In two thousand fifteen, an Aledo man named Larry Driskill confessed to a Parker County murder from two thousand five. The Innocence Project of Texas says that confession was false. On March sixth, two thousand five, the body of Bobbie Sue Hill, a twenty-nine-year-old mother of four, was found in a creek in Parker County. She had been strangled. The case went cold. In October two thousand fourteen, the Texas Rangers took it up. According to the Innocence Project of Texas, the Ranger on the case had Hill's boyfriend, who told investigators he had seen a man drive off with her, undergo forensic hypnosis, nine years after the crime. The group says his description of the suspect changed considerably. A new sketch went out in local media. In a Marshall Project podcast, reporter Maurice Chammah says a pawnshop owner in Aledo saw it and named Driskill. Texas Ranger James Holland questioned him. Driskill confessed, and on January fourteenth, two thousand fifteen, he was arrested for capital murder. In that confession, as described in an arrest affidavit, he placed the body in a creek bed on Jenkins Road in Aledo. The Innocence Project of Texas says no physical evidence tied him to the crime, that details of the confession did not match it, and that he took it back almost immediately. After two and a half years in jail, unable to make bond, he pleaded no contest in exchange for fifteen years. The Rangers record him as convicted in July two thousand seventeen. The group says the Parker County District Attorney's office agreed to DNA testing of evidence from the scene. As of October two thousand twenty six, the Rangers' cold case page still listed the case as solved, and the conviction remained in dispute.

RoadyGoat →

The Midnight Call From Annetta South RoadyGoat

A few miles south of Aledo sits the town of Annetta South. Just after midnight on October fourth, two thousand twelve, the Parker County nine one one center took a call from a home there. The caller was a seventeen-year-old. He told the operator he had just killed his mother and his younger sister, who was fifteen. The dispatcher sent deputies and kept him on the line for about twenty minutes while they drove out. When they arrived, he followed the instructions he had been given, walked out with his hands visible, and was taken into custody. His father was out of town that night. Sheriff Larry Fowler said he could not explain why it happened. Don't ask me what a motive is, the sheriff said, because I don't know. In January two thousand thirteen, prosecutors put the teenager's written statement into evidence at a pretrial hearing. In it, he said Rob Zombie's two thousand seven remake of the movie Halloween had inspired him. The killings shocked the small community around Aledo. He was charged with capital murder. For a time, a judge ruled him incompetent to stand trial, and he was held in a maximum security mental hospital. On April thirtieth, two thousand fifteen, the judge signed an order restoring his competency, and he pleaded guilty to both murders. He received two forty-five-year sentences, running at the same time. He can qualify for parole in as little as twenty-two years. The family had urged the deal so no one would have to go through a capital murder trial. The prosecutor, Robert Duboise, said the father and the surviving siblings had forgiven him, to a depth that should inspire everybody.

RoadyGoat →

Chicken-Fried Steak on Front Street RoadyGoat

If Press Cafe is the new face of downtown Aledo, the Aledo Diner up the block at 213 North Front Street is the old-school one. It is exactly what it sounds like, a plain, family-run, original-style diner with nothing fancy about it, the kind of place that opens early and serves a town its breakfast. Regulars line up for fluffy pancakes, biscuits and gravy, big omelettes, and a chicken-fried steak that locals will argue is among the best in the county, with homemade salsa on the side. It keeps small-town hours, mornings into the early afternoon and closed on Sundays, the rhythm of a place that runs on regulars rather than tourists. People around here only half-joke that it is the best-kept secret in Parker County. Sitting right on the same Front Street that grew up against the Texas and Pacific tracks, it is the unpretentious counterweight to Aledo's newer shine, a working diner doing one honest thing well. (Source: Aledo Diner; City of Aledo business directory.)

RoadyGoat →

Bankhead Highway in Aledo

1916

Commonly referred to as the "Broadway of America," the Bankhead Highway linked cities and towns throughout the nation as one of the first transcontinental highways of the 1920s. In the wake of the first World War, the American government sought to ensure proper defense and military transportation through an extensive national highway system. Senator John Hollis Bankhead of Alabama, along with the National Good Roads Congress, organized the Bankhead Highway Association in 1916. This paved the way for modern American tourism, commercial travel and daily transit. The Bankhead Highway extends more than 900 miles within the state of Texas, from Texarkana to El Paso, totaling about one-third of the National Road's complete length. Initially, the City of Aledo was located one mile south of the Highway, which stretched from east to west through Parker County. The route currently establishes the northern boundary of the future city limits of Aledo. The segment of the Bankhead Highway which connects Watherford to Aledo, remains the most frequently utilized and longest, continuously-named portion of the entire road. Amidst the growing addition of new housing developments, one can still find remnants of old diary farms, as well as rows of sycamore trees planted in memory of WWI veterans. Today, the Bankhead Highway represents an important transitiion from the 19th century to the modern age. It is one of the most significant infrastructure developments in American History, connection people and communities from across the nation. (2015)

Historical Marker →

Gratz, Lawson Daniel

1864

Lawson Daniel Gratz, African-American Civil War veteran and Buffalo Soldier , was born a slave in Kentucky. Sources give his birth date variously as 1834, 1836, and 1839. When he gained freedom and volunteered for service in the Union Army on June 24, 1864, enlisting officers recorded his birthplace as Fayette County, Kentucky, and his age as thirty, making 1834 possibly the year of his birth. The 1900 United States census recorded the time of his birth as September 1839. A Texas Historical Marker lists Gratz as a native of Mason County, Kentucky, and born on the “plantation of Benjamin Gratz” on September 15, 1839. Gratz (or Gratts, as his name was written at times) became a sergeant in Company C of the 114th United States Colored Troops, a unit that was ordered to Virginia in January 1865 and participated in Gen. Ulysses S. Grant’s campaign that forced the surrender of Gen. Robert E. Lee ’s Confederate army at Appomattox in April. The 114th USCT remained in Virginia until July 1865 and were then ordered to the Rio Grande as part of the United States Army guarding the border with Mexico. Gratz and his fellow soldiers were mustered out of service in April 1867. Gratz moved for a brief time to Washington, D.C., before joining the newly-created Tenth United States Cavalry in August 1867. The Tenth Cavalry under the command of Col. Benjamin Grierson campaigned against the Plains Indians, especially the Comanches , from 1867 to 1875 and earned the nickname “Buffalo Soldiers” for their skill and tenacity. Gratz suffered an accidental wound that destroyed vision in his right eye in 1868, but he learned to aim with his left eye and remained in the Tenth Cavalry until 1872, when he was discharged at Fort Richardson, Texas. Following his discharge, Gratz moved to Albany, Shackleford County, Texas. He worked as a farmer and as a teamster, hauling hides eastward to Fort Worth and Dallas. On September 24, 1877, Gratz married sixteen-year old Rosa Ann (or Rosanna) Cass in Shackleford County, and the couple began a family that eventually included fourteen children. The family moved to a small farm near Annetta, Parker County, in 1892. The 1900 United States census listed Gratz (age sixty) with his wife Rosa and nine children in the household. They lived in Annetta until Gratz’s death from a heart attack on June 18, 1909. He was buried at Willow Springs Cemetery in Parker County. Lawson D. Gratz is honored by a marker erected in Parker County by the Texas Historical Commission , and his name is found on the Wall of Honor at the African American Civil War Monument in Washington, D.C.

Tsha Handbook → · 3.9 mi away

City of Aledo

1879

In 1849, the U. S. Army built Fort Worth to establish a line of defense against Indian raids and also to protect Indian lands from settlement. By 1855, farms, ranches and small settlements dotted eastern Parker County and the frontier encroached into hunting lands inhabited for years by Comanche and Kiowa tribes. By 1856, sufficient settlement had taken place and Parker County was created. When the Texas and Pacific Railroad laid tracks in 1879, the community of Aledo was established. At first, the community was known as Parker Station, but was changed in 1882 to Aledo, named after Aledo, Illinois, the hometown of a railroad official. By the beginning of the 20th century, Aledo was the commercial center of east Parker County with business development near the train station and along north and south front streets. There were two water-powered mills in operation near Aledo. The transcontinental Bankhead Highway bypassed downtown Aledo in the 1920s, but the route currently establishes the northern boundary of the future city limits of the City of Aledo. By 1960, Aledo was growing because engineers and professionals from the bomber plant in Fort Worth wanted to live in a small community. On May 8, 1963, Aledo was incorporated as a city with 550 residents. The initial city government in 1963 consisted of Mayor Robert Daugherty and commissioners Felix Reynolds and Joe Whitmire. Citizens Jack Holt and Dub Bearden were also principal promoters to have Aledo recognized as a city. Since then, Aledo has continued to grow and prosper as reflected in its slogan, “Rich Heritage, Dynamic Future.”

