Judge E.J. Mantooth was born in Cocke County, Tennessee, on April 10, 1852, and moved with his family to Angelina County in 1857. He attended private school in Texas because there were no public schools, graduated from Cumberland University in Lebanon, Tennessee, in 1879, and was admitted to the Texas Bar in 1880. He married Caledonia Watson on May 31, 1874. On March 12, 1899, they bought 396 acres at the corner of Raguet Street and Mantooth Avenue from E.W. Frost, and from this property established the homestead where Judge and Mrs. Mantooth lived with their eleven children. Judge Mantooth organized and became president of the Lufkin Telephone Exchange in 1905, also served as an officer or director of several other major companies and banks in Angelina County, and served as mayor of Lufkin from 1895 to 1897 and from 1901 to 1903. Because of his generous gifts of time and money, he could be considered the father of Lufkin. On April 1, 1999, Dr. Peyton L. Denman, grandson and heir of Judge and Mrs. Mantooth, gave this property to the City of Lufkin to be used as a park.