Archer City, Texas

Name: Archer City, Texas
Address: Archer City, TX

Everything Archer City is known for

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Music in Archer City

Songs About Archer City

Devil’s Hand

Courtney Patton

51%

"I couldn't sleep at night in Archer City"

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Rivers & Roads in Song near Archer City

Songs written about the waterways and highways that run near Archer City.

Wichita River 2 songs Interstate 44 5 songs Brazos River 43 songs Red River 88 songs Texas State Highway 199 8 songs

History of Archer City

The Novelist Who Made This Town Famous RoadyGoat

The town gets its name from a Texas Revolution diplomat, but its fame in the wider world comes from someone else entirely, a writer named Larry McMurtry. McMurtry grew up right here in Archer City, and he never really left it behind. He set his coming-of-age novel The Last Picture Show, published in nineteen sixty-six, in a thinly disguised version of this very town, and he dedicated the book lovingly to his hometown. Later, after he had become one of the most celebrated authors in the country, McMurtry did something unusual. He came home and opened an enormous rare bookstore, called Booked Up, right in downtown Archer City. At its peak it spread across four separate buildings and held hundreds of thousands of volumes, turning a tiny prairie town into a genuine pilgrimage spot for book lovers. McMurtry died in twenty twenty-one, and after the collection changed hands more than once, a regional writers group finally bought the flagship store and its rare books in twenty twenty-four to keep his legacy alive. So the name honors a founder of the republic, but the soul of the place owes a great deal to a bookish native son.

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When Hollywood Came To The Prairie RoadyGoat

Archer City has one honor almost no small Texas town can claim. Hollywood came here and made a movie that would win Academy Awards, filmed on these very streets. In nineteen seventy-one, director Peter Bogdanovich brought a camera crew to Archer City to shoot The Last Picture Show, based on Larry McMurtry's novel. They filmed it in stark black and white to capture the bleakness of a fading nineteen fifties oil town, and they used the real buildings of downtown, including the old movie theater. The result was extraordinary. The film earned eight Academy Award nominations, and two of its actors, Ben Johnson and Cloris Leachman, took home Oscars for their supporting roles. Imagine that. A little town on the North Texas plains, named for a revolution-era diplomat, becomes the backdrop for one of the most acclaimed American films of its decade. The story on screen was fictional, but the dusty streets, the wind, and the quiet were all genuinely Archer City.

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The Man Who Went Begging For Texas RoadyGoat

The man this town is named for had one of the toughest jobs of the whole Texas Revolution, and it was not on a battlefield. In late eighteen thirty-five, the rebels needed money, guns, and volunteers, and they needed them fast. The Consultation, an early governing meeting of Texas, picked three men to travel to the United States and plead the Texas case. Those three were Stephen Fuller Austin, William Harris Wharton, and Branch Tanner Archer, the man you are named after right now. Think about that assignment. Texas was broke, outnumbered, and not yet even a country, and these three had to convince Americans back east to open their wallets and their arsenals for a place most had never seen. Archer had helped lead the Consultation before he left, so sending him out was a real vote of confidence. The mission helped keep the revolution alive when it could easily have starved for lack of supplies. That is the quiet, unglamorous work behind the name on the water tower.

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Archer City - The Last Picture Show

1951

Archer City is the hometown of novelist Larry McMurtry, who used it as the model for the fictional Thalia in The Last Picture Show and Texasville.

Sheriff E. Harrison Ikard

1925

This stone is erected to the memory of Sheriff E. Harrison Ikard by the Commissioner's Court, American Legion and local friends in recognition of a man who holding sacred a public trust answered duties call; fearless unto death, September 22, 1925.

Historical Marker →

Larry McMurtry's Archer City

1936

Pulitzer Prize-winning author Larry McMurtry grew up in Archer City and set multiple novels there. He ran Booked Up, a legendary four-building used bookstore, in his tiny hometown.

