William Wills arrived in northern Van Zandt County in 1846 and built a double-pen log cabin. He purchased additional acreage at his homesite in 1856 to establish a rest stop for travelers on the Dallas–Shreveport road. A town was laid out in 1873 when the Texas and Pacific Railway completed a line near Wills’s property. Wills Point served as the gateway to rich farmlands for new settlers, and the town prospered as the shipping point for agricultural products and livestock.
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