Ratcliff, Texas | |
|---|---|
  Ratcliff  Ratcliff | |
| Coordinates: 31°23′33″N95°8′46″W / 31.39250°N 95.14611°W | |
| Country | United States |
| State | Texas |
| County | Houston |
| Time zone | UTC-6 (Central (CST)) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC-5 (CDT) |
| ZIP codes | 75858 |
| GNIS feature ID | 1382593 [1] |
Ratcliff is an unincorporated community in Houston County, Texas, in East Texas, United States. [1] According to the Handbook of Texas, the community had a population of 106 in 2000.
When a Georgia wagon train brought a group of immigrants into eastern Houston County around 1875, Ratcliff was established. It was given that name in honor of Jesse H. Ratcliff, who on February 6, 1889, erected a post office and built a sawmill in a region of virgin pines. The massive sawmilling enterprise known as Four C Mill was built on the foundation of Ratcliff's sawmill, which was sold to Central Coal and Coke Company in 1901. More than 5,000 people lived there during the boomtime of the sawmills. Up until the early 20th century, Ratcliff was a thriving lumber town. The 120,000 acres (49,000 ha) of the surrounding forest had been cleared by 1920, and the town fell into decline until the middle of the 1930s. The establishment of Davy Crockett National Forest, land sales, and a reforestation project run by the Civilian Conservation Corps all contributed to the economy's recovery. A mile west of the town, the campground known as Ratcliff Lake Recreation Area attracted tourists. Two Texas historical markers were placed in Ratcliff: one for the town itself in 1972 and another for the Four C Mill in 1973. Ratcliff had two enterprises in 1980, and 106 people lived there in 1990 and 2000. [2]
The community had three stores in operation around the time the post office opened. Ratcliff himself served as postmaster. Doctors H.L. McCall and Jake Jackson practiced medicine in the community. [3]
On April 13, 2019, an F1 tornado struck Ratcliff. This tornado snapped and uprooted trees and severely damaged a double-wide mobile home, pushing it into a wooded area. Four of its occupants were injured but later released from the hospital. [4] Another EF0 tornado hit the Davy Crockett National Forest, but the full path is unknown. [5]
Ratcliff is located at the intersection of Farm to Market Road 227 and Texas State Highway 7, 3.5 mi (5.6 km) east of Kennard, 18 mi (29 km) east of Crockett, and 36 mi (58 km) southwest of Nacogdoches in eastern Houston County. [3]
Texas State Highway 103 also travels through the community. [6]
The Old Ratcliff School was established in 1890. Dora Hager was the teacher there. The school moved closer to the community in 1901, then joined the Kennard Independent School District in 1955. [2]
Richard H. Keith, coal and lumberman. [7]
Houston County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 census, its population was 22,066. Its county seat is Crockett. Houston County was one of 46 entirely dry counties in the state of Texas, until voters in a November 2007 special election legalized the sale of alcohol in the county.
Independence is an unincorporated community in Washington County, Texas, United States. According to the Handbook of Texas, the community had a population of 140 in 2000. It is located about an hour northwest of the Greater Houston metropolitan area.
Davy Crockett National Forest in Kennard, Texas is off U.S. Highway 69 lying west of Lufkin, Texas and east of Crockett. It is administered by the United States Department of Agriculture Forest Service local headquarters in Lufkin. There are local ranger district offices located in Ratcliff.
Centralia is an unincorporated community in Trinity County, Texas, United States. In 2000, the estimated population was 53 residents. It is located within the Huntsville, Texas micropolitan area.
Pennington is an unincorporated community primarily in Trinity county in the U.S. state of Texas. Originally in Trinity County, by the 1990s part of Pennington extended to Houston County. Although it is unincorporated, it has a post office with a zip code of 75856. Its population as of 2021 is 173.
Silver is an unincorporated community in northwestern Coke County, Texas, United States. According to the Handbook of Texas, the community had a population of 60 in 2000.
Ratcliff Lake Recreation Area is a developed park within the Davy Crockett National Forest near Kennard, Texas, United States. The park surrounds a 45-acre (18 ha) lake that was once a mill pond and source of water for a sawmill which operated from 1902 to 1920. Ratcliff Lake Recreation Area was built in 1936 by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) and is operated by the United States Forest Service (USFS). The facility is open year-round and includes a large campground, picnic areas, an amphitheater, a swim area and hiking trails.