Archer City, TX

1858

Archer City is twenty-five miles southwest of Wichita Falls in the center of Archer County, of which it is the seat. It was named for Branch Tanner Archer , a leading figure in the Texas Revolution and Republic of Texas . The county was established and Archer City designated county seat by the state legislature in 1858, but the county was not organized until after the removal of the Kiowas and Comanches from the area. The townsite was originally surveyed in 1876 and was intended to lie on the projected paths of three railroad lines-the Fort Worth and Denver, the Houston and Texas Central, and the Red River and Rio Grande. A local post office opened in 1878, and in about 1879 C. B. Hutto settled nearby and platted the town; he donated land for a town square, a lot for a county jail, and lots for the construction of Protestant churches. He also donated a "frameless wooden building" to be used as a county courthouse. Archer County's first church, the First Baptist Church, was organized in the town in 1880 with eight members meeting in a building intended as a saloon. The town soon after voted to ban the sale of alcoholic beverages, so the building continued to serve as a church; from 1881 to 1886 it was the first school building. In 1884 the estimated population of Archer City was 150, and the principal business was county administration. Cotton was the most important shipped product, although the railroad had not arrived yet. By 1890 the population was an estimated 250, and a weekly newspaper was being published. The town now had daily mail and a daily stage to Wichita Falls. In 1892 the post office name, Archer, was changed to match the town's name. An ornate stone courthouse had been built, two more churches had been organized, and a brickyard and a hotel had opened. By 1900 the town had a bank and three livestock dealers, although cotton remained the staple of outside trade. The first oil well in the county, twelve miles from town, began producing in March 1912. Although it never produced great amounts it continued in operation at least into the late 1970s. By 1914 Archer City had two railroads, the Wichita Falls and Southern and the Southwestern, and the population was estimated at 825. Archer City was incorporated in 1925 and continued to grow as more oil wells were opened nearby. By late 1926 there were seventeen fields with 411 wells within thirteen miles of Archer City. The largest field by far was Oldham, with 103 wells. Archer City was also a milling and market point for wheat and other grains and had about seventy businesses, including three banks. By 1930 the town's population was 1,512, and the county hospital had been built there. The county's fiftieth-anniversary celebration had been held in Archer City the year before, a year early in honor of the opening of the county's first highway, State Highway 79. By the 1930s researchers from Harvard University were collecting fossils in Archer County. Two of the best fossil pits are near Archer City, and from one of these came a fossil that was named Archeria in honor of the county. Archer City continued growing slowly despite the loss of some businesses during World War II . The population peaked at 2,025 in 1970; the number of businesses had begun falling off in the 1960s. In Larry McMurtry 's novel The Last Picture Show (1966), which derives its setting from Archer City, the closing of the Royal Theater is a major symbol. McMurtry is a native of Archer County. In 1986 the town had a post office, forty-nine businesses including a bank, and a population of 1,862. By 2000 the population was 1,848 with eighty-six businesses.

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Archer County

1874

Archer County is located in north central Texas, bounded on the North by Wichita County, on the west by Baylor County, on the south by Young County, and on the east by Clay and Jack counties. Archer County's center is at 98°30' west longitude and 35°30' north latitude, twenty-five miles south-southwest of Wichita Falls. The county comprises 900 square miles of the Central Rolling Red Plains, Central Rolling Red Prairies, and Western Cross Timbers. Soils range from sandy loams and clays to stony soil on the plains and prairies and sand or loams in the timbers. Major deposits of oil and gas, copper deposits, and beds of sand and gravel make up the natural resources of this generally agricultural county. The Big Wichita, the Little Wichita, the West Fork of the Trinity, and the Brazos rivers drain Archer County. The Big Wichita River touches the county's northwestern corner, and the diversion dam of the Wichita Valley irrigation system is located at this point. Lakes Wichita, Kickapoo, and Arrowhead furnish soft water for county towns as well as Wichita Falls. The altitude ranges from 900 to 1,400 feet, the yearly rainfall averages 25.26 inches, the temperature averages range from 28° to 98° F, and the growing season lasts 220 days. Before White settlement, Apaches, Wichitas, Tawakonis, Kichais, Caddoes, Comanches, and later Kiowas camped and hunted in the area now known as Archer County. Spaniards and Anglos crossed through the area at various times, and in the eighteenth century French traders operated a post close to the two small mesas in the west central area later called Little Arizona. Kichais defeated the T exas Rangers in the battle of Stone Houses in southeastern Archer County in 1837, and Kiowas led by Kicking Bird defeated United States cavalrymen led by Capt. Curwen B. McLellan in the battle of the Little Wichita River in the northwestern part of the county in 1870. On January 22, 1858, the Texas legislature marked off Archer County from Clay County and named it in honor of Republic of Texas commissioner Branch Tanner Archer . No settlers had yet arrived. By 1875, however, the United States Army had driven all the Indians from North Texas and the area was open to settlement. In 1874 the first American settler, Dr. R. O. Prideaux, originally from England, settled on the West Fork of the Trinity River in southeastern Archer County. He had observed that the buffalo he had shot there were fat. Soon other cattlemen and farmers moved in, and scattered herds of longhorn cattle were introduced to different parts of the county's grasslands. Along with buffalo hunters, the pioneer cattlemen led the way for other American settlers by eliminating great herds of buffalo and antelope. Imaginary lines were drawn and agreed upon between herd owners. Cowboys rode these lines daily to drive stray animals back to their respective territories. Barbed wire was introduced in the fall of 1880, and great pastures were fenced. Herd owners divided the county into three portions. The T Fork and 99 pastures controlled the north section, the OX Ranch and Circle Ranch ( see PIERCE, ABEL HEAD ) pastures formed the central part, and the LM, TIP, JJ, CLA Bar, Mule Shoe, GAR, Figure 3, Lazy H, and other smaller ranches occupied the southern portion. Meanwhile, farmers were also moving into the area. Colonists located vacant or unpatented lands throughout the county and built dugout or log, board, or stone houses. By 1880, 596 people lived on fifty-three ranches and farms in Archer County. Over 56,000 cattle were counted by the United States agricultural census in the county that year, along with 1,423 sheep. Over 400 acres was planted in corn in the county in 1880, and smaller areas were planted with oats and wheat. Cotton, grown on about 100 acres, produced forty-three bales. In November 1879 farmers combined with the small ranchers in Archer County and presented a petition to the commissioners' court of Clay County calling for the p

