About fifteen miles southeast from Gilmer is the settlement of Glenwood,
one of the most popular and progressive communities in Upshur County.
When Texas was a Republic, and even after it joined the United States,
all the land in East Texas was considered government land, or public
land, and everyone felt free to use the land or timber without
permission from anyone. Consequently some of the large cotton growers
from Louisiana would come into East Texas with their slaves and clear up
large tracts of land and put it in cotton. In a few years they would
move on to other parts. These fields would be left to grow up in pine
bushes. When the first settlers came into this part of the country, they
found a few fields that had once been in cultivation.
Near the close of the Civil War, settlers began to locate in the
Glenwood area. They established a post office and Mr. Wiley Florence was
first postmaster, who named the post office and the community. No one
knows where he got the name, but he selected the romantic name of
Glenwood. This was in 1865 or 1866. The post office was kept in Mr.
Florence’s house for a while, but was later established at its present
location. Mr. Bledsoe followed Mr. Florence as postmaster and continued
in office until the post office was discontinued and rural delivery
established.