Jacksonville, Cherokee County, Texas, USA

Jacksonville is a city in northeastern Cherokee County in the forested Piney Woods region of East Texas, about 27 miles south of Tyler and 12 miles north of Rusk, the county seat. The city covers roughly 14.2 square miles and occupies gently rolling terrain near Gum Creek, surrounded by pine and hardwood forests, farms, ranchland and numerous small lakes. U.S. Highway 69 and U.S. Highway 79 intersect in Jacksonville, making it an important commercial and transportation center for the surrounding rural area. The community began along Gum Creek in 1847, was named for early settlers Jackson Smith and Dr. William Jackson, and moved about two miles east after the International–Great Northern Railroad arrived in 1872. Jacksonville later became known as the “Tomato Capital of the World” because of its regional tomato-growing and shipping industry, a heritage celebrated through the annual Tomato Fest and reflected in landmarks such as the Tomato Bowl. The city had 13,997 residents in the 2020 census and is the principal city of the Jacksonville micropolitan area, which encompasses Cherokee County.