Of all the stories in Bonham, none are bigger than that of Sam Rayburn. He served in the U.S. Congress from 1913 until his death in 1961, and for 17 years, he held the gavel as Speaker of the House. He was a political giant who advised presidents from Wilson to Kennedy. But here, he was just 'Mr. Sam.' He married Metze Jones in 1927, but the marriage lasted only a few months and he never remarried — he considered his constituents his family. He'd return from Washington and walk the town square, chatting with farmers about crop prices. His home, now the Sam Rayburn House State Historic Site, wasn't a mansion but a working farmhouse. He built the Sam Rayburn Library and Museum here in 1957 so his papers—and his story—would belong to the people of his district. It's a rare look at a man who wielded immense power but never forgot where he came from.

RoadyGoat →

Engineering a Landmark's Rebirth RoadyGoat

The Fannin County Courthouse you see today is an engineering marvel, not just for its original 1888 construction, but for its 21st-century rebirth. In 1965 the ornate Second Empire building was stripped and encased in a flat modernist skin of Lueders limestone panels. To restore it, engineers faced a unique challenge: deconstruction. They had to carefully peel away those 1960s stone panels and concrete without destroying the original 19th-century limestone structure hidden within. Using historical photos and advanced scanning technology, they reverse-engineered the original design — the clock tower and elaborate mansard roof had burned away back on New Year's Eve, 1929. The project required complex structural analysis to carry the new, heavy tower and roof on the old foundations. Fabricators had to recreate intricate metalwork and source stone to match the original. This wasn't just a renovation; it was a feat of architectural forensics and structural engineering, bringing a ghost of a building back to life.

RoadyGoat →

The Jazz Pioneer Born in Bonham RoadyGoat

Bonham’s contribution to music history is a big one, even if it was brief. In 1916, the legendary jazz musician Charlie Christian was born here. Though his family moved to Oklahoma City when he was a toddler, his roots are in this Texas town. Christian changed music forever. Before him, the guitar was a quiet rhythm instrument, lost in the sound of a big band. But Christian was one of the very first to use an electric amplifier to make the guitar a lead, solo instrument. His fluid, horn-like solos with the Benny Goodman Sextet in the late 1930s inspired a generation of guitarists in jazz, blues, and rock and roll. Every time you hear an electric guitar solo, you're hearing the echo of a revolution started by a man born right here in Bonham.

RoadyGoat →

Charles Henry Christian

1916

(July 29, 1916 - March 2, 1942) As a child Bonham native Charles (Charlie) Christian was exposed to the guitar artistry and soprano solos of his parents Clarence and Willie Mae Christian. Though taught in the guitar chord technique, he developed a unique single-string style that made his reputation and earned him a place in music great Benny Goodman's band in 1939. A jazz guitar prodigy, he played with Goodman, Count Basie, and at Carnegie Hall before dying of tuberculosis at the age of 25. Recorded - 1994

Historical Marker →

Rayburn, Sam

1882

(Jan. 16, 1882 - Nov. 16, 1961) Tennessee native Sam Taliaferro Rayburn moved to Texas with his family in 1887. His long and successful political career began with his election to the Texas Legislature in 1906. It continued through 25 consecutive terms in the U. S. House of Representatives, where Rayburn served with 8 presidents and held the speakership for 17 years. His funeral at the First Baptist Church in Bonham was attended by 30,000 people, including 4 presidents and 105 Congressmen. Recorded - 1986

