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Anson, Texas

Everything Anson is known for

2 songs mention this city 2 artists from here

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Music in Anson

Songs About Anson

The Cowboys' Christmas Ball
Michael Martin Murphey
55%
mama, I'm alright
miranda lambert
21%

Artists From Anson

C
Caleb Young
country
J
Jeannie C. Riley
country

Rivers & Roads in Song near Anson

Songs written about the waterways and highways that run near Anson.

Interstate 20 13 songs Brazos River 43 songs

Musical Heritage

Harper Valley Came From Here RoadyGoat

1945

In nineteen sixty eight, a song about a widow who stands up to the gossips on her town's PTA shot to number one. It was called Harper Valley PTA, and the woman singing it was born right here in Anson, on October nineteenth, nineteen forty five. Her name then was Jeanne Carolyn Stephenson. The world knew her as Jeannie C. Riley. The record went to the top of both the Billboard pop chart and the country chart, and she was the first woman ever to top both with the same song. It won her a Grammy, it was named single of the year by the Country Music Association, and it sold more than five and a half million copies. A newspaper writer in nineteen eighty seven could not resist pointing out the irony. The singer who made a hit out of small town hypocrisy grew up in Anson, a town that at the time still would not let people dance.

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History of Anson

Anson, TX RoadyGoat

Originally named 'Jones City', the town was renamed 'Anson' in 1882 in honor of Anson Jones, the last president of the Republic of Texas. Anson has a rich history, with the first Texas Cowboys' Christmas Ball held in 1885 at M.G. Rhodes' Star Hotel. The event was held annually until 1890 when the hotel burned down. It was revived in 1940 by teacher and folklorist Leonora Barrett and continues to be held in Pioneer Hall, a Works Progress Administration project from the Great Depression.

Anson, TX RoadyGoat

Anson is home to the Texas Cowboys' Christmas Ball, a three-night event held the weekend before Christmas. The first ball was held in 1885 and annually thereafter until 1890, when the hotel burned down. The event was revived in 1940 and continues to be held in Pioneer Hall, a Works Progress Administration project from the Great Depression.

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No Dancin' in Anson RoadyGoat

1933

In nineteen thirty three, Anson passed an ordinance that made public dancing against the law. Break it, and the fine was fifteen dollars. The town was so serious that in nineteen forty, officials noticed the ban technically outlawed their own famous Cowboys' Christmas Ball, so they amended it to allow that one event. For the rest of the year, no dancing. Then, by nineteen eighty seven, a group of parents decided their kids deserved a prom. They named themselves the Footloose Club, after the Kevin Bacon movie about a town that bans dancing. Local preachers warned that sin started on the dance floor. One councilman said there were people in Anson who did not like cards and did not like prostitution, and dancing fit somewhere in between. In the end the council gave in. On October eighth, nineteen eighty seven, Anson held its first legal public dance in fifty four years, in Pioneer Hall. No liquor, and the band had to quit at midnight.

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Cowboys' Christmas Ball

1885

In 1885, M. G. Rhodes hosted a wedding party and dance at his Star Hotel in Anson. One guest was Larry Chittenden, a salesman and writer visiting his uncle in Jones County. He was so inspired by the dance held that night for the cowboys and ladies that he composed a poem commemorating the occasion, “The Cowboys’ Christmas Ball.” The poem, first printed in Anson’s Texas Western Newspaper in 1890, also appeared in Chittenden’s 1893 poetry collection Ranch Berses. Over the years the poem was remembered and anthologized many times in print and song. In 1934, Leonora Barrett and Hybernia Grace revived the historic ball and its folklore. Their group performed during the 1936 Texas Centennial Exposition in Dallas and at the National Folk Festival in Washington, D.C. in 1938, when they danced on the White House lawn. As annual interest increased, the group copyrighted the event and named a board of directors for the Texas Cowboys’ Christmas Ball Association. A new venue, Pioneer Hall, was built in 1938-40 with help from the Work Projects Administration. The dance has been a three-day event since 1940, and the following year Jenne Magafan’s mural in the Anson Post Office depicted the historic “Cowboy Dance.” Chittenden’s poem records real people and ranches of 1880s Jones County, along with observations of dress and customs which influence some of the formal rules and decorum of the ball today. Ladies must wear dresses and gentlemen must check their hats, and some attendees dress in period clothing. The event draws national and international visitors, while some participants are direct descendants of those immortalized in the poem. With such 19th century dances as the grand march, waltz, cotton-eye joe, polka, Virginia Reel and Schottische, this Anson tradition helps perpetuate an important aspect of life in frontier Texas. (2009)

