The first settlers in Rising Star, including the families of Andrew Agnew, Isaac Agnew, Fletcher Fields, David McKinley, Allis Smith, and W.W. Smith, arrived in a wagon train from Gregg County on Jan. 6, 1876. The area was known for hardships including Indian raids, vigilante activities, and gunfights, but a stable community developed around a log school-church building erected in 1876. The first store was founded about 1879 by Thomas W. Anderson and his son William, and a post office was established in 1880. According to the most creditable account of the town's name, the settlers proposed Star for the post office, but U.S. postal authorities rejected it because another Texas town already had that name; after arguing all night over a new choice, they saw the morning star as they left their meeting and agreed on Rising Star. The city was first incorporated in 1891, and in a 1905 election voters chose to dissolve the corporation, though the charter was restored later that same year. Rising Star was the home of Texas poet laureate Lexie Dean Robertson from 1939 to 1941. A unique local structure is the city hall, built of stone from a buried petrified forest. The economy is based on ranching, farming, including Spanish peanuts as a chief crop, commercial pecans, industry, and oil.