Historical Marker →

First Baptist Church of Aledo

1879

First Baptist Church Of Aledo This congregation was organized on September 25, 1879. The first church building was located on land (2.5 mi. SE) donated by a Mr. Middleton, who asked that the structure be named Alma Hall in memory of his daughter. The hall was shared with a Masonic Lodge and a Methodist congregation. Elder Isaac McMurray served as pastor of the Alma Hall Church until 1884, when it merged with the Ebenezer Church. Soon after the consolidation, the congregation moved to the railroad town of Aledo. Here the members worshiped in the community schoolhouse until a sanctuary was completed at this site in 1891. In 1913 it was replaced by a larger structure, built under the supervision of Joe Hopkins and with the assistance of church members. Later additions to the site were made to meet the demands of the congregation's continued growth. For over a century the First Baptist Church of Aledo has been instrumental in the development of the surrounding area. Pastors here have included many prominent Baptist preachers, and church members have actively served as leaders of the community. The church's programs continue to reflect the ideals of its pioneer founders. (1983)

Historical Marker →

Tri-County Electric Cooperative, Inc.

1935

Tri-County Electric Cooperative, Inc., is a member-owned electric utility with administrative offices at 200 Bailey Ranch Road in Aledo, Texas, and offices in Azle, Keller, Granbury, Seymour, and Munday, Texas. By late 2020 the cooperative was the fourth largest electric cooperative in Texas, had more than 94,000 members, and served over 120,000 meters in sixteen Texas counties: Archer, Baylor, Denton, Foard, Haskell, Hood, Jack, King, Knox, Palo Pinto, Parker, Stonewall, Tarrant, Throckmorton, Wilbarger, and Wise. Like other electric cooperatives , Tri-County was created to serve rural residents in areas deemed cost-prohibitive by investor-owned utilities. The region that it was originally organized to serve was designated as "Texas 101-Parker" by the Rural Electrification Administration (REA), a federal agency signed into existence by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in May 1935 (see RURAL ELECTRIFICATION ) . A temporary cooperative was organized at a meeting attended by more than 100 people on October 25, 1938, at Liberty School, north of Azle. L. E. "Bud" Moran and James Knox Peden, both of Azle, were elected president and secretary, respectively, and authorized to file a preliminary application with the REA to build 200 miles of line to serve their communities. Tri-County was incorporated on March 20, 1939, with Samuel Dowell Walker of Springtown as president, J. W. Shivers of Keller as vice-president, Peden as secretary-treasurer, and Mac Hall "Mack" Skidmore of Azle as superintendent. The meeting was held in Azle at a stone building at 124 West Main Street, which served as the cooperative's first office and which in 2020 housed the city's historical museum. The cooperative was officially chartered in August of 1939. The cooperative secured loans through the REA to build sections of line as membership grew. In 1971 it began to use the National Rural Utilities Cooperative Finance Corporation (CFC)-a member-owned lending co-op-to supplement REA financing. In June 1994 Tri-County Co-op "bought out" its loans from the REA's successor, the Rural Utilities Service (RUS), and began to use the CFC as its sole lender. The cooperative grew steadily for its first 40 years. After starting with 574 members in 1940, it had 3,533 in 1950, 4,345 in 1960, and 6,405 in 1970. By 1980 membership topped 14,000, and in 1990 membership stood at more than 22,000. In 1998 Tri-County merged with the B-K Electric Cooperative, headquartered in Seymour. That move, which added nine counties to the cooperative's existing seven-county service area, coupled with explosive growth in north Tarrant County, brought membership to 35,000 by 2000. By 2010 the cooperative's membership was almost 70,000. As of 2020 Tri-County employed a workforce of more than 200, with Darryl Schriver holding the office of president/CEO and Jorden Wood as chair of the board of directors. Albert Porter, first elected to the board in 1941, served on the board for forty-four years, including forty-two as president of the board. A bylaws change in 2020 altered the rules for director nominations and expanded the board to nine members, with members drawn from four urban districts, four suburban districts, and one rural district. Two new members, Margaret Koprek and Kevin Ingle, were appointed to fill the two newly-created urban districts in north Tarrant County in February 2021. Koprek was the first woman board member in the cooperative's history. Total income for the fiscal year that ended on March 31, 2020, was $260.4 million, with electric energy sales exceeding 2.8 billion kilowatt-hours. The cooperative's diverse member base included data centers, financial and investment hubs, major retailers, and sprawling residential developments in its urban and suburban areas, as well as farmers and ranchers, deer camps, irrigation wells, and oil and gas installations in the rural areas. In 1964 the cooperative moved into a new office on Northwest Parkway in Azle. It opened district offices i

Tsha Handbook →

Annetta, TX

1876

Annetta is on Farm Road 1187 six miles southeast of Weatherford in southeastern Parker County. Settlement began there in the late 1870s, when a Mr. Fraser established a station for the convenience of freighters who traveled east to Dallas and on to Jefferson. Fraser named his station Annetta after his daughter. In the early 1880s, after the tracks of the Texas and Pacific Railway passed near his station, Fraser built a general store on the rail line, and gradually a community developed at the site. An Annetta post office operated from 1876 until 1907. By the mid-1890s Annetta had a population of twenty-five, three churches, a public school, and a general store; it was a shipping point for cotton and local crops. For most of the twentieth century Annetta served area farmers as a school and church community. The number of residents remained well below fifty until the late 1970s. At that time the community grew suddenly, probably as a result of the dramatic growth of nearby Fort Worth. By the 1980s the northern and southern sections had split off from central Annetta. Annetta North incorporated in the mid-1980s and reported 281 residents. Annetta South also incorporated during the 1980s and claimed a population of 115. In 1990 Annetta had a population of 678; Annetta North had 265, and Annetta South had 413.

Tsha Handbook → · 3.9 mi away

Things to Do in Aledo

quirky 17.6 mi away

Chewbacca's Grave — May the 4th

May the 4th be with you — and with the Wookiee. Peter Mayhew the seven-foot-three British actor who brought Chewbacca to life in every Star Wars film from 1977…

historical 14.1 mi away

WWII Marine Glider Base at Eagle Mountain

In 1942 the United States Marines bought 2931 acres of ranchland on Eagle Mountain Lake for a purpose that sounds almost unbelievable now — training pilots to…

quirky 14.1 mi away

The Azle Earthquake Swarm

Starting in November 2013 the ground beneath Azle started shaking and it did not stop for 84 days. Twenty-seven earthquakes rattled windows cracked foundations…

historical 16.2 mi away

Billy Bob's Texas

Billy Bob's opened in 1981 in an old cattle barn in the Fort Worth Stockyards and at one hundred twenty-seven thousand square feet it is the largest honky-tonk…

historical 16.2 mi away

Fort Worth Stockyards

Daily cattle drives down the street. Honky-tonks and rodeos in the old West.

food 16.3 mi away

Joe T. Garcia's

Joe T opened his little family restaurant behind the packing plant in the Fort Worth Stockyards in 1935. There was no menu. His wife Jessie served whatever she…

quirky 17.6 mi away

Chewbacca's Grave

The seven-foot-three British actor who played Chewbacca in every Star Wars film from 1977 to The Force Awakens is buried right here at Azleland Memorial Park.…

quirky 19.1 mi away

Springtown Dinosaur Tracks

A family went out hunting arrowheads along Walnut Creek in 2017 and found something about 110 million years older than they expected. Pressed into the creekbed…

Sports in Aledo

🏆 STATE CHAMPIONS Class 5A · Football · 1998–2025

Aledo Bearcats — 12 football state titles — the most in Texas history

12 UIL state titles · 2025 state finalist (14–1)

If Texas high school football has a dynasty, it wears Aledo's black and gold. Out in Parker County west of Fort Worth, the Bearcats have won 12 state championships — the most by any school in Texas — with 11 of them across the 2009–2024 seasons. They're the only UIL program to win three or more in a row twice.