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Hamblen, Carl Stuart

1926

Carl Stuart Hamblen, country and gospel singer, songwriter, bandleader, and radio-movie personality, was born in Kellyville, Texas, on October 20, 1908. He was the son of James Henry Hamblen, an itinerant Methodist preacher, and his wife Ernestine. Much of his childhood was spent traveling throughout the state as his father's ministerial work decreed, but in West Texas, where his father preached at the Methodist church in Hamlin, in Jones County, young Stuart was exposed to the lore and folk music of both the black field hands and cowboys working on area farms and ranches. Thus steeped in the"cowboy tradition," he learned to ride and rope and enjoyed some success during his teens as an amateur singer while working the rodeos. In 1925 he enrolled at McMurry College (now McMurry University) in Abilene to study for the teaching field. But country music quickly became his passion. In 1926 Hamblen reportedly became radio broadcasting's first real "singing cowboy" after landing a spot on KFYO in Abilene. In 1929, after winning the fifty-dollar prize at a talent contest in Dallas, he journeyed to Camden, New Jersey, where he auditioned for the Victor (later RCA Victor) Recording Company. The Victor Studios recorded and released four of Hamblen's early compositions––"The Boy in Blue," "Drifting Back to Dixie," "When the Moon Shines Down on the Mountain," and "The Big Rock Candy Mountain #2"––in June of that year. Shortly afterward Hamblen headed west for California, where he appeared on Los Angeles radio station KFI as "Cowboy Joe," possibly the earliest cowboy act to air in Los Angeles. In 1930 Hamblen briefly joined the Beverly Hillbillies, an early radio country-and-western singing group then broadcasting over KMPC in Los Angeles. He made a couple of recordings with them, although not as a lead vocalist. The following year he formed his own band, a group that included singing cowgirl Patsy Montana, and launched his highly successful broadcasting career over KFWB in Los Angeles. Under various names and titles such as Stuart Hamblen and His Lucky Stars , King Cowboy's Woolly West Revue , and The Covered Wagon Jubilee , his radio program remained immensely popular for the next two decades. In 1933 he met and married Suzanne (Suzy) Obee; they subsequently had two daughters. In 1934 Hamblen was the first West Coast artist to sign with Decca Records, where he recorded with his own band for the first time. His initial disc, "Texas Plains"/"Poor Unlucky Cowboy," became only the second record issued by that fledgling company. A prolific composer, Hamblen was said to be able to turn out a tune within a matter of minutes. The catalogue of songs that he either wrote or co-wrote beginning in the 1930s included such hits as "My Mary," "Texas Plains," "Walking My Fortune," "Ridin' Ole Paint," and "Golden River." Subsequent recording sessions with Decca in 1934 and 1935 further enhanced Hamblen as a true pioneer in the country genre. Although he concentrated almost solely on his radio program over the next ten years, his recording career began anew in the mid-1940s with the West Coast-based ARA label. This subsequently led to lengthier contracts with Columbia, RCA, and Coral Records. In the 1930s and 1940s Hamblen appeared in several B-Western movies, usually cast as a villain alongside such stars as Gene Autry , John Wayne, Roy Rogers, Wild Bill Elliott, and Bob Steele. During World War II his patriotism was clearly reflected in songs and recitations such as "Oklahoma Bill" and "They're Gonna Kill You." In addition, Hamblen enjoyed hunting in the wilds with his prize hounds and also began breeding thoroughbred racehorses; in 1945 he became the first person to have a horse flown to a race when he transported his prize racer, El Lobo, from Los Angeles to Bay Meadows in San Mateo, California, on Flying Tiger Airlines. El Lobo won the Burlingame Handicap and was flown back home the same day. As the pressures of his public career mounted Hamblen began

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Fort Phantom Hill, C.S.A.

1861

Located 10 miles east, 9 miles south on Old Butterfield Stageline. Upon secession, company of First Regiment Texas Mounted Rifles used it as an outpost to give protection against Indians. Stopover on way west for some Union sympathizers and people wanting to avoid conflict of war. In 1862 the frontier defense line was pulled back more than 30 miles east. However, scouting parties and patrols of Confederate and state troops intermittently visited the post in aggressive warfare to keep Indians near their camps and away from settlements and to check on invasion by Union forces. Usually supplying their own mounts, guns and sustenance, these men guarded the frontier until war's end. Texas Civil War Frontier Defense Texas had 2000 miles of coastline and frontier to defend from Union attack, Indian raids, marauders. Defense lines were set to give maximum protection with the few men left in the state. One line stretched from El Paso to Brownsville. Another had posts set a day's horseback ride apart from red River to the Rio Grande. Phantom Hill and other U. S. forts used by scouting parties lay in a line between. Behind these lines and to the east organized militia, citizens' posses from nearby settlements backed the Confederate and state troops to curb Indian raids. A memorial to Texans who served the Confederacy. Erected by the State of Texas 1963

