Ben Wheeler is an
unincorporated community in Van Zandt County, Texas. It lies twelve
miles southeast of Canton, and has an estimated population of 400.
The area around Ben Wheeler was first settled in the 1840s by
Kentucky farmer Benjamin F. Wheeler. Originally known as Clough,
after prominent local farmer George W. Clough, the community was
renamed Ben Wheeler in 1878 after the town's post office, was
relocated to the present townsite.
The community was
beset by many hardships in its early years, including an 1893 fire
which destroyed most of the town's businesses. By 1896 the
population reached 500, but disaster struck again by way of a
smallpox epidemic that reduced the number of residents to 238 by
1904. Somewhat insulated from the effects of the Great Depression
by the East Texas Oil Boom, Ben Wheeler had 18 businesses and a
population of 375 in 1943.
As the oil boom
subsided and area cotton production fell, however, Ben Wheeler
began a decline which led to the closing of all but nine area
businesses by 1972, and the consolidation of its schools with those
in nearby Van. By 1988, however, buoyed by the growth of nearby
Tyler and Canton, the number of operating businesses in Ben Wheeler
had risen to twenty-two and in 2000 the community was home to an
estimated 400 residents.
Congratulations to Dustoff 126 for
the FTF!