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Dundee, TX

1886

Dundee is on U.S. highways 82 and 277 twenty-seven miles southwest of Wichita Falls in northwestern Archer County. Several families were already living in the area when the town was laid out on the T Fork Ranch between 1886 and 1890. In 1890 the Wichita Valley Railway Company established a line between Wichita Falls and Seymour and constructed a three-story hotel at the station the railroad's president is said to have named for Dundee, Scotland. That year Amanda Giddens built the first post office and became postmistress. A school had begun by 1891, and in 1892 the town was described as a post office and station on the railway with a population of twenty-five. The railroad brought in more settlers. By 1896 the population was estimated at 199, and Dundee had two livestock dealers, a clothier, a general store, a hardware store, a seller of notions, and a Mr. Biffle who sold organs. The Methodists and Presbyterians organized in the late 1890s, and the Baptists in the early 1900s. Dundee prospered and became for a time the second largest town in Archer County. In 1909 a bank was established with Alex Albright as president. Albright later became well known as the owner of "probably the largest Karakul sheep ranch in the world," just outside Dundee. By 1919 the town had added some businesses, and the population was about 165. In the 1920s the population was estimated at 400. The oldest of the county's federated study clubs was founded there in 1921. Lake Kemp was built during the 1920s fifteen miles west and Diversion Lake four miles north, as well as an irrigation system for the northern part of the county. Diversion Lake provided both irrigation and the site for a 141-acre fish hatchery, which was still in operation in 1990. In 1929 a tornado crippled Dundee, which rebuilt most of its businesses, but with the Great Depression the town's growth was halted. The bank closed in 1933. The number of businesses dropped from ten in 1940 to five in 1946. By 1953 Dundee had an estimated population of 300 and three businesses. In the mid-1960s the population was seventy-five; by 1970 it was forty, and the town had lost its post office. In 1980 Dundee had no businesses, although the railroad still ran through and the population was forty. In 1990 the population was still forty, but dropped to twelve by 2010. Award-winning Western novelist Benjamin Capps is a native of Dundee.

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Everything Near Archer City

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

Archer City, TX · Tsha Handbook
Archer City is twenty-five miles southwest of Wichita Falls in the center of Archer County, of which it is the seat. It was named for Branch Tanner Archer , a leading figure in the Texas Revolution and Republic of Texas…
Archer County · Tsha Handbook
Archer County is located in north central Texas, bounded on the North by Wichita County, on the west by Baylor County, on the south by Young County, and on the east by Clay and Jack counties. Archer County's center is…
Man, William Whitaker · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Archer County, a place that was just getting organized when William Whitaker Man arrived in 1875. He came west looking for a real education in the cattle business, and he found it. He became the…
The Novelist Who Made This Town Famous · 0.1 mi
The town gets its name from a Texas Revolution diplomat, but its fame in the wider world comes from someone else entirely, a writer named Larry McMurtry. McMurtry grew up right here in Archer City, and he never really…
When Hollywood Came To The Prairie · 0.1 mi
Archer City has one honor almost no small Texas town can claim. Hollywood came here and made a movie that would win Academy Awards, filmed on these very streets. In nineteen seventy-one, director Peter Bogdanovich…
The Man Who Went Begging For Texas · 0.1 mi
The man this town is named for had one of the toughest jobs of the whole Texas Revolution, and it was not on a battlefield. In late eighteen thirty-five, the rebels needed money, guns, and volunteers, and they needed…
The Doctor Who Fought A Duel · 0.1 mi
Here is a side of the town's namesake you would not guess from a road sign. Branch Tanner Archer was a trained physician. He earned his medical degree back in eighteen oh eight from the medical school at the University…
Who The Archer Really Was · 0.1 mi
Here is a fun one. The name Archer City makes you picture a bow and a quiver of arrows, but the town was not named for anybody with a bow. It was named for a man, Branch Tanner Archer. Back on January twenty-second,…
The Railroad Boom That Never Came · 0.1 mi
You might assume a county seat like this one grew up around a busy rail line, the way so many Texas towns did. But Archer City's story is a bit of a myth-buster. When the townsite was first surveyed back in eighteen…
From War Secretary To A Spot On The Map · 0.1 mi
The diplomat who gave this town its name did not stop working once Texas won its independence. After the revolution, Branch Tanner Archer stayed at the center of the young Republic of Texas. In eighteen thirty-seven he…
Archer City Methodist Church · 0.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Archer City, where this Methodist congregation started as a mission back in 1880, the same year the town was organized. Early pastors were circuit riders serving multiple counties. The church…
First Baptist Church of Archer City · 0.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Archer City's First Baptist Church. Organized in February 1880 with eight members, they first met in a former saloon building. The congregation later erected a meetinghouse in 1890, which…