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Jones County

1851

Site of emigrant trail, the frontier military road, and Fort Phantom Hill, founded in 1851 to guard the military road. County created 1858 from Bexar and Bosque counties. Named for Anson Jones (1798-1858), a veteran of San Jacinto, minister to the U.S., Secretary of State and last President of the Texas Republic. Phantom Hill, in 1858-1861 a Butterfield Overland Mail Station, was in 1861-1865 a Civil War patrol point, trying to curb frontier raids by Indians. The county was recreated in 1876, organized 1881. Anson (at first called Jones City) is county seat. (1965)

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Fort Phantom Hill

1851

Fort Phantom Hill was one of the second line of forts laid out in the early 1850s to protect the westward-moving frontier of Texas settlement. In 1849 the federal government sent Capt. Randolph B. Marcy to explore and mark the best route through the Comanchería, the vast region to the north and west of Austin inhabited by the warlike Comanche Indians. This was meant to give safer passage to immigrants headed for the California gold fields. The advanced cordon of forts, including Fort Phantom Hill, was established as a result of Marcy's recommendations. Acting on orders from Gen. Persifor F. Smith , Lt. Col. John J. Abercrombie arrived at the Clear Fork of the Brazos in the area of present Jones County with five companies of the Fifth Infantry on November 14, 1851. Smith had recently taken command of the newly organized Texas (Eighth Military) Department from the ailing Gen. William G. Belknap , who had been supervising construction of the fort on the upper Brazos that was named for him. Originally, Belknap's orders had been to build a second fort on Pecan Bayou, at a site now in Coleman County. Smith, who was unfamiliar with this area, changed the locale to the Clear Fork near its junction with Elm Creek. This unreasoned alteration affected the post's future, for the lack of an adequate water supply and the scarcity of building timbers added greatly to the hardships of the garrison. Though Lt. Clinton W. Lear, writing to his wife at Fort Washita, deemed the Clear Fork valley beautiful and abundant with game, he felt that it was never intended "for White man to occupy such a barren waste." Nevertheless, the troops dutifully began work on the new fort. A suitable stone quarry was located on Elm Creek about two miles south. Blackjack oak logs for the officers' quarters and hospital had to be brought in by ox wagon from as far away as forty miles. The company quarters and other buildings were of jacal construction. All of the buildings had stone chimneys, but only the magazine, guardhouse, and commissary storehouse were built entirely of stone. Oddly enough, Fort Phantom Hill was never officially named; military records usually refer to it as the "Post on the Clear Fork of the Brazos." Although there are several legends about the origin of the unofficial designation Phantom Hill, the name probably derives from the fact that from a distance the hill on which it was built rises sharply from the plains but seems to level out as it is approached, vanishing like a phantom. Life at the fort was difficult. Elm Creek was often dry, and the waters of the Clear Fork were brackish. At one time an eighty-foot-deep, walk-in well was dug near the guardhouse, but even it was not always reliable. More often than not, it was necessary to haul barrels of water in wagons from a spring about four miles upriver from the post. Although the isolated fort was vulnerable to attacks, its garrison had only peaceful encounters with the Indians. Certainly, it would have been a tactical blunder to match infantry against the Comanche horsemen of the plains. A band of Penateka Comanches led by Buffalo Hump occasionally came calling, as did groups of Lipans, Wichitas, Kiowas, and Kickapoos. Mrs. Emma Johnson Elkins, who as a child lived with her parents at the fort, recalled a ritual held by a group of friendly Delawares in preparation for a hunt. Jim Shaw and Black Beaver were among the noted Delaware scouts employed by the garrison as interpreters and guides. Colonel Abercrombie turned command of the post over to Lt. Col. Carlos A. Waite on April 27, 1852. In turn, Waite was succeeded by Maj. Henry H. Sibley on September 24, 1853. By this time four of the five companies had been withdrawn, and the remaining company was reinforced by Company I of the Second Dragoons. Lt. Newton C. Givens assumed command of the post on March 26, 1854, and was commander at the time it was first abandoned twelve days later, on April 6. The decline in rank of its commanders shows th

Tsha Handbook →

Things to Do in Anson

quirky 23.3 mi away
Flying Herd of Buffalo

Eight 8-foot steel buffalo each weighing over 1000 pounds rotate atop tall poles like giant weather vanes over the parade grounds of the Frontier Texas museum…

Everything Near Anson

96 stories, landmarks & places within ~20 miles — the same local lore RoadyGoat plays as you drive through.