The recent haul alone is staggering: titles in 2016, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2022 and 2023, including back-to-back wins over Fort Bend Marshall (55–19 in 2018, a 45–42 thriller in 2019) and a pair of 50-burgers to close it out — 52–14 over College Station in 2022 and 51–8 over Smithson Valley in 2023.

And the deep runs never stop. Even in the years they don't take it home, Aledo gets all the way there: in 2025 they went 14–1 and came within a single game of a 13th state title, their only loss coming in the championship game itself — and back in 2017 they reached the 5A-DII final before falling to College Station 20–19. Players like Jase McClellan and JoJo Earle carried the program on to major-college and pro football.

State titles

12 (most in TX)

2025 season

14–1, state finalist

Recent title

2023, 51–8

Also

2017 state finalist

Key Players

Jase McClellan — Running back — Alabama, then the NFL
JoJo Earle — Wide receiver — Alabama / TCU

The moment

Even the near-misses run deep: in 2025 Aledo went 14–1 and came within one game of a 13th title, falling only in the state championship.

Sources: Wikipedia · UIL State Championship Archives · SI High School (ScoreBook Live)

Everything Near Aledo

1133 stories, landmarks & places within ~20 miles — the nearest 200 are listed here — the same local lore RoadyGoat plays as you drive through.

The Aledo Confession Still in Dispute
In two thousand fifteen, an Aledo man named Larry Driskill confessed to a Parker County murder from two thousand five. The Innocence Project of Texas says that confession was false. On March sixth, two thousand five,…
The Midnight Call From Annetta South
A few miles south of Aledo sits the town of Annetta South. Just after midnight on October fourth, two thousand twelve, the Parker County nine one one center took a call from a home there. The caller was a…
Chicken-Fried Steak on Front Street
If Press Cafe is the new face of downtown Aledo, the Aledo Diner up the block at 213 North Front Street is the old-school one. It is exactly what it sounds like, a plain, family-run, original-style diner with nothing…
Not Just a Football Town
Aledo is known as a football town, but Aledo High School's state championships go well beyond football. The baseball team has won three state titles, in two thousand fourteen, two thousand twenty five and two thousand…
City of Aledo · Historical Marker
In 1849, the U. S. Army built Fort Worth to establish a line of defense against Indian raids and also to protect Indian lands from settlement. By 1855, farms, ranches and small settlements dotted eastern Parker County…
One Hall Before There Was Aledo
Before the town of Aledo had its name, people in this corner of Parker County shared one small frame building called Alma Hall. A Mr. Middleton donated the land and asked that the hall be named in memory of his…
Named for a Town in Illinois · 0.1 mi
The community that became Aledo started as Parker's Station, settled by families from Georgia before the Texas and Pacific Railway arrived in 1879. When the community applied for a post office, there was already a…
Aledo at Its Agricultural Peak · 0.1 mi
By 1915, Aledo had a bank. In a farming community that is not a luxury: it meant farmers could borrow against a coming harvest, carry debt through a bad season, and move money without cash changing hands in a field.…
A Michelin-Touched Cafe on the Old Depot Street · 0.1 mi
Right in the heart of Aledo's historic downtown, at 109 South Front Street where the town's earliest stores once crowded against the railroad, sits Press Cafe. The Aledo location opened in early 2024 as the second…
Aledo United Methodist Church · 0.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of the Aledo United Methodist Church. It began in 1878 in a settlement called Alma, and moved to this area around 1879 with the railroad. The congregation was the first in town to own its…
From Railroad Town to Highway Town · 0.2 mi
Aledo's first forty years were shaped by the railroad. The Texas and Pacific Railway arrived in 1879 and gave the community its name, its post office and its commercial reason to exist. Farmers shipped cotton and grain…
Title Town: How a Small School Built a Dynasty · 0.2 mi
For a town this size, Aledo plays football like a city ten times bigger. The Bearcats have won a Texas-record dozen state championships, nearly all of them piled up since 1998, including two separate runs of three…

