Biohazard Cleanup Near Cushing Historic District Cushing, TX

Cushing is a small city in Nacogdoches County, deep in the Piney Woods of East Texas.

Cushing was founded in 1902, after the Texas and New Orleans Railroad announced it would build through the area, and the town was platted in 1903.

The town is named for Edward Benjamin Cushing, a railroad official with the Southern Pacific at Houston who later served as a major in World War I.

When the railroad arrived in 1904, Cushing developed into a major shipping center for East Texas lumber.

By 1914 Cushing had about 600 residents, a bank, a newspaper, and a hotel, and its population peaked at about 1,500 in 1925.

As the surrounding pine forests were cut over, Cushing shrank, and the 1950 census counted just 473 residents.

Cushing has burned down a total of three times in its history and been rebuilt each time.

The 2020 census counted 557 people in Cushing, living in 222 households, out of 269 housing units.

Cushing covers about 1.3 square miles, all of it land.

The city is served by the Cushing Independent School District.