas forcibly expelled the Cherokee and allied bands from the region in the Cherokee War, an event that shaped the county’s subsequent Anglo-American settlement. The arrival of railroads between 1872 and 1910 fixed the pattern of towns still visible today, including the rise of Jacksonville as the county’s commercial center.<\/p>\n U.S. Routes 69, 79, 84, and 175 cross the county, along with State Highways 21, 110, 135, and 294.<\/p>\n Tyler Pounds Regional Airport, about 30 miles north in Smith County, is the nearest commercial airport.<\/p>\n Where is Cherokee County, Texas?<\/strong> What is the population of Cherokee County?<\/strong> How big is Cherokee County?<\/strong> What is the county seat of Cherokee County?<\/strong> How many towns are in Cherokee County?<\/strong> What ZIP codes are in Cherokee County?<\/strong> |