Show all 200 nearby places

A Town That Waited Until 1963 to Become a City · 0.2 mi
Aledo existed for more than eighty years before it became an official city. The post office opened in 1882. Incorporation did not happen until 1963. For eight decades the community functioned without formal city…
The Dirt Named After the Town · 0.2 mi
Most towns get a road or a school named for them. Aledo got a kind of dirt. In 1973, soil scientists working in Parker County formally established the Aledo series, a recognized soil type now mapped across the limestone…
The Backfield Record and the World Series Lefty · 0.2 mi
Two Aledo athletes who made national headlines came out of the same hallways within a few years of each other. Running back Johnathan Gray finished his Bearcats career in two thousand eleven as the all-time national…
The Night the Old Ranch House Lit Up the Sky · 0.2 mi
Out along Aledo Iona Road on the evening of July 30, 2015, the historic Walsh Northstar Ranch House caught fire and burned to the ground. Flames and a column of black smoke rose off the roughly 4,000-square-foot home so…
The Aledo Bearcat Football Dynasty · 0.3 mi
In Texas, high school football is a big deal. In Aledo, it’s everything. As you pass through, know that you are in the heart of a modern football dynasty. The Aledo Bearcats hold the state record for the most UIL state…
The Engineering Problems Behind the First Great American Road · 0.3 mi
The Bankhead Highway that passed through Aledo looks simple on a map: a line across the country. But building a road designed to carry automobiles reliably across hundreds of miles in the nineteen teens required solving…
The Iron Compass: Engineering the Railroad · 0.3 mi
The railroad tracks cutting through Aledo represent a massive feat of 19th-century civil engineering. When the Texas and Pacific Railway pushed west from Fort Worth, surveyors walked this land with compasses and levels,…
First Baptist Church of Aledo · 0.3 mi · Historical Marker
First Baptist Church Of Aledo This congregation was organized on September 25, 1879. The first church building was located on land (2.5 mi. SE) donated by a Mr. Middleton, who asked that the structure be named Alma Hall…
The Sycamores Along the Broadway of America · 0.4 mi
The Bankhead Highway passed just north of Aledo carrying the nickname the Broadway of America, one of the country's first major transcontinental automobile routes, running from Texarkana to El Paso and connecting the…
Tri-County Electric Cooperative, Inc. · 0.4 mi · Tsha Handbook
Tri-County Electric Cooperative, Inc., is a member-owned electric utility with administrative offices at 200 Bailey Ranch Road in Aledo, Texas, and offices in Azle, Keller, Granbury, Seymour, and Munday, Texas. By late…
Aledo Bearcats — 5A DI State Champions 2026 (def. Lake Creek 3-1, back-to-back) · 1.3 mi
Aledo High School (Aledo, TX — Parker County, west of Fort Worth) won the 2026 UIL Class 5A Division I state baseball championship, beating Montgomery Lake Creek 3-1 at Dell Diamond on June 5, 2026, to finish 39-3. It…
Aledo High School — State Softball 2026 · 1.3 mi
Aledo High School in Aledo, Texas qualified for the 2026 UIL state softball championships, reaching the state tournament (final four) in Class five A, Division One.
Aledo Bearcats — 12 state football titles, most in Texas · 1.3 mi
Aledo High School (Aledo, TX): 12 UIL football state championships — the most of any school in Texas — including 2022 and 2023. In 2025 the Bearcats went 14-1, their only loss coming in the state semifinal, a 56-52…
Texas HS Baseball Leaders 2026: Aledo (Aledo) · 1.3 mi
Aledo (Aledo, TX) placed on the 5A Texas high school baseball stat leaderboards for the 2026 season: Lucas Nawrocki (0.571 avg, 4 HR); Luke Gladchuk (0.523 avg, 1 HR).
Texas HS Baseball Playoff Hits 2026: Aledo (Aledo) · 1.3 mi
Aledo, TX placed on the Texas high school baseball PLAYOFF HITS leaderboard for the 2026 postseason: Landon Barnes (19 hits, #3 in TX).
Texas HS Baseball Playoff Leaders 2026: Aledo (Aledo) · 1.3 mi
Aledo, TX placed on the 2026 Texas high school baseball PLAYOFF leaderboards (H=hits, HR=home runs, RBI, R=runs, SB=steals, K=strikeouts, H/IP=hits per inning): Landon Barnes — 19 H (#3); Lucas Nawrocki — 45 K (#6), 3…
Bankhead Highway in Aledo · 1.3 mi · Historical Marker
Commonly referred to as the "Broadway of America," the Bankhead Highway linked cities and towns throughout the nation as one of the first transcontinental highways of the 1920s. In the wake of the first World War, the…
Hood Family Cemetery · 2.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Hood Family Cemetery near Aledo. A.J. Hood, born way back in South Carolina in 1820, first came to Texas in 1846. After serving two terms in the state legislature, he moved his family right here.…
The Last Big Ranch West of Fort Worth · 3.3 mi
The rolling pasture and new rooftops east of Aledo sit on what was, for generations, one of the largest unbroken stretches of private ranchland anywhere near a major American city. The Walsh family bought this ground in…
Ridglea Theatre · 3.5 mi · Scraped Hmdb
Get ready to step back in time! This is the Ridglea Theater, a Fort Worth icon that premiered 'Pretty Baby' back in 1950. This single-screen movie palace opened its doors in December of 1950. The Interstate theater…
Engineering the Iron Road · 3.9 mi
The railroad tracks near Annetta South arrived later than most people assume. The Texas and Pacific Railway came through this part of Parker County in the early 1880s — not the 1870s — and by the time it did, somebody…
Gratz, Lawson Daniel · 3.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
Lawson Daniel Gratz, African-American Civil War veteran and Buffalo Soldier , was born a slave in Kentucky. Sources give his birth date variously as 1834, 1836, and 1839. When he gained freedom and volunteered for…
The Iron Horse That Built Annetta · 3.9 mi
Right near here runs the Union Pacific rail line, the modern successor to the Texas and Pacific Railway. But the track isn't why Annetta is here — Annetta got here first. In the late 1870s a man named Fraser set up a…
Annetta South, TX · 3.9 mi
In the 1980s, a small community broke away from Annetta to form Annetta South, a town that has since grown to a population of 621 by 2020. This pivotal moment in the town's history marked its incorporation and the…
Annetta, TX · 3.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
Annetta is on Farm Road 1187 six miles southeast of Weatherford in southeastern Parker County. Settlement began there in the late 1870s, when a Mr. Fraser established a station for the convenience of freighters who…
The Tale of Three Annettas · 4.4 mi
You might be a little confused by the signs around here. Are you in Annetta, Annetta North, or Annetta South? The answer is, it depends on which side of the road you're on. This isn't one town, but three separate,…
Annetta, TX · 4.4 mi
The town's name, Annetta, carries a personal touch, as it was named after the daughter of its founder, Mr. Fraser. In the mid-1870s, he established a station and general store in the area, which eventually grew into the…
Annetta Cemetery · 4.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Annetta Cemetery, a final resting place with a story that starts in Central America. A.B. Fraser, a Confederate soldier, went into exile rather than join the Union. His daughter, born in…
Welcome to Horse Country · 4.6 mi
Look at the landscape around you: the white fences, the large barns, the sprawling pastures. You’re in the heart of Parker County’s horse country. This isn’t just a place where people happen to own horses; it’s a center…
Iron Horse, Iron Will: Engineering the T&P Railroad · 4.6 mi
The name on the sign here came from a freighter's stop, not a railroad timetable. In the late 1870s a man named Fraser set up a station on this route to serve teamsters hauling through the Cross Timbers, and he called…
Annetta North, TX · 4.6 mi
Annetta North, a small town in eastern Parker County, Texas, has a history that began with its split from Annetta and incorporation on August 11, 1979. Phyllis M. Studer was elected as its first mayor, a milestone in…
The Roadside Park That Named a Town · 4.8 mi
Willow Park owes its name to a picnic stop. Around 1940, when U.S. Highway 80 was finished across eastern Parker County, road crews built a scenic roadside park for weary travelers and Sunday picnickers, planting native…
A Mayor Elected by Thirty-Three Votes · 4.8 mi
When Annetta North held its first official election in November 1979, the whole thing turned on just thirty-six ballots. Phyllis Studer was elected the town's first mayor with thirty-three of them. The first city…
The Town That Split Itself Into Three · 4.9 mi
By the mid 1970s, Fort Worth's planning reach had crept so far west that it nearly surrounded the rural Annetta community. A resident named Charlie McLain studied a 1976 city map and realized the neighborhood was about…
Named for a Baby Born in Honduras · 4.9 mi
The Annetta community owes its name to a man named Fraser, a Nova Scotia native and railway engineer. After the war between the states, Fraser spent five or six years in Honduras building railroad bridges, and his…
Where the Trinity River Begins to Gather · 4.9 mi
For a town under four square miles, Annetta North sits on a surprising amount of moving water. Two separate forks of the Trinity River, the Clear Fork and the South Fork, both run through the area, fed by smaller…
Willow Park, TX · 4.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Willow Park, a community that owes its modern existence to a scenic roadside park. Back in the 1950s, after Lake Weatherford was completed, people started moving into the area. But it wasn't until…
Brock High School — State Softball 2026 · 5.4 mi
Brock High School in Brock, Texas qualified for the 2026 UIL state softball championships, reaching the state tournament (final four) in Class four A, Division Two.
Texas HS Baseball Playoff Leaders 2026: Brock (Brock) · 5.4 mi