Show all 109 nearby places

The Town from 'The Last Picture Show' · 0.2 mi
If the streets you're driving on feel familiar, it might be because you've seen them on screen. In 1971, director Peter Bogdanovich and author Larry McMurtry brought a film crew here to shoot 'The Last Picture Show,'…
Booked Up: The Four-Building Bookstore · 0.2 mi
For years, the main reason people made a pilgrimage to Archer City had nothing to do with oil or cowboys. It was for books. After achieving literary fame, author Larry McMurtry returned and began buying up empty…
The Royal Theater's Second Act · 0.2 mi
You can't miss the Royal Theater downtown. It's more than a building; it's a character in Archer City's story. It ran as the town's movie house for decades, until a fire gutted it in August 1965 and the owners couldn't…
The Oil Beneath the Prairie · 0.2 mi
As you look around Archer City, you'll likely spot the slow, steady rocking of a pump jack. These machines are the visible part of a deep geological story. Millions of years ago, during the Pennsylvanian and Permian…
Archer City, TX · 0.2 mi
Eight miles west-southwest of Archer City lies the Lake Kickapoo Field Station, a 2-mile antenna operated by the 20th Space Control Squadron. It is a key component of the Air Force Space Surveillance System, used for…
Two Gary Johnstons, Two Wars, One Highway · 0.2 mi
State Highway Twenty Five between Archer City and Windthorst carries a long name: the U S Army Gary C. and U S M C Gary S. Johnston Memorial Highway. It honors an uncle and his nephew, two Archer County men who shared a…
Archer City - The Last Picture Show · 0.2 mi · Historical Marker
Archer City is the hometown of novelist Larry McMurtry, who used it as the model for the fictional Thalia in The Last Picture Show and Texasville.
Sheriff E. Harrison Ikard · 0.2 mi · Historical Marker
This stone is erected to the memory of Sheriff E. Harrison Ikard by the Commissioner's Court, American Legion and local friends in recognition of a man who holding sacred a public trust answered duties call; fearless…
A Jesse James Hideout · 0.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Archer City, where the infamous outlaw Jesse James once found refuge. He'd visit his sister, Susan, and her husband Allen Parmer right here, in a house built for the Stone Land and Cattle Company…
Archer County Discovery Well · 0.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Archer County, a place that's poured out millions of barrels of oil. It all started back in 1911 with the M. P. Andrews No. 1. This well hit oil sands at just 920 feet and started flowing in March…
Cimmaron (Persimmon) Springs · 0.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Archer County, near where these natural springs first appeared on maps as Cimmaron Springs. Early European settlers in the 1890s, unfamiliar with the word 'cimmaron,' started calling them…
Camp Cureton, C.S.A. · 0.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Camp Cureton, a Confederate stronghold established during the Civil War. This camp was part of a defense line stretching from the Red River to the Rio Grande. The Texas Frontier Regiment…
Archer County Courthouse · 0.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Archer City, home to the Archer County Courthouse, built way back in 1891. This building was more than just a place for government business; it was a hub for early pioneer social events. You might…
Archer County Jail · 0.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Archer City, and you just passed the old Archer County Jail. Built in 1910, this sandstone building was a major upgrade from the county's first jail. It even had living quarters for the sheriff…
Larry McMurtry's Archer City · 0.5 mi · Historical Marker
Pulitzer Prize-winning author Larry McMurtry grew up in Archer City and set multiple novels there. He ran Booked Up, a legendary four-building used bookstore, in his tiny hometown.
Battle of the Little Wichita · 2.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Archer County, not far from where a desperate fight unfolded back in July of 1870. Captain Curwen McLellan and 56 men of the 6th Cavalry were on the hunt after a mail stage attack. On July 12th,…
French Trading Area, In Vicinity of · 2.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Archer County, near where French traders met Native Americans in the mid-1700s. These Frenchmen brought goods, including guns, that the Spanish rulers of Texas couldn't provide. Spanish explorer…
Dundee, TX · 3.8 mi · Tsha Handbook
Dundee is on U.S. highways 82 and 277 twenty-seven miles southwest of Wichita Falls in northwestern Archer County. Several families were already living in the area when the town was laid out on the T Fork Ranch between…
Little Wichita River, Battle of the · 3.8 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Archer County, near the Little Wichita River. Right here, on July 12th, <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1870</say-as>, a fierce battle took place. It was between the Sixth U.S. Cavalry and…