  • Anson, TX

    Originally named 'Jones City', the town was renamed 'Anson' in 1882 in honor of Anson Jones, the last president of the Republic of Texas. Anson has a rich history, with the first Texas Cowboys' Christmas Ball held in…

  • No Dancin' in Anson

    In nineteen thirty three, Anson passed an ordinance that made public dancing against the law. Break it, and the fine was fifteen dollars. The town was so serious that in nineteen forty, officials noticed the ban…

  • The Man This Town Is Named For

    This town is named for Anson Jones, the last president of the Republic of Texas. He was the man in charge when Texas gave up being its own country and joined the United States. Jones hoped to be rewarded with a seat in…

  • Fort Phantom Hill, C.S.A. · Historical Marker

    Located 10 miles east, 9 miles south on Old Butterfield Stageline. Upon secession, company of First Regiment Texas Mounted Rifles used it as an outpost to give protection against Indians. Stopover on way west for some…

  • Jones County · Historical Marker

    Site of emigrant trail, the frontier military road, and Fort Phantom Hill, founded in 1851 to guard the military road. County created 1858 from Bexar and Bosque counties. Named for Anson Jones (1798-1858), a veteran of…

  • Hollywood Came to Anson

    Anson has played other towns on the big screen. In nineteen eighty three, a drama called Independence Day was set in a little place called Mercury, New Mexico. But it was actually filmed right here in Anson, with…

  • Harper Valley Came From Here

    In nineteen sixty eight, a song about a widow who stands up to the gossips on her town's PTA shot to number one. It was called Harper Valley PTA, and the woman singing it was born right here in Anson, on October…

  • Jones County Courthouse · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the Jones County Courthouse in Anson. Completed in 1910, this building is a fantastic example of Beaux Arts architecture, with touches of the Arts and Crafts movement. Look for the statue of Lady…

  • The Stovepipe Bomb

    Here is a story the old timers in Anson passed down, so take it as a story. Sometime in the early nineteen hundreds, the hardware store on the corner of the courthouse square was heated by a big pot bellied stove, with…

  • Anson Opera House · 0.1 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Anson, and right here is the site of the Anson Opera House, built back in 1907. This wasn't just for opera, though! Imagine a stock company performing 'The Klansman,' even borrowing the local…

  • Anson, TX · 0.1 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Anson, Texas, a town that owes its existence to a railway that never came! <break time="400ms"/> Originally called Jones City, it was established in 1881 when a speculator, John Merchant, gambled…

  • Davis, Morgan J. · 0.1 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Anson, Texas, the birthplace of Morgan J. Davis, a man who helped shape the modern oil industry. Born in 1898, Davis earned his geology degree from the University of Texas and quickly joined…

Show all 96 nearby places
  • First United Methodist Church of Anson · 0.3 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of the First United Methodist Church of Anson. This congregation was organized in 1882 by the Rev. J. C. Strickland. The current Romanesque Revival building was constructed in 1908 by Thomas…

  • The Cowboys' Christmas Ball · 0.5 mi

    The most famous story in Anson happens every year just before Christmas. It's the Texas Cowboys' Christmas Ball, a tradition that dates all the way back to 1885. The story begins at the Star Hotel, where a traveling…

  • First Presbyterian Church Building · 0.6 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of the First Presbyterian Church of Anson. Organized in 1882, this building, their third sanctuary, was constructed in 1929. The congregation dissolved in 1984, and the building now serves…

  • Cowboys' Christmas Ball · 0.8 mi · Historical Marker

    In 1885, M. G. Rhodes hosted a wedding party and dance at his Star Hotel in Anson. One guest was Larry Chittenden, a salesman and writer visiting his uncle in Jones County. He was so inspired by the dance held that…

  • Hamblen, Carl Stuart · 1.5 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Carl Stuart Hamblen, country and gospel singer, songwriter, bandleader, and radio-movie personality, was born in Kellyville, Texas, on October 20, 1908. He was the son of James Henry Hamblen, an itinerant Methodist…

  • Fort Phantom Hill · 1.5 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Fort Phantom Hill was one of the second line of forts laid out in the early 1850s to protect the westward-moving frontier of Texas settlement. In 1849 the federal government sent Capt. Randolph B. Marcy to explore and…

  • Scarborough, George Washington · 1.5 mi · Tsha Handbook

    George Washington Scarborough, pioneer Southern Baptist minister, son of Irwin and Frances (Cannon) Scarborough, was born in Lawrence County, Mississippi, on April 13, 1831. He received only the rudimentary schooling…