Brock put a player on the statewide leaderboards of the 2026 Texas high school baseball playoffs. Evan O'Connor had 33 strikeouts (15th in the state), and the 16th-fewest hits allowed per inning in the state.
Home of the Bearcat Dynasty · 5.4 mi
To understand the culture of Willow Park, you have to understand its connection to the Aledo Bearcats. Though the high school is in the neighboring town of Aledo, Willow Park is a key part of the Aledo Independent…
The Interstate That Built a Suburb · 5.4 mi
Interstate 20 shaped Willow Park, but it did not invent it. There were farms out here in the 1850s, and by the late 1800s a small place called Willow Springs. The name you know came after 1940, when U.S. Highway 80 was…
Willow Park, TX · 5.4 mi
Willow Park sits just west of Fort Worth, where the land begins to roll and the air feels a little lighter at its 932-foot elevation. You can almost feel the ancient seabed beneath your feet, a reminder that this part…
The Oldest Grave at Willow Springs · 5.5 mi
Before there was a Willow Park, there was Willow Springs, a rural community that grew up around Elm Grove church, with a school and a cemetery that still stands just north of Interstate 20 near Exit 415. Its oldest…
Lawson Daniel Gratz · 5.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Willow Park, where Lawson Gratz lived out his days after a remarkable life. Born into slavery in Kentucky, he enlisted in the Union Army during the Civil War, serving at the Siege of Petersburg.…
Fort Worth-Yuma Mail (Star Post Route No. 31454) · 5.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the former hub of a vital mail route that connected Fort Worth all the way to Yuma, Arizona. Back in the 1870s, before railroads crisscrossed the entire country, the U.S. Post Office Department…
Chapin School · 6.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of the old Chapin School. It began for the Marys Creek Community in the late 1870s, moving locations several times before being annexed by Fort Worth ISD in 1961. The school finally closed…
Country Breakfast on Highway 377 · 6.5 mi
If you want an unpretentious local plate while you're rolling through, the Benbrook Cafe out on U.S. Highway 377 is the neighborhood standby. It's the kind of from-scratch country diner that opens early, around 6 a.m.,…
The Dam That Grew a Town · 6.7 mi
A few miles north of Willow Park sits the reason the town filled up with people. Construction on Lake Weatherford's dam began in June 1956, and the reservoir was impounded in March 1957, closing off the Clear Fork of…
All Saints Episcopal - 2025 Texas TAPPS Division II state football champion · 7.0 mi · Sports News
You're near All Saints Episcopal High School in Fort Worth. Last December, they took down Houston Second Baptist thirty-four to sixteen to win the Texas TAPPS Division II state football championship. They wear that…
Parsons Station · 7.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of what was once Parsons Station, a vital hub for over a century. It all started around 1854 when Amsley Parsons homesteaded here. But the real boom came in the 1880s when the railroad…
Texas HS Baseball Leaders 2026: Benbrook (Benbrook) · 7.2 mi
Benbrook (Benbrook, TX) placed on the 4A Texas high school baseball stat leaderboards for the 2026 season: Sebastian Martinez-Colon (0.468 avg, 2 HR).
The Town That Said 'No' · 7.4 mi
The very existence of Hudson Oaks as a city is thanks to a fight for independence. Into the 1970s this was a comfortable but unincorporated stretch of Parker County, five miles east of Weatherford where US 80 runs…
Hudson Oaks, TX · 7.4 mi
In Hudson Oaks, history is marked by both tragedy and progress. The city, founded in 1978, has faced its share of sorrow with two family murder-suicides in the 2000s. Yet, it also cherishes the memory of Highway…
Parker, Isaac · 8.0 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Parker County, heading past the town named for the man we're talking about: Isaac Parker. Born in Georgia way back in 1793, Parker arrived in Texas in 1833, just in time to serve in the fight for…
The Famous Dancer Who Died in Benbrook · 8.2 mi
One of the most famous entertainers in the world died in a field in Benbrook. Vernon Castle was half of a celebrated ballroom dancing duo who helped make the tango a sensation in America in the 1910s, a genuine Broadway…
Benbrook, TX · 8.2 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Benbrook, Texas, a town that started life as Miranda around 1857, settled by folks from the southern states. It got its current name thanks to James M. Benbrook, a key player who convinced the…
Goforth Graves · 8.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Goforth Graves, the burial place for four people on land settled by J.L. and Elizabeth Goforth in 1857. Their two-year-old son, John L. Goforth, Jr., was buried here in 1863 while his father…
The Town Under the Lake · 8.4 mi
The beautiful lake you see today holds a secret: it's covering pieces of the old country. In the 1940s the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers decided this valley on the Clear Fork was the perfect place to build a dam to…
Taming the Trinity: The Engineering of Benbrook Lake · 8.4 mi
Benbrook Lake is more than a landmark; it’s a massive feat of civil engineering designed to solve a deadly problem. For decades, the Clear Fork of the Trinity River regularly swelled its banks, causing catastrophic…
The Hero of West Freeway Church · 8.4 mi · News Wikipedia
On December 29, 2019, a gunman walked into West Freeway Church of Christ during Sunday communion and opened fire with a shotgun, killing two parishioners — Anton "Tony" Wallace and Richard White. Within six seconds, the…
Outlaw Country at the Mary's Creek Trestle · 8.4 mi
This quiet creek crossing was once one of the most robbed spots in North Texas. A branch of the old Chisholm Trail forded Mary's Creek near here at Old Rawhide Crossing, and the Fort Worth-to-El Paso mail stage rolled…
When FDR Came to a Ranch Near Benbrook · 8.4 mi
On the east side of what's now Benbrook Lake, off the old Granbury road, a sitting U.S. president once came to visit. In 1935 Ruth Goggins Roosevelt bought a roughly 1,300-acre spread called the Dutch Branch Ranch, and…
The Man the Town Is Named For · 8.4 mi
The namesake himself is buried right here, and his story is bigger than a railroad petition. James M. Benbrook was born in Posey County, Indiana, on June 20, 1831, and family tradition held that his grandfather had…
A Bridge Built From Railroad Rails · 8.4 mi
Here's a bit of frontier engineering improvisation worth slowing down for. In 1922, Tarrant County needed a road bridge over Mary's Creek at Benbrook, and instead of ordering fabricated steel beams, the builders used…
The Roar of Artillery · 8.4 mi
Before the lake, Benbrook's claim on history was made in the air. In 1917 Canada's Royal Flying Corps built three training fields around Fort Worth, and one of them - Carruthers Field, later renamed Benbrook Field - sat…
The First District in the County to Tax Itself for Schools · 8.4 mi
Long before Benbrook was a city, it did something that put it ahead of the rest of Tarrant County. The town's school began in 1880 as the Marinda Academy, a private subscription school near today's Mercedes Street and…
Dennis Methodist Church · 8.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the former home of Dennis Methodist Church, a building with a story stretching back to the late 1800s. N.M. Dennis himself moved here from Boston in the 1890s and founded the Dennis Community. This…
The Flying Triangle of World War One · 8.6 mi
The reason a world-famous dancer was flying over Benbrook at all is that the town hosted a World War One pilot school. In 1917 the American and British air services built three training airfields in a ring around Fort…
The Benbrook Teenager Who Held the Door Open · 8.6 mi
A kid who left a Benbrook high school early became one of the U.S. Coast Guard's defining heroes. William Ray Flores moved to Benbrook as a teenager and attended Western Hills High School before leaving early, with his…
The Toadies Came Out of Western Hills · 8.6 mi
If you grew up on 1990s rock radio, a piece of the band behind Possum Kingdom traces back to a high school right here. Western Hills High School, which serves Benbrook, counts both Toadies frontman Vaden Todd Lewis and…
Tannahill Homestead · 8.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of the Tannahill Homestead, a testament to early Texas grit. In 1853, Scottish immigrant Robert Tannahill and his wife Mary arrived from Mississippi. By 1856, Tannahill had claimed this…
Isaac Parker · 8.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Weatherford, Texas, the county seat of Parker County. Ever wonder how a county gets its name? Well, you're looking at the history of Isaac Parker. Born in Georgia in 1793, Parker arrived in Texas in…
Trail Rides Since 1957 · 8.7 mi
Right on the edge of a major metro area, Benbrook keeps a genuine piece of horse country alive. Benbrook Stables has been giving trail rides and riding lessons since 1957, a full-service equestrian center spread over…
From Miranda to Benbrook · 8.7 mi
Benbrook did not start out as Benbrook. Settlers from Tennessee and the South arrived around 1857 near where Mary's Creek meets the Clear Fork of the Trinity, a long-used watering spot on the old hunting routes, and…
Benbrook, James M. · 8.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the town named for James M. Benbrook! This Indiana native came to this settlement, then called Marinda, in 1876. After serving in the Union Army during the Civil War, Benbrook became a respected…
The Flood, and the Dam Built to Stop It · 8.9 mi
In May 1949 a wall of water nearly drowned west Fort Worth. Storms dumped a foot of rain on the Clear Fork of the Trinity and Mary's Creek, killing at least ten people and leaving thousands homeless, the worst flood in…
Texas in the Civil War: Confederate Veterans · 9.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Fort Worth, a city that, like many across Texas, was shaped by the lingering presence of the Civil War. From 1865 until World War I, Confederate veterans weren't just living in Texas; they were…