Copper Production · 3.8 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Texas, a state known for many things, but maybe not copper. Captain Randolph B. Marcy first reported copper in Texas back in 1852. By 1864, they were even smelting a small amount in Archer County,…
Anarene, TX · 3.8 mi · Tsha Handbook
Anarene, in south central Archer County, was named for Annie Lawrence Graham, daughter of pioneer settler J. M. Keen, who, after serving in the Confederate Army, began ranching in the area and built up his herd to…
Bowman, TX · 3.8 mi · Tsha Handbook
Bowman is a small community located on Holliday Creek about eight miles southwest of Wichita Falls in northeastern Archer County. Settlers, many of German descent, arrived to farm in the area in the mid-1880s and…
Mankins, TX · 3.8 mi · Tsha Handbook
Mankins is on U.S. highways 277 and 82, nineteen miles southwest of Wichita Falls in northwestern Archer County. Enough families had settled in this ranching and farming area by 1889 for classes to begin at Lone Star…
Archer County · 5.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Archer County, a place named for Dr. Branch Tanner Archer, a key figure in the Republic of Texas. He served as Texas Commissioner to the U.S. in 1835, and later as Secretary of War. This county,…
Archer County Copper Mines · 5.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Archer City, and you might be passing over a forgotten treasure trove! Back in 1860, Texas Rangers, including future governor Sul Ross, stumbled upon copper nuggets right here, near the surface.…
Engineering the Town's Location · 6.0 mi
The very existence of Holliday in this exact spot comes down to a railroad survey — but the name is fifty years older than the town. In 1841 a man named John Holliday, traveling with the Texan Santa Fe expedition,…
Black Gold in the Red Beds · 6.0 mi
As you drive the country around Holliday, picture a different landscape. In 1916 the Panther oilfield opened, and this quiet farming and ranching stretch of Archer County got turned upside down. Wooden derricks came up…
The Wrong Holliday · 6.0 mi
When you see the name 'Holliday,' it's easy to think of the Wild West's most famous dentist and gambler. Plenty of people driving through make that assumption. But the story here is a gentle correction, and it's a…
Anarene · 7.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Archer County, and you might be passing the site of Anarene, a town born from a railroad and a landowner's vision. In 1908, Charles E. Graham platted this town, named for his wife, Annie. He built…
Not The Country, Just Scott's Land · 9.3 mi
Here's a town name that plays a little trick on you. Scotland, Texas, sitting here in eastern Archer County, is not named for the country of kilts and castles, no matter what the road sign suggests. It is named,…
Two Towns, Two Kinds Of Name · 9.3 mi
Standing here in Scotland, Texas, look six miles south and you will find a sister town with a naming story that is the mirror image of this one, and putting them side by side is the fun of it. Scotland got its name…
The Derricks In The Lake · 9.3 mi
Now for the strangest thing you can see near Scotland, and it is a genuine piece of engineering theater. Just north of town the Little Wichita River was dammed in the nineteen sixties to create Lake Arrowhead, a…
How A Small Country Built The World · 9.3 mi
You're rolling through Scotland, Texas, a German Catholic farm town in Archer County that only borrowed its name from the old country across the Atlantic, not the other way around. But that country is worth the detour,…
The Land Agent Who Built It · 9.3 mi
Right here in Scotland, Texas, out in Archer County, the name on the town came from Henry Scott, but the man who actually built the place was John H. Meurer. Meurer was a German immigrant, born around eighteen fifty,…
A German Church Named For England · 9.3 mi
So how does Scotland, Texas, right here in Archer County, end up thoroughly German and Catholic? Follow the farmers. Most of Scotland's first families did not come from overseas directly; they migrated up from the older…
As Permanent As The Tracks · 9.3 mi
Every one of these prairie towns lived or died by the railroad, and Scotland is a short, sharp lesson in that. The first train rolled in on July twenty-first, nineteen oh eight, as the Southwestern Railway pushed its…
The Country Your GPS Invokes · 9.3 mi
You're parked in Scotland, Texas, a farm town in Archer County named for a Canadian landowner called Scott, not the country across the ocean. But that country is the one your GPS keeps quietly invoking, so let's…
A Dozen Doors, One Name · 9.3 mi
So look at everything one small Texas town name can hold. Scotland, out here in Archer County, is not Scotland at all. It is Scott's land, named for a Canadian who bought the deed, built by a German immigrant who met…
Geraldine · 9.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Archer County, heading past the site of Geraldine. This boomtown sprang to life in 1902, a grand immigration project by the American Tribune New Colony Company. Imagine it: surveyed land, wells…