  • Centerline, TX · 1.5 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Centerline, also known as Lystra, was a ranching and farming community in southeastern Jones County about twelve miles northeast of Abilene. Its name referred to its location near the center of the southern Jones county…

  • Horn, TX · 1.5 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Horn is fifteen miles north of Merkel in Jones County. Edgar Boaz, one of the first landowners in the area, was joined by R. R. Horn, D. C. Herring, and John Womack on December 6, 1890. The first school was taught in…

  • Noodle, TX · 1.5 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Noodle is on Farm Road 1812 ten miles north of Merkel in southwest Jones County. It took its name from Noodle Creek; according to folk tradition the name meant "nothing," signifying a dry creek bed. Settlement in the…

  • Nugent, TX · 1.5 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Nugent, on Farm Road 600 eighteen miles north of Abilene in southeastern Jones County, was built on land that around 1900 belonged to John A. Roberts, one of the first settlers of the county. In 1879 Roberts and his…

  • Truby Cemetery · 8.2 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Truby Cemetery, established as a burial ground for early settlers. The Daughtrey family formally deeded these three acres for cemetery use in 1906, though the oldest marked grave here dates back to…

  • Site of Truby School · 8.3 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of the old Truby School. Early education in this rural area began in the 1870s. This school district consolidated and moved to this site in 1916, educating children through the ninth grade…

  • Hope Cemetery · 9.5 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the Hope Cemetery, established in 1899. It began with five graves on William Bean's farmland, including his great-uncle who died between 1883 and 1890. The cemetery has since grown to three acres.

  • Neinda Baptist Church · 10.7 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of the Neinda Baptist Church. Organized in 1889 with thirteen members, the congregation met in a community building before erecting their own sanctuary in 1894. The church was renamed First…

  • 2022 UIL 2A Division 1 Football State Champions · 10.9 mi

    Hawley High School (Hawley, TX): Most recent: 54-28 over Refugio · 2022 2A Division 1 final.

  • Boyd Chapel Community · 10.9 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Jones County, heading towards Anson. Back in 1895, this area was just starting to take shape. Reese Davis, Joe Swent, and Alex Boyd built the Boyd School right here. The community that grew up…

  • Neinda Community · 11.3 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through what used to be Neinda, a community west of Skinout Mountain. Ranchers first settled here around 1881, calling their spot Banner. Then, in 1890, the post office opened, and they renamed it Neinda.…

  • One Year After Shiner · 11.5 mi

    In December two thousand twenty one, the Hawley Bearcats took an unbeaten season to Arlington for the Class two A, Division One state final. Shiner, the defending champion, led twenty one to twelve at the half, then…

  • Hawley, TX (Jones County) · 11.5 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving north of Abilene on Highway 277, passing through Hawley. This town owes its existence to the railroad. Back in 1906, the Wichita Valley line was surveying a route to Abilene. A surveyor named Fletcher…

  • Hawley, TX (Matagorda County) · 11.5 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Matagorda County, past a place that was once known as Deming's Bridge. This spot on the Tres Palacios River was a community hub as early as 1850, with settlers gathering for church services. By…

  • Spring Creek Cemetery · 11.5 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Spring Creek Cemetery, a final resting place that's been serving this community since 1891. It started with just two acres donated by the local Methodist church. The first person laid to rest here…

  • The Chaser and the Survey · 12.6 mi

    At six minutes past seven on the evening of May second, two thousand twenty four, a tornado touched down between Hawley and Hodges. Storm chaser Freddy McKinney was set up near one family's driveway, streaming live on…

  • Hawley, TX · 12.6 mi

    Hawley's a quiet place, but it's got stories etched into the very soil. You're standing in the Brazos River watershed, land that's seen more than its fair share of Texas weather and hard work. Look around – those…

  • The Town That Refused to Die · 12.6 mi

    For most of its life, Huxley was a farm settlement that maps kept forgetting. It got a post office in 1903 and lost it in 1905. By 1945 it was a store, a church and fifty people. Then two things happened. First, the…

  • Engineering a Lake, Creating a Town · 12.6 mi

    The very existence of modern Huxley owes something to a monumental feat of engineering: the Toledo Bend Dam and Reservoir. As you look out over the water, imagine the Sabine River as it was before the 1960s — a winding…

  • The Town the Railroad Built · 12.6 mi

    Look at a map of Hawley, and you'll see a town laid out on a grid, right next to a perfectly straight railroad line. That's no accident. In 1906 the Wichita Valley line was a machine for creating towns, and this one was…