Brewer High School — State Softball 2026 · 9.2 mi
Brewer High School in White Settlement, Texas qualified for the 2026 UIL state softball championships, reaching the state tournament (final four) in Class five A, Division Two.
Texas HS Baseball Leaders 2026: Brewer (Fort Worth) · 9.2 mi
Brewer (Fort Worth, TX) placed on the 5A Texas high school baseball stat leaderboards for the 2026 season: David Ellington (3 HR).
White Settlement, TX · 9.2 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through White Settlement, Texas, just west of Fort Worth. Back in the early 1850s, this area was a scattering of isolated farms and trading posts, a frontier outpost reaching toward Parker County, right…
A Log Cabin in the Museum Yard · 9.2 mi
If you want the town's whole story in one stop, the White Settlement Historical Museum at 8320 Hanon Drive holds it. The small museum lays out the community's past in a few packed rooms: one given to local White…
Tacos in the Old Barbecue Joint · 9.2 mi
Pull off Las Vegas Trail and you'll find La Pasadita at 600 North Las Vegas Trail, a family-run Mexican spot that locals treat as a White Settlement institution. The building has a backstory of its own: the owners took…
William Terry Allen Log Cabin · 9.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site where William Terry Allen built this cabin back in 1857, just six miles west of downtown Fort Worth. Young William arrived in Tarrant County with his family in 1854, and by 1857, they'd…
The Library Cat the Whole World Defended · 9.3 mi
In 2010 the White Settlement Public Library adopted a gray tabby from a local shelter to chase mice, and named him Browser. He became a fixture, lounging on the shelves and greeting kids at story time, until a…
What's in a Name? · 9.4 mi
The name 'White Settlement' is impossible to ignore, and the town itself has debated it. The name goes back to the 1840s and '50s, when this was a scatter of Anglo farms west of Fort Worth among Native American…
The Factory That Built a Town · 9.4 mi
Look to the east, and you'll see the massive complex of Lockheed Martin. That factory is the reason White Settlement exists in its modern form. In 1941, this was just a quiet farming area. Then the U.S. government built…
Forging the Future of Flight · 9.4 mi
The massive factory you can see from Loop 820 isn't just a building; it's one of America's most important centers for aerospace engineering. For over 80 years, this facility, known as Air Force Plant 4, has been at the…
The Ridglea Bowl: The Cold Case That Haunted Fort Worth for 46 Years · 9.4 mi
On the night of February 17, 1974, 17-year-old Carla Walker was abducted from the parking lot of the Brunswick Ridglea Bowl, a bowling alley that stood here by the Benbrook traffic circle on the west side of Fort Worth,…
How a Bomber Plant Woke Up a Farm Town · 9.4 mi
For a hundred years White Settlement was a sleepy farming spot. World War II changed that almost overnight. In 1941 the government chose the open land just west of Fort Worth for an enormous Consolidated Vultee factory…
The Storm That Crippled the B-36 Fleet · 9.4 mi
On the night of September 1, 1952, a violent storm, recorded with winds over 90 miles an hour at the control tower, tore across the flight line at Carswell, the air base partly inside White Settlement. Lined up wingtip…
The Town That Voted to Keep Its Awkward Name · 9.4 mi
Plenty of towns quietly rebrand. White Settlement did the opposite, and put it to a vote. In 2005, city leaders argued the blunt, century-old name was scaring off businesses and developers who didn't want that word on…
White Settlement, TX · 9.4 mi
In the 1840s, White Settlement was a lone outpost of white colonists amidst Native American villages in the Fort Worth area. Settlers began arriving from states like Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, and Tennessee,…
The Fighter Too Unstable to Fly by Hand · 9.4 mi
The mile-long assembly building next to this town has turned out warplanes for 80 years, but its most radical idea was a piece of engineering you can't see. In the 1970s, General Dynamics engineers at Air Force Plant 4…
The Town Named for Exactly What It Was · 9.4 mi
The blunt name on the sign is the oldest fact about this place. In the 1840s and 1850s, the open country west of where Fort Worth would rise was dotted with Native American villages, and the handful of pioneer farms…
The Cabin in the Park · 9.4 mi
If you want to touch the very beginning of this town's story, you can find it inside Veterans Park. There you'll see an authentic 19th-century log house, built in 1864 by William Terry Allen and his wife Sarah Fannie…
Willburn Cemetery · 9.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Willburn Cemetery, the final resting place for many descendants of Edward and Nancy Willburn, who settled here in the 1850s. The earliest marked grave is from 1867. You'll also find Civil War…
Texas Pythian Home · 9.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Texas Pythian Home in Weatherford. Back in 1886, the Knights of Pythias dreamed of a home for widows and children. It took years, but by 1897, they started a fund, with both the Knights and…
First Baptist Church of White Settlement · 9.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of the First Baptist Church of White Settlement. It all started back in 1868, with just six members who called themselves the New Prospect Baptist Church. They met in a one-room log cabin…
George Herman O'Brien, Jr. · 10.0 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the story of George Herman O'Brien, Jr., a Fort Worth native. In October 1952, during the Korean War, then-Second Lieutenant O'Brien spearheaded a brutal counterattack on a vital hill known as the…
Consolidated Vultee Aircraft Corporation Plant No. 4 · 10.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past where America's arsenal for the air took shape during World War II. Back in 1940, the U.S. needed to ramp up military aircraft production, and Texas wasn't a major player yet. But Fort Worth went all…
Silver Creek United Methodist Church · 10.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of the Silver Creek United Methodist Church. Organized way back in November of 1900, the congregation finished this very sanctuary just a year later. Farmers Steele and Clayton donated the…
The Mile-Long Building That Builds Fighter Jets · 10.3 mi
On the west side of Fort Worth sits Air Force Plant 4, a government-owned factory stretched out about a mile long. The plant is run by Lockheed Martin, and inside it the F-35 stealth fighter is assembled today. For…
How You Hide an Airplane From Radar · 10.3 mi
Stealth is one of the strangest ideas in engineering: hiding something the size of a fighter jet. It starts with how radar works. A radar sends out radio waves, those waves hit an object, and a faint echo bounces back.…
Why Fighter Jets Are Made of Woven Thread · 10.3 mi
Here is a fact that surprises people: a modern fighter jet is partly made of woven cloth. About a third of the F-35's structure is carbon-fiber composite rather than metal. Carbon fiber starts as incredibly thin threads…
A Flying Computer · 10.4 mi
People call the F-35 a flying computer, and they mean it almost literally. A modern fighter carries a whole crowd of sensors at once: radar, infrared cameras that see heat, and electronic sensors that pick up radio…
Site of Confederate Park · 10.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of what was once Confederate Park, a massive 373-acre refuge created right here for Confederate soldiers and their families. It all started in 1889 when businessman Khleber Van Zandt…
Ikard, Bose · 10.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Parker County, Texas, and right here is where a legend named Bose Ikard made his mark. Born a slave in Mississippi, Ikard became one of the most trusted frontiersmen and trail drivers in the West.…
Collins, Henry Warren · 10.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Weatherford, the birthplace of Henry 'Rip' Collins, a true Texas sports legend. Born in 1896, Collins was a football and baseball phenom. In a legendary 1915 game against the University of Texas,…
Loving, James Carrol · 10.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through North Texas, maybe near Weatherford or Jacksboro. Right here, in the late 1800s, James Carrol Loving was carving out a life on the frontier. After serving in the Civil War, he took over his…
Loving, Oliver · 10.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Texas, maybe near Palo Pinto County, and you're passing through the story of Oliver Loving. He was a Kentucky farmer who moved his family to Texas in 1843, eventually settling in what is now Palo…
Martin, Mary Virginia · 10.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Weatherford, Texas, the hometown of a true Broadway legend: Mary Martin. Born here in 1913, she started her journey with voice lessons and a dance school right here in town. After marrying and…
Chatwell, J. R. · 10.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Weatherford, Texas, where J. R. Chatwell was born in 1915. He became a legendary Texas fiddler, known for blending jazz licks into country music, creating a unique western swing sound. He played…
Franco-Texan Land Company · 10.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through some of the counties once owned by the Franco-Texan Land Company, chartered way back in 1876. It all started with a railroad dream, the Memphis, El Paso and Pacific, that was supposed to connect…
Frantz, Ezra Allen · 10.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Parker County, maybe near Weatherford, where Ezra Allen Frantz made his mark. Born in Illinois, he came to Texas in 1900. In 1902, Frantz perfected a wire buckle for cotton bales. Before him, the…
Lanham, Samuel Willis Tucker · 10.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Parker County, not far from Weatherford, where Samuel Willis Tucker Lanham made his mark. Lanham, a Confederate veteran wounded in the Civil War, came to Texas in 1866 and studied law in…
