About Kingston
The History of Kingston
A couple of almost dead cedar trees and a concrete foundation are the only landmarks denoting the location of "old" Kingston which was located one and one-half miles west and one mile south of the present town.
"Old" Kingston had its beginning with a school and church house called "King's Chapel" for Jeff King who was instrumental in its construction. R. E . Ramsey was reported to have, also, helped with the building.
Eventually two stores, a gin, and blacksmith shop were erected and a post office was established by J. F. Robinson in 1894. Thinking that the little settlement would become a town and wishing to honor Mr . Kin the name, Kingston, was chosen for the post office.
All land in the area was owned in common by the Indian Nation. White settlers could not have possession of any land except by becoming an Indian citizen through marriage or adoption. He could, also, lease land from an Indian and obtain a permit from the tribal government to live in1he territory. Indians were allowed to have as much land under their control as they could farm. Most of the land was untilled . Large herds of cattle and horses roamed the prairie with no fences to confine them.
Coming of railroad results in new townsite
With the coming of the St. Louis and San Francisco railroad through the Chickasaw Nation in 1900,Mr. J. Hamp Willis, whose grandparents came from Mississippi to the community later named for the family in 1844, laid out a new townsite on the railroad nam:ing it "Helen" after his two-year-old daughter.
A town sprung up almost overnight. Business men from "old" Kingston and Cliff moved to the townsite to have access to the railroad. Prior to this, all products-dry goods, hardware, and livestock--were brought by wagon from Denison or Pottsboro, Texas.
The Statler Herndon store, which housed the Kingston postoffice, was moved to the new town in 1901. Postmaster, J. R. Herndon, asked that its name be changed to Helen, but the postal department refused because there was a Helena, I. T. already.
After a few years, the confusion of having a "Helen" depot and "Kingston" postoffice came to an end when Mr. Willis asked the railroad company to change the_name of the depot to Kingston.
Source: Kingston 1976 Yearbook
