JOINERVILLE, TEXAS. Joinerville was seven miles west of Henderson in western Rusk County. It was originally called Cyril and then Miller or Miller Schoolhouse until 1930, when it became Joinerville in honor of Columbus M. (Dad) Joinerqv, who brought in the first oil well of the area in 1930. The Joinerville post office was established in 1931 with Esther L. Berry as postmistress. During the boom years after 1930 Joinerville had a population of 1,500, thirty-five businesses, and a post office. By 1940, however, its population had dropped to 500, and during the 1940s the number of residents declined further to 350; the reported number of businesses went down to four. After a slight upswing during the 1950s and 1960s, the population fell greatly, and in 1980 through 2000 Joinerville reported 140 residents and up to four businesses. The town is near the site of a former Cherokee Indian village.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Garland Roscoe Farmer, The Realm of Rusk County (Henderson, Texas: Henderson Times, 1951). Kilgore News Herald, July 16, 1972. Dorman H. Winfrey, A History of Rusk County (Waco: Texian, 1961).
