What is the history of Lindale, Texas?
The area of Smith County where Lindale sits was inhabited long before the city was founded in 1871. In the early 1800s, the Caddo Indians were the area’s prime inhabitants; their artifacts can still be found along streams in the area. The area also was home to Cherokee Indians, who were forced out when the Republic of Texas was founded in 1836. After the American Civil WarCivil War, Richard B. Hubbard, a former officer in the Confederate Army and owner of a large plantation on what is today a retirement community called Hide-A-Way Lake, began searching for a more convenient way to ship the produce he grew on his land. Hubbard convinced railroad officials to lay track between nearby Tyler, TexasTyler and Mineola, TexasMineola. Hubbard’s brother-in-law, Elijah Lindsey, anticipating growth around the new railroad, opened the fledgling community’s first general store in 1871, and Lindale had its start; Lindsey was elected the town’s first mayor a year later. Several stories abound locally