Potts, Robert Joseph · 10.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Weatherford, the birthplace of Robert Joseph Potts, a true pioneer of Texas roads. Back in 1910, Potts established the very first Highway Engineering department at Texas A&M. He even wrote the law…
Tucker, Argyle William · 10.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Parker County, and right here in Weatherford, you're passing through a place that was once a hub for Texas ingenuity during dangerous times. Argyle William Tucker arrived in Weatherford in 1857,…
Weatherford College · 10.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Weatherford, home to the oldest junior college in Texas. It all started back in 1869 when the local Masons, the Phoenix Lodge, got a charter to create a Masonic Institute. Classes finally kicked…
Simpson, William Hood · 10.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Weatherford, Texas, the birthplace of General William Hood Simpson. Born in 1888, Simpson wasn't initially a star student, struggling academically and almost missing out on West Point. But thanks…
Weatherford, TX · 10.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Weatherford, Texas, and right here, you're passing through a town that was once the principal frontier settlement in North Texas. For its first twenty-five years, Weatherford wasn't just the…
The Dirt That Drew the Cutters · 10.6 mi
Weatherford has called itself the Cutting Horse Capital of the World since the late nineteen eighties, and the Weatherford Chamber of Commerce says one of the biggest draws for cutters is right under the horses: the…
What's in a Cutting Pen · 10.6 mi
Drive around Weatherford and you will pass one cutting pen after another, and the dirt in them is not just dirt. Down the road in Fort Worth, Popular Science reported, the rodeo floor is red clay dredged from the bottom…
Cooper, Colonel Alfred G. · 10.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the resting place of Colonel Alfred G. Cooper, a man who served Texas and the nation through multiple conflicts. Born in Tennessee in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1817</say-as>, Cooper…
Spring Creek Community · 10.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through the Spring Creek community, just west of Weatherford. Settlement here kicked off in 1854, when the T.J. Shaw family arrived from Tennessee. They built their home on the south branch of Spring…
Lanham, Frederick Garland · 10.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through North Texas, and right here in Weatherford, you're passing through the hometown of Frederick Garland Lanham. He wasn't just any politician; he was a congressman who left a lasting mark on American…
Parker County · 10.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Parker County, named for Isaac Parker, a leader who petitioned for its creation back in 1855. This area was the wild frontier, controlled by Kiowa and Comanche tribes until settlers began arriving…
Stephens, Isaac Wetherstone · 10.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Weatherford, Texas, a town that became home to Isaac W. Stephens in 1874. After studying law and teaching in Tennessee, Stephens moved here and opened a law office. He partnered with some of the…
Weatherford, Thomas Jefferson · 10.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Parker County right now, and the town you're about to see, Weatherford, is named after a man who never even lived there! Thomas Jefferson Weatherford was a prominent state senator in the…
Lanham, Sarah Beona Meng · 10.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Parker County, and right here in Weatherford, you're passing the lifelong home of Sarah Beona Meng Lanham. She wasn't just the First Lady of Texas from 1903 to 1907; she was the quiet force behind…
Bell, Robert Eagleton · 10.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Titus County, and right here, you're passing near where Major Robert Eagleton Bell commanded Fort Sherman. Bell was a Tennessee native who enlisted as a private in the Twentieth Texas Infantry in…
Hood, Azariah Jesse · 10.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Parker County, perhaps near Weatherford, where Azariah Jesse Hood settled in 1860. He was a lawyer and judge who also served in the Texas Legislature in the early 1850s. During the Civil War, Hood…
Nelson, Joe Thomas · 10.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Weatherford, a town that owes much of its modern healthcare to Dr. Joe Thomas Nelson. After serving in the Navy and earning his medical degree, Dr. Nelson returned to his home state and dedicated…
Redgate, Samuel Joseph · 10.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through what is now Colorado County, and right here is the area where Samuel Redgate settled in 1839. Born in England, he came to Texas and quickly became involved in local politics, serving as a justice…
From the B-24 to the F-35 on One Patch of Ground · 10.7 mi
The aircraft plant beside River Oaks is a living timeline of American aerospace, all on one patch of ground. Picked in 1941 to mass-produce the four-engine B-24 Liberator, the factory rolled out its first bomber in…
Carswell Field - Where the Cold War Took Flight · 10.8 mi
This airfield exists because of a handshake between a aircraft company and the U.S. Army. In 1941, six months before Pearl Harbor, Consolidated Aircraft proposed building a massive bomber plant on the flat prairie west…
The Lake Worth Monster · 10.8 mi
Right near here, in the summer of 1969, something strange was happening. It started with a couple parked by Lake Worth who reported being attacked by a terrifying creature—something they described as part-man,…
The Heyday of Casino Beach · 10.8 mi
As you cruise along the lake, try to imagine this shoreline lit up with thousands of lights, a huge wooden roller coaster towering over the water, and the sound of a big band drifting through the night air. Casino Park…
Engineering a Lake, Building a City · 10.8 mi
The very ground Lakeside is built on exists as a town because of a massive civil engineering project finished in 1914. Before then, this was just a river valley. But Fort Worth was growing, and it needed water. The…
Lake Worth Monster · 10.9 mi · Things to Do
In 1969 dozens of witnesses reported a half-man half-goat creature prowling the shores of Lake Worth. Police investigated. The monster was never caught.
Mesquite Smoke on the Fort Worth Highway · 10.9 mi
For a meal that tastes like the cattle country it sits in, the Mesquite Pit at 1201 Fort Worth Highway has been firing the grills since 1993. The draw is exactly what the name promises: steaks cooked over mesquite, the…
Fairfield Gates Apartments · 10.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Fort Worth, heading toward the Fairfield Gates Apartments. Back in 1942, A.C. Luther bought up land west of town and started building the Ridglea Village Shopping Center. By the 1950s, J.T. Luther…
Where Parker County Keeps Its Memory · 11.0 mi
If you want the whole sweep of this county in one stop, the Doss Heritage and Culture Center at 1400 Texas Drive is it. For years the history of Parker County was crammed into a single room inside the Weatherford Public…
Baker Community · 11.0 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Parker County, and right here is the heart of the Baker Community. It all started in 1854 when Josiah and Nancy Catherine 'Kate' Baker, along with their children and parents, settled this land.…
J.J. Hamilton Log Cabin · 11.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of the J.J. Hamilton Log Cabin, a structure built right here in Weatherford around 1858. Hamilton, who settled this area in 1855, built this two-room cabin with a dog trot connecting them,…
The Double Log Cabin · 11.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Holland's Lake, a spot that served as a rugged headquarters for early Parker County pioneers. Look for the double log cabin, a monument to their resilience. The west room was Dan Waggoner's ranch…
Curzon Place · 11.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Fort Worth, past a unique piece of architectural history known as Curzon Place. In the early 1930s, A. C. Luther, a Tennessee native, started developing this area. By the 1940s, he was building…
Thompson Public Cemetery · 11.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Thompson Public Cemetery, established in 1870 when Captain Henry Thompson allowed his neighbor, Confederate veteran William Terry Allen, to bury his first wife here. This quiet resting place…
Shaw House · 11.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of the Shaw House in Weatherford. Thomas J. Shaw, a farmer, rancher, and carpenter from Tennessee, arrived here in 1854. Two years later, he built the first log room of this house. He and…
Burke Cemetery · 11.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Burke Cemetery, a final resting place for one of Fort Worth's earliest families. The first known burial here was Mary Overton Burke, who died on December 30th, 1867. Just two days later, her…
Parker County Poor Farm and Cemetery · 11.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of the Parker County Poor Farm, established in 1883. This wasn't just a place for the needy; residents and even county convicts worked the land, growing crops and raising livestock to…
Campbell Memorial Hospital · 11.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Weatherford's first modern hospital! It began in 1924 as the Bowie Memorial Hospital, a converted 28-room home. In 1958, it became Campbell Memorial Hospital, named for Dr. William…
Wright Cemetery · 11.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of the old Wright Community, near Weatherford. In 1874, L.F. Wright donated land here for a Union Church and School. This cemetery is one of the last traces of that community. While L.F.…
Where Two Railroads Crossed, and Trains Still Turn · 11.3 mi
