Nov 22-23: 21st Annual Milam Settlers Day

The Bevils Rangers - Entertainers Extrodinaire

Milam, TX

Live entertainment and music, cook-offs, quilt shows, demos, a wild west-style shootout and more.


www.milamsettlersday.org

Milam Settlers Day

Milam Settlers Day is devoted to the preservation of Milam’s history. The reconstruction of the Causey House was one early project of the organization. The acquisition of a marker to designate the place where Stephen F. Austin spent his first night in Texas has recently been placed on Las Borregas Creek. Future plans include historical markers for the Milam Cemetery and for the town of Milam.  
Money raised for Milam Settlers Day is also used for the upkeep of El Camino Park, the site of Milam Settlers Day. In addition, monetary help is provided for the upkeep of the Milam Cemetery and for a scholarship to a local graduate.  
Milam Settlers Day, which takes place each year on the weekend before Thanksgiving, is located in Milam, Texas at the junction of Hwys. 87 and 21. 

Milam, Texas

Milam is Sabine County's oldest town, located asix miles north of Hemphill in northern Sabine County. The highway passing through Milam (Hwy. 21) is said to be the oldest roadway on the North American continent.  Indians were the first travelers on this historical route, and Milam was a trading post before the white men came to Texas.  The site was originally an Indian watering place called Las Borregas by the Spanish.
When the Spaniards were trying to settle Texas, the King of Spain had a road built for his soldiers to travel over.  He used the road through Milam at the beginning of the 1700s.  It was called “El Camino Real,” and was later called “The Old San Antonio Road.”
Stephen F. Austin spent his first night in Texas on the Borregas Creek and described the area as a red dirt mound, which is where it got its original name when John S. Roberts from Louisiana established his trading post as “Red Mound” in 1834.  The name was changed to Milam in 1835 in honor of Benjamin Rush Milam. The new town of Milam was made the County Seat of Sabine County in 1836 and continued as county seat until 1858.
The population of Milam at that time was 3,600.  It was the chief town in Texas during the Republic of Texas.  The Milam Post Office is the oldest post office in Texas that has been in use ever since it started.  While under the Republic of Texas, Milam was a port of entry with a customs collector. During the Civil War it became county headquarters for the Army Quartermaster Department of the Confederacy.
During the antebellum Texas period the town was known for its two large racetracks, which drew crowds that were easily accommodated by its equally well-known inns and taverns.

Milam Settlers Day Organization