Historical Marker →

Bonham, James Butler

1836

James Bonham, officer of the Alamo garrison, son of James and Sophia Butler (Smith) Bonham, was born at Red Banks (present-day Saluda), Edgefield County, South Carolina, on February 20, 1807. Recent evidence indicates that he was a second cousin of William B. Travis . Bonham entered South Carolina College (later the University of South Carolina) in the fall of 1823 but never graduated. During his senior year he led a student protest against the poor food served at the college and the obligation of students to attend class in bad weather. He and a number of other students, perhaps the entire senior class, were expelled. Bonham took up the study of law and began practicing in Pendleton, South Carolina, in 1830. On one occasion he caned an opposing lawyer who insulted Bonham's female client. When ordered to apologize by the judge, Bonham threatened to tweak the judge's nose and was promptly sentenced to ninety days for contempt of court. In 1832, during the nullification crisis, Bonham served as an aide to South Carolina governor James Hamilton, a position that brought him the rank of lieutenant colonel. At the same time he served as captain of a Charleston artillery company. By October 1834 he was practicing law in Montgomery, Alabama. On October 17, 1835, he led a rally of support for the Texan cause at the Shakespeare Theater in Mobile. Three days later he was elected by citizens of Mobile to carry their resolutions of support to Sam Houston . In another two weeks he was organizing a volunteer company, the Mobile Grays , for service in Texas. Bonham reached Texas in November 1835 and quickly involved himself in political and military affairs. On December 1, 1835, he wrote to Sam Houston from San Felipe volunteering his services for Texas and declining all pay, lands, or rations in return. On December 20, 1835, he was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Texas cavalry, but apparently was not assigned to any specific unit. He had time to set up a law practice in Brazoria and was advertising the fact in the Telegraph and Texas Register by January 2, 1836. Bonham and Houston quickly developed a mutual admiration. After being in Texas for only one month Bonham recommended to Houston that William S. Blount of North Carolina be granted a commission as a captain in the Texas cavalry. On January 11, 1836, Houston recommended to James W. Robinson that Bonham be promoted to major, for "His influence in the army is great-more so than some who `would be generals'." Bonham probably traveled to San Antonio de Béxar and the Alamo with James Bowie and arrived on January 19, 1836. On January 26 he was appointed one of a committee of seven to draft a preamble and resolutions on behalf of the garrison in support of Governor Henry Smith . On February 1 he was an unsuccessful candidate in the election of delegates to represent the Bexar garrison at the Texas constitutional convention. He was sent by Travis to obtain aid for the garrison at Bexar on or about February 16, 1836. He returned to the Alamo on March 3, bearing through the Mexican lines a letter from Robert M. Williamson assuring Travis that help was on its way and urging him to hold out. Bonham died in the battle of the Alamo on March 6, 1836. He is believed to have died manning one of the cannons in the interior of the Alamo chapel. Bonham's life and role in the siege and battle of the Alamo have been romanticized more than that of any other defender. He has often been portrayed as a colonel and one of the commanders of the Alamo garrison. He is called "Colonel" by Travis in two letters from the Alamo, but this was only a title of respect dating back to his days with the South Carolina militia. His actual rank was second lieutenant, and he had no standing in the Alamo's chain of command. He was present sporadically at the Alamo. Bonham is wrongly remembered as bringing the news that Colonel Fannin was not coming to Travis's aid, when he actually brought word from Williamson that help

Tsha Handbook →

Hardin, John Wesley

1867

John Wesley (Wes) Hardin, outlaw, son of James G. and Elizabeth Hardin, was born in Bonham, Texas, on May 26, 1853. His father was a Methodist preacher, circuit rider, schoolteacher, and lawyer. Hardin's violent career started in 1867 with a schoolyard squabble in which he stabbed another youth. At fifteen, in Polk County, he shot and killed a black man as a result of a chance meeting and an argument. With the Reconstruction government looking for him, he fled to his brother's house, twenty-five miles north of Sumpter, Texas, where in the fall of 1868 he claimed to have killed three Union soldiers who sought to arrest him. Within a year, he killed another soldier at Richard Bottom. In 1871 Hardin went as a cowboy up the Chisholm Trail . He killed seven people en route and three in Abilene, Kansas. After allegedly backing down city marshall Wild Bill Hickok, who may have dubbed him "Little Arkansas," Hardin returned to Gonzales County, Texas, where he got into difficulty with Governor Edmund J. Davis 's State Police . Hardin then settled down long enough to marry Jane Bowen. Out of that marriage came a son and two daughters. Hardin added at least four names to his death list before surrendering to the sheriff of Cherokee County in September 1872. He broke jail in October and began stock raising but was drawn into the Sutton-Taylor Feud in 1873-74. He aligned himself with Jim Taylor of the anti-Reconstruction forces and killed the opposition leader, Jack Helm , a former State Police captain. In May 1874 he started two herds of cattle up the trail; while visiting in Comanche he killed Charles Webb, deputy sheriff of Brown County. From that time, Hardin was constantly pursued in Texas. He went with his wife and children to Florida and Alabama, adding one certain and five possible names to his death list before the Texas Rangers captured him in Pensacola, Florida, on July 23, 1877. He was tried at Comanche for the murder of Charles Webb and sentenced, on September 28, 1878, to twenty-five years in prison. During his prison term he made repeated efforts to escape, read theological books, was superintendent of the prison Sunday school, and studied law. He was pardoned on March 16, 1894, and admitted to the bar. In 1895 he went to El Paso to appear for the defense in a murder trial and to establish a law practice. Despite efforts to lead a decent life, he was soon in trouble. He took as his lover the wife of one of his clients, Martin Mroz, a cattle thief who had fled to Mexico. When Mroz found out about the affair, he crossed the border to confront Hardin under promise of safe passage by lawman George Scarborough , whereupon he was killed by a number of law officials. Hardin was rumored to have hired the officers to assassinate him. On August 19, 1895, Constable John Selman, one of the officers involved in Mroz's killing, shot Hardin in the Acme Saloon, possibly, some have argued, because he was not paid for the murder of Mroz. Hardin died instantly and was buried in Concordia Cemetery, El Paso. His autobiography, completed to the beginning of his law studies in prison, was the subject of some litigation and was published in 1896. Hardin was an unusual type of killer, a handsome, gentlemanly man who considered himself a pillar of society, always maintaining that he never killed anyone who did not need killing and that he always shot to save his own life. Many people who knew him or his family regarded him as a man more sinned against than sinning. The fact that he had more than thirty notches on his gun, however, is evidence that no more dangerous gunman ever operated in Texas.