In 1887 two railroads reached Cresson in the same year. The Fort Worth and Rio Grande ran from Fort Worth to Granbury, and the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe ran from Cleburne to Weatherford. The two lines crossed right…
The Wagon Captain Who Left His Name · 11.3 mi
Before the Civil War, a wagon-train captain named John Cresson camped where three future counties would meet. He liked the spot, put down roots, and built a cluster of houses and a general store that became the seed of…
One Town, Three Counties · 11.3 mi
Cresson holds a rare piece of geography: its city limits touch three counties at once. Hood, Johnson, and Parker counties meet almost on top of the town, a point surveyors call a tripoint. Each county line was drawn by…
The Mayor Behind the Cresson Bypass · 11.3 mi
The new relief route for U.S. Highway Three Seventy Seven around Cresson carries the name Bob Cornett Parkway. William Bob Cornett moved to Cresson in nineteen eighty three and joined the Cresson Volunteer Fire…
1869 Independence Day Raid · 11.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Fort Worth, and it's July 4th, 1869. A group of eleven Native Americans rode north after gathering horses, pursued by a Tarrant County posse. Along the way, they raided homes and attacked travelers.…
Tucker House · 11.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Tucker House in Weatherford. Moses Tucker and his twin brother Aaron arrived in Texas from Kentucky back in 1853, initially building a log cabin on this land. After serving in the Civil War,…
Cresson School · 11.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of the Cresson School, a building that's seen a lot of history. It started as a one-room schoolhouse west of here, then grew into a two-story frame building in 1890. That was replaced by a…
Horace Seaver Carswell, Jr. · 11.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the birthplace of Horace Seaver Carswell, Jr., a decorated hero of World War II. Born in Fort Worth in 1916, Carswell excelled at sports and graduated from TCU before enlisting in the Army Air Corps.…
Home of the Fort Worth Titans · 11.5 mi
Imagine the conversations that happened behind the doors you're passing. For much of the twentieth century, Westover Hills was the address for the families steering Fort Worth. Think of the Kimbell Art Museum - Kay…
The Roads That Follow the Land · 11.5 mi
The winding road you're on isn't decoration - it's the land telling the developer what to do. When A.C. Luther and the Fort Worth architect Wyatt C. Hedrick bought this ground from Amon G. Carter and drew the first…
Fort Worth Army Air Field · 11.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of the Fort Worth Army Air Field, a crucial hub for Allied victory in World War II. Negotiations began in January 1941, leading to the construction of an aircraft plant and, adjacent to it,…
The Town With No Stores · 11.5 mi
As you drive around Westover Hills, you might be looking for a charming downtown, a coffee shop, or even a gas station. You won't find one. That's not an accident; it's the law. When Westover Hills incorporated as its…
Weatherford College Old Main Building · 11.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Weatherford College's Old Main Building. This wing, originally the Weatherford Masonic Institute, was being built in 1869. Masons on their way to lay the cornerstone were even delayed by…
Westover Hills, TX · 11.5 mi
Mary Louise Phillips Elementary School in Westover Hills was built in 1949 and is named after Mary Louise Phillips, the first female board member of the Fort Worth Independent School District.
Cresson, TX · 11.5 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Cresson, right where Highway 377 and 171 meet. This town owes its start to John Cresson, who led a wagon train here before the Civil War. He liked it so much, he built houses and a general store.…
Bruce-Davis House · 11.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Bruce-Davis House in Cresson, a home with roots stretching back to 1889. That's when Madison Jones, a local landowner who also donated land for a school and church, platted this neighborhood. He…
The Bluffs Above River Oaks Are an Ancient Seafloor · 11.7 mi
The hills above River Oaks are the remains of an ancient seafloor, cut open by the Trinity River. Just northwest of the city, at Marion Sansom Park, pale limestone bluffs rise over the West Fork of the Trinity and Lake…
The Lake Worth Monster · 11.8 mi
In the summer of 1969, something strange was happening in Lake Worth. It started with a couple parked by the lake who reported a terrifying creature attacking their car. They described it as part-man, part-goat, covered…
A Town in Three Counties · 11.8 mi
Here’s a fun fact about where you are right now. The town of Cresson is a geographical oddity. It sits directly on the spot where three Texas counties meet: Hood County to the west, Johnson County to the east, and…
The Crossroads of Steel · 11.8 mi
The town of Cresson owes its existence to a 19th-century corporate showdown. In 1887, the Fort Worth and Rio Grande Railway laid its tracks right through here, heading for Granbury. That created a station, but not…
Dancing on the Water at Casino Beach · 11.8 mi
Imagine it's the 1930s. You've escaped the Fort Worth heat for a night at the lake, and your destination is the Casino Ballroom. It was never a gambling house, just the anchor of an enormous amusement park that opened…
Engineering the Lake · 11.8 mi
The lake that gives this city its name is no accident of nature. By 1911 Fort Worth was booming and its artesian wells were failing, so the city went looking for a river. The plan, drawn up by consulting engineer John…
Lake Worth, TX · 11.8 mi
Lake Worth sits at a gentle rise, just over six hundred feet above sea level. It's not mountains, of course, but enough to give you a sense of the land rolling westward toward the plains. This slightly elevated perch, a…
A Country Club for Cars · 11.8 mi
If you hear a high-pitched roar in the distance, it's not just the highway. Just on the edge of town is one of Cresson's most unique and modern landmarks: MotorSport Ranch. Ground broke in 1996 and the gates opened in…
The Sound of Freedom Next Door · 11.8 mi
If you hear a thunderous roar overhead, it's not a storm. It's the sound of Lake Worth's most powerful neighbor: the Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Fort Worth. The base's runways sit just across the water, and its…
Samuel Willis Tucker Lanham · 11.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Weatherford home of S.W.T. Lanham, a South Carolina native who arrived in Texas after fighting for the Confederacy. Lanham was wounded in the Civil War, then came north to Texas, became a lawyer,…
Cresson, TX · 11.8 mi
The origin of the name Cresson is shrouded in mystery. Some speculate it might be named after John Cresson, a captain of a wagon train that once camped in the area before the Civil War. Another theory suggests it could…
Freese and Nichols Inc. · 11.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of a company that's literally shaped how Texas gets its water. It all started back in 1892, when engineer John B. Hawley built Fort Worth's very first city water system. Fast forward to…
Fred Rider Cotten · 11.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Weatherford, the hometown of Fred Rider Cotten. Born in 1894, he earned a law degree but returned home to run the family furniture store, a swine farm, and a funeral home. In the 1930s, Cotten led…
Central Christian Church · 11.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Weatherford's Central Christian Church. This congregation got its start in 1894, when sixty-five members split from another church to form their own. They built their first home, a stone…
Harmony Cemetery · 11.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Harmony Cemetery, established in 1869 with the burial of Mary Green. Her son Rufus and his wife later purchased the land. The cemetery continued as the community burial ground, including descendants…
Westworth, TX · 11.9 mi
The specific geographic and economic reason for Westworth Village's growth is largely attributed to the construction and development of Carswell Air Force Base. The base, which began in 1941, played a significant role…
Westover Manor · 11.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Westover Manor in Fort Worth, a grand house built right at the start of the Great Depression. Completed in 1930, it was meant to be the star of the Westover Hills development. In fact, the Fort Worth…
Santa Fe Depot · 11.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're rolling through Weatherford, and right here is the Santa Fe Depot. This building represents a major turning point for this town. When the railroad came through, it connected Weatherford to the wider world,…
Snailum, Thomas C. · 12.0 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of the St. Charles Hotel in Weatherford, once run by Thomas C. Snailum. A native of England, Snailum arrived in Texas in 1834, fought in the Revolution in 1836, and then settled down. After…
Twentieth Century Club · 12.0 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of the Twentieth Century Club in Weatherford. On February 8, 1900, twenty-nine local women organized this club, which became an affiliate of the Texas Federation of Women's Clubs. For…

Explore Aledo on the Map

All music from Texas → Find another town Vote on city songs

Aledo, Texas

Music in Aledo

Songs About Aledo

Artists From Aledo

Rivers & Roads in Song near Aledo

History of Aledo

The Aledo Confession Still in Dispute RoadyGoat

The Midnight Call From Annetta South RoadyGoat

Chicken-Fried Steak on Front Street RoadyGoat

Bankhead Highway in Aledo

Gratz, Lawson Daniel

City of Aledo

First Baptist Church of Aledo

Tri-County Electric Cooperative, Inc.

Annetta, TX

Things to Do in Aledo

Sports in Aledo

Aledo Bearcats — 12 football state titles — the most in Texas history

Everything Near Aledo

Sign up for the free newsletter