Coffeeville, located in the eastern part of Upshur County, claims the
honor of being the third or fourth settlement made in East Texas.
Tradition says that during the Civil War, or before that time, it was
almost impossible to buy coffee anywhere. The settlers used parched
corn, okra, and almost everything else as a substitute for coffee. At
this time there was quite a little town at Coffeeville and one of the
merchants went to Jefferson or Shreveport and brought back a quantity of
green coffee! When the settlers learned about it, everybody rushed in to
get a supply of coffee. As that was the only place they could buy
coffee, they nicknamed it “Coffeeville,” and it has kept the name ever
since. Coffeeville has an interesting early history and served as an
important distributing point for East-Texas.
Dr. Cunliff was one of the early settlers and practiced medicine here
all his active life. Hal Cunliff was post master a long time. This was
one of the first post offices established in Upshur County. Mail was
brought from Pittsburg by La Fayette and on to Coffeeville, three times
a week. Joe Spratt ran a store here at an early date. He brought his
goods from Jefferson. J. P. Morgan and Henry Collins ran stores
following Joe Spratt. George Murrell ran a store in the present store
building, which was at one time used as a saloon. C. W. Williamson
settled where he still lives. A public well was dug here back in the
early days, and is still in use.
Gerald Hogg, father of the Hogg boys of Gilmer, settled here and raised
a large and influential family. Mose Bell ran a gin and grist mill in
the early days. Charlie Melton lived here where C. R. Ambrose now lives.
A Mr. Wright also ran a store at Coffeeville in the early days. Frank
Chapman used to run a blacksmith shop here.