Oletha is an unincorporated community in Limestone County, Texas,[1] originally settled in the 1850s under the name Pottersville.[2][3][4] Texas State Highway 14 extends to Oletha via Farm to Market Road 1246.

Oletha was once described by a reporter for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram as "an eye-blinker of a town in East Central Texas".[5] One notable person from Oletha is Gib Lewis, the first person to be elected five times as Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives.[5]

Another colorful native of the town was Forrest Gibson, a convicted murderer known as "Goodeye" because he "had lost an eye in a fight in which Gibson had bitten his opponent's ear off".[6]

References

  1. ↑ "Oletha". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior. Retrieved December 3, 2019.
  2. ↑ PANUS, STEPHANIE A. (June 15, 2010). "OLETHA, TX". tshaonline.org.
  3. ↑ "Oletha, Texas - Updated November, 2019".
  4. ↑ Betty Dooley Awbrey, Claude Dooley, Why Stop?: A Guide to Texas Historical Roadside Markers (2005), p. 510.
  5. 1 2 Patrick L. Cox, Michael Phillips, The House Will Come To Order: How the Texas Speaker Became a Power in State and National Politics(2010), p. 136.
  6. ↑ Texas Department of Criminal Justice (2004), p. 33.

31°21′31″N 96°24′47″W / 31.35861°N 96.41306°W / 31.35861; -96.41306

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