  • Engineering a Town into Existence · 12.6 mi

    Hawley is here because a whole community picked up and walked to the tracks. People had been on this ground since 1890, when John R. Price took land twelve miles north of Abilene. A school opened in 1893. By 1904 there…

  • The 1970 Vote to Survive · 12.6 mi

    For sixty-four years, Hawley existed as an unincorporated community. It had a post office, a school and stores, but no mayor and no city council. The town itself dates to December 9, 1906, born where the Wichita Valley…

  • Living Next to Abilene's Bathtub · 12.6 mi

    Just a few miles south of Hawley lies a massive body of water that defines the entire area: Lake Fort Phantom Hill. Despite its spooky name, which comes from a nearby historic fort, the lake is a modern engineering…

  • Compere Cemetery · 12.9 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of the Compere Cemetery, all that remains of a farming community founded in the 1880s. The Palmer family donated two acres for this burial ground in 1904, the same year the first child was…

  • The Stone That Built Texas Tech · 13.0 mi

    The stone that made Lueders famous is all around you, and it has a distinct style. If you've ever visited the campus of Texas Tech University in Lubbock, you've seen Lueders limestone. Tech's Spanish Renaissance…

  • From Ancient Seafloor to Modern Building · 13.0 mi

    The limestone around Lueders is a 270-million-year-old resource, but getting it out of the ground is a marvel of modern engineering. It’s not done with simple dynamite. First, geologists identify the most valuable…

  • Lueders, TX · 13.0 mi

    Lueders is a place shaped by stone and circumstance. The land itself, perched at a slightly higher elevation than the surrounding plains, offers a small reprieve from the Texas heat, a subtle advantage that made…

  • Avoca Methodist Church · 13.0 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of Avoca Methodist Church. It started way back in 1887 as a simple brush arbor camp meeting, led by a traveling Methodist circuit rider named J. H. Wiseman. The congregation eventually moved…

  • Texas Cowboy Reunion Oldtimers' Association · 13.8 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Stamford, home of the Texas Cowboy Reunion Oldtimers' Association, founded way back in 1930. This group was formed to preserve the traditions of those early cattle people who battled drought,…

  • Chittenden, Larry -"The Poet Ranchman" · 13.8 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the area where Larry Chittenden, known as 'The Poet Ranchman,' developed his family's land. Born in New Jersey, Chittenden first came to Texas as a sales agent. He visited this area in 1884 and by…

  • Arledge Field · 13.9 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of Arledge Field, a crucial training ground for pilots during World War II. Back in 1940, as the U.S. prepared for war, General Hap Arnold needed more pilots. The City of Stamford stepped…

  • Swenson Ranch Commissary · 13.9 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the Swenson Ranch Commissary, built around 1900. This utilitarian building, made of Lueders stone right by the railroad tracks, was the main supply hub for four massive Swenson ranches across West…

  • The Town Named For Nothing · 14.0 mi

    Here is a name worth savoring: Noodle, Texas. And no, it has nothing to do with dinner. The community took its name from nearby Noodle Creek, and by old folk tradition the word Noodle here meant, of all things, nothing.…

  • When Nothing Struck Oil · 14.0 mi

    Here is a delicious twist on a town named for nothing. Just south of Noodle, in the mid nineteen twenties, geologists and wildcatters got very interested in a buried geological structure they called the Noodle Dome. In…

  • The Real Noodle Is Four Thousand Years Old · 14.0 mi

    Alright, the town is not named for the food, we have been clear about that. But the word Noodle on your map is too good a doorway not to walk through, so here is a genuinely mind-bending fact about the actual food…

  • Two Stories, One Empty Creek · 14.0 mi

    Ask around about how Noodle, Texas got its name, and you will not get one clean answer. You will get a couple of them, and honestly, that is part of the charm. The version most often written down says nineteenth-century…

  • Marco Polo Did Not Bring The Noodle Home · 14.0 mi

    Since we are driving through a place called Noodle, let me clear up one of the most repeated food myths going, the idea that the explorer Marco Polo brought pasta back to Italy from China. It is a great story. It is…

  • Texas HS Baseball Leaders 2026: Stamford (Stamford) · 14.0 mi

    Stamford (Stamford, TX) placed on the 3A Texas high school baseball stat leaderboards for the 2026 season: Hayden Wyatt (2 HR); Jaxon Brewer (2 HR).