Scotland, TX · 9.8 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Archer County, not far from the Little Wichita River. Right here is Scotland, a town that sprang up thanks to a Canadian land buyer and a recruiter who sought out German immigrants in Galveston.…
Meurer, J. H. · 10.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Scotland, Archer County, and just passed the home of John H. Meurer. A German immigrant born in 1850, Meurer came to this area around 1900. He became a land agent, selling over 60,000 acres and…
Drilling for Black Gold · 10.2 mi
In the 1920s a forest of wooden derricks went up across Archer County, and the technology behind it was brute simple. Steam boilers powered cable-tool rigs that lifted and dropped a heavy bit over and over, punching a…
The Ghost of the Iron Horse · 10.2 mi
For about twelve years, the rhythm of life in Scotland was set by a train whistle. Henry J. Scott of Toronto bought the land and laid the town out around 1907, on old O Circle Ikard ranch country, and German Catholic…
Scotland, TX · 10.2 mi
The town was named Scotland in honor of its founder, Henry J. Scott. This small city in Archer County, Texas, carries the name as a tribute to its originator, reflecting a personal connection to the place.
St. Mary's Catholic Church Windthorst · 10.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Windthorst, a town founded by German-American Catholics in 1891. They bought a massive 75,000 acres here, planning a new farm colony. Imagine the scene on January 1st, 1892: Father Joseph Reisdorf…
The Cathedral of the Plains · 10.9 mi
The most prominent building in Windthorst isn't a courthouse or a bank, but a church set on a hill where German Catholic colonists planted a wooden cross back in 1891. That's St. Mary's. The first church was dedicated…
The Trojan Football Dynasty · 10.9 mi
In Texas, football is a religion, and in Windthorst, the Trojans are the high priests of victory. For a town of just a few hundred people, the success of the Windthorst High School football team is almost unbelievable.…
From Cotton to Cream: The Engineering of a Dairy Town · 10.9 mi
The fields around Windthorst tell a story of adaptation. This place was settled in 1891 by German Catholics who named it for Ludwig Windthorst, a Catholic statesman back in Germany, and the first thing they did was try…
The Gedenkfest Sausage Festival · 10.9 mi
Windthorst was founded in 1891 as a German Catholic colony, and it has kept its calendar ever since. The town's biggest day is the St. Mary's Parish Picnic in early June — the 134th of them came around in 2026, which…
Windthorst, TX · 10.9 mi
Windthorst's history is deeply intertwined with the military service of its residents. During World War II, 64 service members from Windthorst contributed to the construction of the St. Mary's Grotto, a Roman Catholic…
2020 UIL 2A Division 2 Football State Champions · 11.0 mi
Windthorst High School (Windthorst, TX): Most recent: 22-21 over Mart · 2020 2A Division 2 final.
Reisdorff, Joseph · 11.1 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Archer County, maybe heading towards Windthorst. Right here, in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="mmddyyyy">12311891</say-as>, a German priest named Joseph Reisdorff arrived. He wasn't just…
Windthorst, TX · 11.1 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Windthorst, a town founded on faith and farming. Back in 1891, a group of German Catholics from St. Louis purchased thousands of acres here, planning a new home. They named it for Ludwig…
Dad's Corner · 11.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past what used to be Dad's Corner, a town that exploded into existence in 1923 thanks to an oil boom. Imagine this crossroads buzzing with activity – twenty-two businesses, a hotel, a cafe, a school, and…
The Highway Name That Took Seventy Years to Make Legal · 12.5 mi
Every mile of U S Highway Two Eighty One inside Texas is the American Legion Memorial Highway, and the name is much older than the law behind it. On April thirtieth, nineteen thirty five, the Texas Highway Commission…
Bridwell Park · 12.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Archer County, heading towards Windthorst. Keep an eye out for Bridwell Park, a gift to the community from Joseph Sterling Bridwell. This Missourian arrived in Texas in 1909 and quickly made his…
Camp Stonewall Jackson · 13.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Archer County, and just off the road here was Camp Stonewall Jackson. It wasn't a battlefield, but a reunion ground for Confederate veterans, bought in 1898 by the United Confederate Veterans of…
Lake Creek Cemetery · 13.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Archer County, where the late 1800s saw Texas transform from open range to farmland. As settlers moved in after Native American tribes were relocated, disputes flared between ranchers and farmers.…
Confluence of the Brazos, Trinity, and Red River Watersheds, The · 14.0 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Archer County, and right here, you're passing a unique geological landmark. This 1250-foot mound is the confluence point for three major Texas river watersheds: the Trinity to the south, the…
