Discover New Chapel Hill: A Historical Overview
Published: February 9, 2009
New Chapel Hill (often referred to as Chapel Hill) is located on State Highway 64 about eight miles southeast of Tyler in central Smith County. Settlement began in this region by the late 1800s, and Texas poet Therese Kayser Lindsey was born here in 1870. Bascom School to the west of this farming area and Maggie Murph School to the east operated in the first part of the twentieth century. A Chapel Hill School also operated approximately ten miles east of Tyler. In 1945 the community of Chapel Hill came into existence when the Bascom and Murph school districts and others consolidated. Reportedly named for a church and cemetery located on a higher elevation of land, Chapel Hill included a new school as part of the Chapel Hill Independent School District, a Baptist church, and farms. In 1968 the Chapel Hill community incorporated as New Chapel Hill. By 1980 the town had a population of 618. That figure fell to 439 but by 2000 had increased to 553. New Chapel Hill has a mayor but no council, and the town includes businesses, a school, and residences.
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The following, adapted from the Chicago Manual of Style, 15th edition, is the preferred citation for this entry.
Laurie E. Jasinski, “New Chapel Hill, TX,” Handbook of Texas Online, accessed March 09, 2026, https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/new-chapel-hill-tx.
Published by the Texas State Historical Association.
TID:
HRNHB
- February 9, 2009
