About the Commission

The Jasper County Historical Commission is an arm of the Jasper County Commissioners Court and the Texas Historical Commission. Members are appointed by the Commissioners Court and serve as volunteers. In 2025 the Commission received the Texas Historical Commission’s Distinguished Service Award, presented at Commissioners Court on July 13.

What we do

• Historical markers. We help residents apply for Texas Historical Markers and inspect the markers already standing in the county, reporting their condition to the Texas Historical Commission.
• The library and archive. We keep a research library of family histories, county and state records, military records, school annuals, microfilm of the Jasper News-Boy, family files and donated collections.
• Research and discovery. We help genealogists, students and families, and our own researchers work in the county’s records. With the County Clerk’s office we traced the origin of the Rock Hill Freedom Colony, and a member is compiling a history of Jasper County officers from the beginning to the present.
• Programs and events. We host the annual Deep East Texas History Expo, the Haunted Jail, home school tours of the jail, and archeology and living-history displays at area festivals.

Our home

The Commission office and library are in the former Jasper County Jail on the courthouse square. The building was put up by the Works Progress Administration between 1935 and 1937 and served as the jail until 1988.

Commission members

Judy Bean, Mary Creamer, Lindsey Cox, Ron Carpenter, Johnnie Beth Freeman, Lori Horne, John Johnson, Fred McCray, Gayle Meigs, Jeanette Pittman, Renee Pittman and Keith Stephens.

Add officers and update this list as membership changes.

Jasper County

Jasper County was one of the original 23 counties of the Republic of Texas, created in 1836 and named for Sergeant William Jasper, a hero of the American Revolution. Its courthouse, completed in 1889, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.