09/03/2026
Read the story about the stolen Panola County Plaque that ended up in Houston.
Stolen Panola County History RETURNED!
On the town square in downtown Carthage there is a plaque that
has a few tidbits of the history of Panola County inscribed on it.
Many people in Carthage do not know the history of the plaque,
nor do they know that it was stolen by someone & later returned by a Mississippi trucker who said he was "sort of a Deputy".
The plaque originally was in a roadside park on "old" US Hwy 59N in the Grand Bluff Community. This was before "new 59N" was built in the early '70s. The park had picnic tables & trash cans & the plaque was mounted in the road side park.
"Old 59N" (as I call it) in Panola County is now FM 2792 & it intersects with FM 1794 just before Grand Bluff Cemetery heading north.
At this junction point, the old roadside park was on the left where FM 1794 heads north to the Sabine River & intersects with FM 1186 in the Horton Community.
Remember, FM 2792 was originally US 59N. There were several country stores on this road in Panola County...someday I will write about them.
After the "new" divided US 59N highway was opened in the early '70s, the old roadside park lay dormant for a few more years. Gone were the days of people stopping there for a picnic or to rest.
"Old 59N" was now the road less traveled as the new 59N Highway had "stolen" most of the traffic.
This wasn't the only thing stolen from the old roadside park...the plaque itself was stolen from the now deserted park by persons unknown.
Later TX Dot removed the park itself entirely. The plaque was long gone...or so we all thought. Here's the "rest of the story"....
The original TX-Dot warehouse was on East Sabine St. in the building that now is home to Eaton Oil Tools.
If you needed a permit for a heavy load you had to stop here to get it.
Back in the '70s, a mobile home manufacturing company located in Mississipi was always moving newly built mobile homes from Mississppi to Houston. Once the driver loaded with
the mobile home crossed into Panola County at the Bethany/State Line, he had to stop off at the Carthage TX-Dot warehouse for a permit to continue on to Houston.
At this time in the mid '70s, the TX-Dot bookkeeper in Panola County was Mr. Billie Knight. He wrote all the permits for truckers. A fine man whom I had the pleaure to know.
Mr. Knight later was the main foreman over the TX-Dot warehouse in Panola County.
One day a trucker moving a mobile home thru Panola County stopped in for a permit. As Mr. Knight was getting
the permit ready, the driver started talking about Panola County. He said, "Panola County...land of cotton...Pulaksi..
Carthage...since 1846".
Mr. Knight was puzzled that this Mississippi trucker knew so much about Panola County, thus Mr. Knight asked him how he knew all that history.
The driver replied to Mr. Knight that next door to where his company delivers the mobile homes to each week in Houston, there is an adjacent "junk shop/junk yard". He said he always looks around in the shop while he is waiting on his load to
be off loaded. In the junk shop he said there is a plaque with all the history of Panola County inscribed on it.
Mr. Knight then informed the driver the plaque was stolen out of the road side park years earlier.
The truck driver said that he himself would get the plaque back to Panola County as he would be coming back thru
Carthage in a few days heading back to Mississippi.
Mr. Knight asked the driver how he would get it from the junk shop owner. The trucker replied, "Don't worry...I am sort of a
"deputy" back in Mississippi....I will get your plaque back!".
Mr. Knight told him to be careful & again the trucker told him not to worry.
Sure enough, a few days later, the trucker stops in at the old State warehouse with the plaque!
Mr. Knight asked the trucker how he got it from the junk shop owner & asked if he had any trouble getting it.
The trucker replied that he just walked into the junk shop & told the proprietor that he was there to recover a stolen plaque from Panola County. The trucker said the owner just pointed at it without saying a word.
The trucker stated he then just walked over to it, picked it up & walked out with it in hand!
After the plaque was returned by the trucker, it was never put back in the old roadside park as TX-Dot knew the park would soon be torn down. The plaque was placed in the town square where it sits to this day.
Thanks to a Mississippi trucker (whose name has been lost forever) & to Mr. Billie Knight for asking him how he was so
knowledgeable, a piece of stolen Panola County history was returned to it's rightful resting place in Panola County.
The old road side park is long gone. Some of you may remember the park. I remember there was a sign on a fence directly across from the park that advertised the "Daniels Motel" which was 1 of only 3 motels in Carthage in the '70s.
And speaking of roadside parks, there was also one on US 59S on the right heading south out of Carthage. Sadly, now the only major roadside park left in Panola County is the one on the right on US 79 near Deberry.
Us "old timers" can remember when TX-Dot would have have signs that said "Litter Barrel, 1 Mile" back in the '60s.
We know why those were removed...LOL
I have known about this plaque theft incident for almost 50 years & wanted to pay homage to the late Mr. Billie Knight & the unknown trucker as well.
Who originally stole the plaque is not known. We will also never know how it ended up in a Houston junk shop.
I hope this encourages you to go look at the plaque on the town square & view it now with more respect as we all
nearly lost a piece of history way back then.
We can thank an unknown "Deputy" trucker from Mississippi & Mr. Billy Knight for this!
Panola County...land of cotton....old times there are not forgotten!
I hope you enjoyed this tidbit of trivia today!
So glad to get this penned for the record. If you liked this, give me a love or a like or come by the fudge shop to talk history.
Next week I will have a trivia question for you all to win free FUDGE!
