On Saturday, October 19, 2024, the historical marker that recognizes REEVES HENRY, Blacksmith, Inventor, and Mechanic, was dedicated with many Forney residents, Reeves Henry relatives, and notable figures from around the area in attendance.
Mr. Henry was born in Gregg County in 1859 and later moved to our area some time in the 1890s, becoming a prominent local African-American businessman in Kaufman County while establishing a flourishing blacksmith shop. In 1907 and again in 1921, he filed PATENTS for cotton-chopping machines.
Some time prior to1914, Mr. Henry opened a new shop at the corner of Center Street and Pacific Street– and business boomed! He built a home four blocks to the southeast at Broad and Pine Streets, the 1st Blackowned house in Forney to have a telephone. He was possibly the wealthiest Black man in Forney at that time and was known as a “mechanical genius.”
In 1880, he married Carrie Echols (born in 1864), and they brought into this world nine children: Felix, Josephine, Arthur Lee, Maria, Alda, Devonia, Dave, Daisy, and Zaing.
Reeves Henry died in 1930 and was buried in Prairie View Cemetery. His skills and ingenuity helped shape 20th Century life in Forney and surrounding areas.
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