History of Mount Haven: An African-American Settlement in Cherokee County


By: Laurie E. Jasinski

Published: August 26, 2004

Mount Haven is a small rural community located on Farm Road 747 about three miles west of Jacksonville in northwestern Cherokee County. The town was founded as an African-American settlement sometime during the late 1800s. In 1884 Mount Haven was designated as its own school district, and students were taught in a local church. In 1925 a three-room school was constructed with funds from the Rosenwald Foundation. Instructors of the eight grades included Bessie Goss and Charlie Ragsdale. At that time the community consisted of scattered homes and farms. Mount Haven School was consolidated with the nearby Jacksonville Independent School District in 1969. County maps in the 1980s still showed a church in the area. In 2000 Mount Haven had thirty residents.

TSHA is a proud affiliate of University of Texas at Austin
Cherokee County History (Jacksonville, Texas: Cherokee County Historical Commission, 1986).

Places:

The following, adapted from the Chicago Manual of Style, 15th edition, is the preferred citation for this entry.

Laurie E. Jasinski, “Mount Haven, TX,” Handbook of Texas Online, accessed March 09, 2026, https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/mount-haven-tx.

Published by the Texas State Historical Association.

TID: HNM85

August 26, 2004

Find out more about this place from our Texas Almanac.

Place
Mount Haven
Currently Exists
Yes
Place Type
Town
USGS ID
1363249
Town Fields
  • Has post office: No
  • Is Incorporated: No
Belongs to
  • Cherokee County
Coordinates
  • Latitude: 31.96016660°
  • Longitude: -95.33161720°
Population Counts
People Year
30 2009

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