HARRISON COUNTY, TEXAS

Our History

Harrison County was founded in 1839 by the Republic of Texas.

HARRISON COUNTY, TEXAS

Founded by the Republic of Texas. Built by the People Who Stayed.

In 1839, the Republic of Texas established Harrison County on its eastern edge. It grew quickly into one of the largest and wealthiest counties in antebellum Texas, with fertile land, a booming economy, and a community that would survive civil war, reconstruction, two world wars, and everything that came after. The county seat, Marshall, still sits at the center of it all.

And through all of it, Harrison County’s people served. Some of them made history in ways the whole country eventually came to know.

HARRISON COUNTY’S OWN

Four Men from Marshall Who Flew

with the Tuskegee Airmen

During World War II, Harrison County sent men and women to serve in every branch of the military. Among them were four members of the Tuskegee Airmen, the celebrated all-Black aviation unit that trained at the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama. They enlisted in the Army Air Corps and waited more than a year for the War Department to organize a segregated training facility. Then they flew. They served with skill and courage, in a country that still had not fully reckoned with what equality meant.

Fred Weathersby

Flight Crew

Fred Weathersby served as part of the flight crew, the ground-level work that kept the Tuskegee pilots operational and in the air. His contribution, like that of every crew member, was essential to every mission flown by the unit.

Romeo Williams

Pilot

Romeo Williams became a pilot, one of the most elite designations available to Tuskegee trainees. His photograph, signed to his mother in 1942, survives in the museum’s collection and is displayed as part of the exhibit.

Mac Hopkins

Flight Instructor & Aerial Photographer

Mac Hopkins served as a flight instructor and aerial photographer, shaping the next generation of Tuskegee pilots long after he had mastered the skies himself. A recorded interview with Mac Hopkins is available for viewing through the museum.

Charlie Johnson

Officer

Charlie Johnson was commissioned as an officer, one of four Harrison County men to serve with the Tuskegee Airmen. No photograph of Charlie Johnson is known to exist. His name, his rank, and his service remain part of this county’s permanent record.