Stone Houses · 14.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Archer County, and right around here, you're passing the site of the Stone Houses. These formations, resembling teepees, were once an Indian ceremonial ground. But they're more famous for a brutal…
West Fork School · 14.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Archer County, past the site of the old West Fork School. It started life in the early 1880s as the Baggett School, taught by Silas Baggett himself. This little school served students in the rural…
Holliday, John J. · 15.7 mi · Tsha Handbook
Right here, you're driving near the site of present-day Wichita Falls, where a Texas hero carved his name in history. John J. Holliday, a survivor of the brutal Goliad Massacre, escaped by swimming the river and hiding.…
Holliday, TX · 15.7 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Archer County, and right here is Holliday. This town owes its name to a famous frontiersman, John Holliday, who was part of the ill-fated Texan Santa Fe expedition. Back in 1841, he carved his…
Maggie and Herod "Pap" Simpson · 15.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Holliday, a town officially organized right near here in 1890. That same year, Maggie Holt and H.W. Simpson married. He left to drive cattle in 1894 and was never heard from again. Maggie,…
Site of Early Bowman Church · 15.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Holliday, Archer County. This marker commemorates the early Bowman Church, organized as the 'Wichita Class' by northern settlers in 1888. Services were held in English and German, and a parsonage…
Dudley, The D. S. Show · 16.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Mankins, Texas, home of the D. S. Dudley Show! This wasn't just any circus; it was a wild west show that became the chief industry here for over half a century. In <say-as interpret-as="date"…
Bowman Cemetery · 16.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Archer County, past Bowman Cemetery. Land for this graveyard was donated in 1885 by W. A. Bacon, and the first burial, Christina Schmith, happened that same year. Many of the folks buried here…
Captain John Holliday · 16.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Holliday, Texas, named for a man who survived one of the most brutal events of the Texas Revolution. Captain John Holliday, born in Pennsylvania, came to Texas around 1835. He fought in the Texian…
Olney, TX · 17.0 mi
The Olney Community Library and Arts Center is a notable landmark located on the Olney school campus at 807 W. Hamilton, serving as a cultural and educational hub for the community.
St. Luke Lutheran Church · 17.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of St. Luke Lutheran Church in Olney. German families settling the Salt Creek Valley in 1883 used personal devotional books for religious services. The congregation was officially organized…
The One-Armed Dove Hunt · 17.4 mi
One of the most remarkable things about Olney is not a building, it is an event. In 1972 two local men — Jack Bishop and Jack Northrup, each of them missing an arm at the shoulder, known around town as the One-Armed…
The Aviation Pioneer of Olney · 17.4 mi
On the edge of Olney you will find a factory that changed agriculture around the world, and it is the legacy of Leland Snow. Snow designed his first agricultural airplane in the early 1950s and built it himself, because…
The Plane That Feeds the World · 17.4 mi
The most important piece of technology to ever come out of Olney is the Air Tractor. These iconic yellow airplanes, built right here, are marvels of purpose-driven engineering. Founder Leland Snow designed them to solve…
The Roaring Twenties on Main Street · 17.4 mi
As you pass through downtown Olney, take a look at the buildings - those sturdy two-story brick fronts on Main Street are the receipts from a wilder decade. Olney was already a rail town; it incorporated in 1909 and…
Farmer · 17.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the tiny community of Farmer, named for a missionary who camped here back in 1877. Reverend William H. Farmer was more than just a traveler; he opened a general store and became the town's first…
Keathley, George Dennis · 17.5 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Young County, Texas, not far from Olney, where George Dennis Keathley grew up. He was a farmer's son who went on to serve in World War II. On September 14, 1944, on Mount Altuzzo in Italy,…
Snow, Henry Leland · 17.5 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving near Olney, Texas, a town looking for a stable industry beyond oil and ranching. Right here, Leland Snow found it. A crop-dusting pilot and engineer, Snow designed a revolutionary agricultural plane. He…
Olney, TX · 17.5 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Olney, Texas, a town that boomed thanks to black gold. Settled in the late 1800s, Olney was a quiet ranching community until 1923. That's when oil was discovered, and the Swastika Pool, discovered…