  • The Sheepherder Who Started It All · 14.0 mi

    The story of Noodle, Texas really begins in eighteen eighty-two, when a sheepherder named Anderson Criswell arrived and put down roots in this corner of southwest Jones County. That fits the naming lore perfectly,…

  • A Texas Map You Could Almost Eat · 14.0 mi

    Noodle is not the only spot on the Texas map that sounds like it wandered off a menu, and that is no accident, because Texans have always had a sense of humor about naming places. Roll across the state and you can pass…

  • That Sign Says Noodle · 14.0 mi

    So that road sign you are rolling past, the one that says Noodle, now carries a little more weight. This is Farm Road eighteen twelve country, about ten miles north of Merkel, out in the wide, dry, sheep-and-cotton…

  • Fort Phantom Hill · 14.1 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Jones County, not far from Anson. Look for the remains of Fort Phantom Hill, established way back in November of <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1851</say-as> by the U.S. Army. Its mission?…

  • Stamford · 14.1 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Stamford. Swedish native Swante Magnus Swenson and his two sons, Eric Pierson and Swen Albin Swenson, came to Texas in 1882 to establish the SMS ranches. In 1899, Eric P. and Swen A. Swenson donated…

  • St. John's Methodist Church · 14.2 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of what was once the tallest church between Dallas and El Paso! This is St. John's Methodist Church, built in 1910. Its congregation started way back in 1900, serving students from the…

  • Swenson Land & Cattle Company Headquarters · 14.3 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Stamford, a town deeply connected to one of the most expansive ranching empires in Texas history. It all started with Swen Magnus Swenson, the first Swedish settler in Texas, who began buying up huge…

  • The Cowboy Capital of the World · 14.5 mi

    If you're in Stamford in early July, you'll feel a change in the air. This town is home to the Texas Cowboy Reunion, and it's not your typical rodeo. Started in 1930 by a group of local ranchers, the idea was to create…

  • The Ranch That Built a Town · 14.5 mi

    You can't talk about Stamford without talking about the SMS Ranches. The story starts with Svante Magnus Swenson, a Swedish immigrant who reached Texas in 1838 and built a fortune. His sons, Eric and Swen Albin, put…

  • Engineering a Water Supply · 14.5 mi

    In West Texas, water is everything. For its first fifty years, Stamford relied on wells and the unpredictable flow of local creeks. But for the town to survive and grow, it needed something more reliable. The answer was…

  • Elvis at the Roundup Hall · 14.5 mi

    You're at the Texas Cowboy Reunion grounds in Stamford, home to Roundup Hall. This building has hosted country dances for generations, and in 1955 it hosted Elvis Presley — twice. He played Stamford that April, with a…

  • Traps That Smell Like a Female Weevil · 14.5 mi

    These cotton fields around Stamford used to lose a steady cut of every crop to a beetle the size of a grain of rice. Male boll weevils release a scent that pulls females in — and it turns out it pulls in other males…

  • Stamford, TX · 14.5 mi

    Stamford's history is deeply intertwined with the Texas Central Railroad. The city was named in 1900 by Henry McHarg, the railroad's president, after his hometown of Stamford, Connecticut. The railroad's arrival in 1900…

  • The Grand Dame of Swenson Avenue · 14.5 mi

    If you drive through downtown Stamford, you can't miss the glowing marquee of the Grand Theatre on East Hamilton Street. This building is more than a pretty landmark; it's a symbol of Stamford's resilience. It opened…

  • The College on the Hill · 14.5 mi

    For about a decade, Stamford was a college town. In September 1907 the Northwest Texas Methodist Conference opened Stamford Collegiate Institute here, and the town put real money behind it — sixty-seven thousand dollars…

  • When They Said the Piper Was the Devil · 14.5 mi

    Hamlin, Texas, cheers for the Pied Pipers, but for centuries some writers in Europe told that story with a darker name for him. In fifteen fifty six, a German book of wonders by Hiob Fincelius said the Devil himself…

  • Fort Phantom Hill · 14.9 mi · Scraped Hmdb

    Imagine stagecoaches rumbling past, and soldiers drilling in the hot sun – this is Fort Phantom Hill. Established in 1851, it was meant to protect pioneers heading west to California. Troops were stationed here for only…

  • Briefly the county seat before Anson · 14.9 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of Fort Phantom Hill, established way back in November of <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1851</say-as>. It was abandoned just a few years later, in April of <say-as…

  • Fort Phantom Hill · 14.9 mi · Historical Marker

    Established November 14, 1851 Abandoned April 6, 1854 Repaired and used by Southern Overland Mail, 1858-1861 Sub-post of Fort Griffin in 1871 and 1872 A thriving village which grew up in its vicinity after the Civil War…

  • The Children Who Came Back · 15.2 mi

    On a dark road into Hamlin, Texas, home of the Pied Pipers, think about the children the piper did not get. In the old Hameln legend, as the Brothers Grimm recorded it, a few lagged behind. Two came back. One was blind,…