Preceded by more than a week of heavy rain, a slow-moving storm system dropped tremendous precipitation across much of Texas and Oklahoma during the nights of May 24–26, 2015, triggering record-breaking floods. Additionally, many areas reported tornado activity and lightning. Particularly hard hit were areas along the Blanco River in Hays County, Texas, where entire blocks of homes were leveled. On the morning of May 26, the National Weather Service issued a flash flood emergency for southwest Harris County and northeast Fort Bend County. The system also produced deadly tornadoes in parts of Mexico, Texas, and Oklahoma. This flood significantly contributed to the wettest month ever for Texas and Oklahoma.
The Tornado outbreak of November 16–18, 2015 was a highly unusual nocturnal late-season tornado outbreak that significantly impacted the lower Great Plains on November 16 before producing additional weaker tornadoes across parts of the Southern United States the following two days. The first day of the outbreak spawned multiple strong, long-track tornadoes, including two consecutive EF3 tornadoes that caused major damage near Pampa, Texas. Overall, the outbreak produced 61 tornadoes in all, and was described as by the National Weather Service office in Dodge City, Kansas as being "unprecedented in recorded history for southwest Kansas" given the magnitude and the late season. In addition, the tornado outbreak brought the first November tornadoes into northwest Kansas, and the first strong tornadoes in the Texas Panhandle in November, as well as the further west any F3/EF3 tornadoes touched down this late in the calendar year. Despite spawning multiple strong tornadoes after dark, no fatalities and only one minor injury occurred as a result of the outbreak.
An extended period of significant tornado activity affected the Central United States in late May 2016. This outbreak sequence came less than two weeks after another damaging tornado outbreak that affected similar areas. The most prolific day was May 24 when 44 tornadoes touched down with at least 12 of them spawned by an intense, long-tracked supercell near Dodge City, Kansas. The strongest tornado from this outbreak was a violent EF4 tornado on May 25 that caused severe damage near Solomon, Abilene, and Chapman, Kansas, injuring eight. Overall, 98 tornadoes were confirmed.
The tornado outbreak of November 30 – December 2, 2018 was a late-season tornado outbreak that occurred across portions of the West South Central states and Midwestern United States. As a potent shortwave trough moved across the southern portions of the country, it was met with ample moisture return and destabilization, resulting in widespread severe thunderstorms that produced damaging winds, hail, and tornadoes. The event began late on November 30 in Oklahoma, spreading east and resulting in one fatality in Aurora, Missouri. Several tornadic supercells moved across portions of Illinois on December 1, and resulted in 29 confirmed tornadoes. This outbreak was the largest December tornado event on record in Illinois history, surpassing the December 1957 tornado outbreak sequence. The most significant tornado of the event was an EF3 that impacted Taylorville, Illinois, damaging or destroying hundreds of structures and injuring 22 people.
The March 2019 North American blizzard was a powerful Colorado Low that produced up to two feet of snow in the plains and Midwest. Rapid snowmelt following the storm caused historic flooding, and some areas received hurricane-force wind gusts. Comparable to the 1993 Storm of the Century, the storm was labeled a bomb cyclone after barometric pressure readings dropped in excess of 24 mbar (0.71 inHg) over a 24-hour period. After the storm entered Colorado from its origination in Arizona, the pressure dropped more than 30 mbar (0.89 inHg) and rapidly intensified over the western High Plains. The severe storm set new all-time record low barometric pressure readings in Colorado, Kansas and New Mexico. The storm itself killed only one person in Colorado, but flooding caused by the storm killed at least 3, one in Iowa and at least two in Nebraska and left ~140,000 without power in Texas.
A significant severe weather and tornado outbreak affected multiple regions of the Eastern United States in mid-April 2019. Over the course of 40 hours, 75 tornadoes touched down. The outbreak produced numerous strong tornadoes throughout portions of the Deep South, while additional significant tornadoes occurred as far north as Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Delaware. The most significant tornado of the event was a long-tracked, high-end EF3 tornado that struck Alto, Texas and killed two people. Numerous weak tornadoes were also confirmed, along with numerous reports of hail and damaging straight line winds.
Municipalities and communities of Houston County, Texas, United States | ||
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| Cities |  | |
| Unincorporated communities |
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| Ghost towns | ||
| Footnotes | ‡This populated place also has portions in an adjacent county or counties | |