Little Salt Creek Indian Fight · 17.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Young County, not far from Olney, and you're passing the site of a fierce clash in Texas frontier history. On May 16th, 1869, a cattle roundup crew found themselves under an unprovoked attack by…
Farmer Cemetery · 17.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Young County, heading past the site of what was once the town of Farmer. In 1877, Baptist preacher W.H. Farmer and his family settled here, establishing not just a store and post office, but also…
Alex Albright · 18.0 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Archer County, past the former home of Alex Albright, a pioneer karakul sheep breeder. Born in Nebraska, Albright came to Dundee in 1890 and opened a general store. But his real passion was his…
Antelope United Methodist Church · 18.0 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Antelope United Methodist Church. The Rev. Isaac Newton Crutchfield organized this congregation in 1879 as the Antelope Methodist Episcopal Church, South. Charter members were Mollie Edwards, James…
Antelope · 18.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Antelope, a town named for the very springs where herds of these graceful animals once watered, and where Kiowa Indians made camp. In 1875, Walter S. Jones laid out this townsite right on the mail…
Antelope Cemetery · 18.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Antelope Cemetery, established as early as 1882 with the oldest tombstone. The land was sold to the Methodist Church in 1890, which later deeded it to the Antelope Cemetery Association in 1954. An…
Markley Cemetery Decoration Day · 18.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Markley Cemetery, but this marker tells a story that's more about community than final rest. Back in 1881, this burial ground started next to a schoolhouse. By 1890, it was neglected, so…
Wichita County · 19.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Wichita County, named for the Wichita Indians who once called this land home. The county was officially formed way back on February 1st, <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1858</say-as>, but…
Trimble, Zenobia · 19.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Wichita Falls, passing the site of a remarkable woman's life. Zenobia Trimble, born in Alabama in 1881, came to this city and became a pillar of the community. For 38 years, she dedicated herself…
Call Field Monument · 19.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Wichita Falls, and right here is the site of Call Field, one of the first and largest aviation training camps in the country during World War I. Opened in <say-as interpret-as="date"…
The Town That Exploded Overnight · 19.7 mi
Imagine this: one day you live in a quiet Archer County farming town of under five hundred people. Two years later there are twice as many, and the place doesn't feel like itself anymore. That was Megargel after 1925,…
Gushers, Geology, and Cable-Tool Rigs · 19.7 mi
The Megargel oil boom wasn't magic; it was a triumph of geology and brute-force engineering. To reach the pay zone, wildcatters used cable-tool rigs. Imagine a massive, heavy, chisel-like bit, repeatedly lifted and…
Megargel, TX · 19.7 mi
Megargel's history began with the Gulf, Texas and Western Railroad extending services to Jacksboro and Seymour in 1910. The town was named for Roy C. Megargel, the president of the railroad that developed it. The…
The Railroad That Made and Abandoned Megargel · 19.7 mi
Megargel owes its existence to a railroad, and it is named for the man who ran it. The Gulf, Texas and Western built a single-track line running northwest from Salesville through Jacksboro to Seymour, ninety-eight miles…
Megargel · 19.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Megargel, a town that owes its existence to the railroad and oil. Back in 1910, the Gulf, Texas & Western Railroad pushed through this area, and the Trinity Townsite Company laid out a new town.…
Site of Cottonwood Spring · 19.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Site of Cottonwood Spring. 19th century oasis around a lone cottonwood tree and a good spring. Wagon ruts from heavy traffic attracted here are still visible on hill to the southwest. In 1849, Capt.…
Call Field · 19.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Call Field, a crucial pilot training ground for World War I. When America entered the war in 1917, the U.S. Army had barely over a hundred pilots! To meet the massive aerial demands,…
Comanche Exodus, On Route of the · 19.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Archer County, heading north on the route of the Comanche Exodus. On August 3rd, 1859, this area was a campsite for Comanche Indians being removed to Oklahoma. They were escorted by a company of…
Megargel, TX · 19.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Archer County, and right here is Megargel. This town sprang to life in 1910, laid out by the railroad company president himself, Roy C. Megargel. Within three months, twenty-three stores, a hotel,…

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