[5] In the later parts of the 1800s, White Oak was a small farming community with three sawmills located on thick forested land.

Most sought to either work at the large sawmills dominating the area or farm the land near the creaks and rivers.

[4] Local land owners, Andrew J. Tuttle and his father-in-law, John Bumpus, gathered a group of men in the area to erect a new school.

Mr. Tuttle's uncle, Pleas Harris, and Kaleb Bumpus donated land near a spring on which to build the new school.

Local tales say Tuttle and Bumpus noticed the two White Oak trees on either side of the building after construction.

[6] The community grew during the oil boom of the 1930s, and continued to increase after World War II.

A very small portion in the northwestern corner of White Oak is in the Gladewater Independent School District.