  • Adair-Steadman Site · 15.5 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Fisher County, near Sylvester, and you're passing over one of North America's most significant Folsom culture sites. Between nine and eleven thousand years ago, Paleo-Indians used this area as a…

  • Hamlin, TX · 15.9 mi

    Hamlin, Texas. A quiet place, you might say, situated a little higher than the land around it. The kind of town where Friday night lights still mean something real, and the mesquite trees seem to stand guard over fields…

  • A Railroad's Unfinished Dream · 15.9 mi

    The railroad tracks that cut through Hamlin are more than just tracks; they're the ghost of a colossal, failed dream. Hamlin was created to be a stop on the Kansas City, Mexico and Orient Railway, or KCM&O. The vision…

  • Lueders, TX · 16.1 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Lueders, a town named for Frederick Lueders, a Texas Revolution soldier. His land grant actually included this very spot. Development really kicked off in 1899 with a sponsored colony, but farmers…

  • Hamlin · 16.2 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Hamlin. Early settler R. D. Moore conveyed 320 acres of land to the International Construction Co. (also called the Orient Land Co.) of Kansas City, Missouri, for a town site along the Panhandle Gulf…

  • Lueders Cemetery · 16.3 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Lueders, a town born from German immigrants and Texas railroads. But this cemetery tells a unique story about the very ground it sits on. Around 1902, early burials happened in a pasture, but thick…

  • Why Hamlin's Team Is the Pied Pipers · 16.5 mi

    Hamlin, Texas, was not named for the town in the old German legend. The Handbook of Texas says it was named for W. H. Hamlin, an official of the Kansas City, Mexico and Orient Railway, the line this town was built to…

  • Precious Memories, Written Near Hamlin · 16.5 mi

    Just east of Hamlin, in January of nineteen twenty two, a farmhand and songwriter named J. B. F. Wright lost his youngest son. Everett Jackson Wright was three years old, and diphtheria took him on January twenty-third.…

  • June 26, 1284 · 16.5 mi

    Hamlin's mascot comes from a very old record in Germany. In the German town of Hameln, which English speakers call Hamelin, an old inscription says that on June twenty-sixth, twelve eighty four, the feast day of Saints…

  • The Rats Came Later · 16.5 mi

    The rats in the Pied Piper story are latecomers. The lost children show up in records from the Middle Ages, but the town museum in Hamelin calls the rat plague an invention of the fifteen hundreds. The earliest version…

  • What Happened to the Children? · 16.5 mi

    Nobody knows what really happened to the hundred and thirty children of Hamelin in twelve eighty four. Historians have argued about it for centuries, and there are a few main theories. One says the children died, of…

  • The Street Without Drums · 16.5 mi

    In Hamelin, Germany, there is a street where, by long custom, music is not played. It is called the Bungelosenstrasse, which means roughly the street without drums. Tradition says it is the last place the hundred and…

  • Hamlin, TX · 16.5 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Hamlin, a town that owes its existence to the rumble of a train. Right here, in 1902, land was set aside for the Kansas City, Mexico and Orient Railway. By 1905, the town was officially organized,…

  • Fort Phantom Hill Ruins · 17.1 mi · Historical Marker

    Abandoned 1850s frontier fort near Abilene that was never attacked by hostile forces but burned under mysterious circumstances after its garrison departed.

  • Bethel Lutheran Church · 17.2 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of Bethel Lutheran Church, a community hub for Swedish immigrants in Jones County. It all started in 1905 when visiting pastors held the first service in a private home. The congregation…

  • Big Country Baptist Assembly · 17.2 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the Big Country Baptist Assembly, a place with roots stretching back to 1898. It started as a youth camp on the Brazos River, organized by the West Texas Union. Today, it's a modern campground with a…

  • Woods Chapel Cemetery · 17.8 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Woods Chapel Cemetery, a final resting place established by early Fisher County settlers. A church and schoolhouse stood nearby starting in 1883, and the cemetery was in use by 1884. Look for the…

  • He Came Back in a Red Hat · 18.3 mi

    Hamlin, Texas, got its name from a railroad man, but its school teams are the Pied Pipers, so out here on a dark highway, here is the part of the old legend nobody puts on a jersey. The Brothers Grimm wrote it down in…

  • Mccaulley, TX · 18.7 mi · Local history

    Mccaulley, Texas, sits in Stonewall County, a small community carved out of the rolling plains. The town's name, like many in the region, reflects the ambitions and personalities of its early settlers. It honors Matthew…

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