Tsha Handbook →

Rayburn, Samuel Taliaferro

1906

Sam Rayburn, Texas legislator, congressman, and longtime speaker of the United States House of Representatives, was born near the Clinch River in Roane County, eastern Tennessee, on January 6, 1882, son of William Marion and Martha (Waller) Rayburn. In 1887 the family moved from Tennessee to a forty-acre cotton farm near Windom in Fannin County, Texas. Bonham, in the same county, eventually became Rayburn's permanent residence. At the age of eighteen he entered East Texas Normal College; he alternately attended college and taught school and still completed in two years the three-year normal-school course leading to the B.S. degree. He taught school two years, then left teaching to pursue a long-standing ambition of becoming a lawyer and legislator, inspired in part by an acquaintance with the political career of Senator Joseph Weldon Bailey . In 1906 Rayburn won a seat in the Texas House of Representatives; he attended the University of Texas law school between legislative sessions and was admitted to the State Bar of Texas in 1908. He was reelected to the state legislature in 1908 and 1910; in his third term he served as speaker of the House. In 1912 he was elected to the United States Congress as a Democrat from the Fourth Texas District. After the 1912 election Rayburn had no Republican opponent at any time during his lengthy congressional career. His oath of office on April 7, 1913, as a member of the House of Representatives marked the beginning of more than forty-eight years of continuous service, the longest record of service in the House ever established (at the time of his death in 1961). He became majority leader in the Seventy-fifth and Seventy-sixth congresses (1937–40) and in 1940 was elected speaker of the House to fill the unexpired term of Speaker William B. Bankhead. Rayburn continued as speaker of the United States House of Representatives in every Democratic-controlled Congress from the Seventy-sixth through the Eighty-seventh (1940–61). During the two periods of Republican majorities in the House (1947–49 and 1953–55), he served as minority leader. On three occasions during his legislative career (in 1948, 1952, and 1956), he served as permanent chairman of the Democratic national convention. Rayburn's congressional career spanned the particularly accelerated legislative activity that occurred during the administrations of Woodrow Wilson, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Harry S. Truman; Rayburn was a participant in the passage of most of the significant legislation of the first half of the twentieth century. During his first term in Congress he was appointed to the House Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce, where he specialized in railroad legislation. This was the only House committee on which he ever served, and he remained on it until he was elected majority leader in 1937. In his first term he introduced a measure for increasing the power of the Interstate Commerce Commission, and during World War I he sponsored the War Risk Insurance Act. Rayburn became a close political ally of the powerful Texas congressman John Nance Garner and in 1932 served as Garner's campaign manager in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination. Rayburn was a major figure in the negotiations that led to the Roosevelt-Garner ticket in 1932. After Roosevelt was elected president, Rayburn became a leading supporter of the New Deal. As chairman of the Interstate and Foreign Commerce Committee (1931–37), he was instrumental in the passage of the Truth in Securities Act, the bills that established the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Federal Communications Commission, the Public Utilities Holding Company Act, the Emergency Railroad Transportation Act, and, with Senator George W. Norris, the Rural Electrification Act. After 1937, as majority leader and then speaker of the House, Rayburn was responsible for guiding the remaining portions of the basic New Deal program through that chamber. During World War II he h

Tsha Handbook →

Rayburn, Congressman Sam

1882

Born in Tennessee on Jan. 6, 1882, Samuel Taliaferro Rayburn came to north Texas with his parents in 1887. His political career began in 1906 with his election to the Texas House of Representatives, where he was Speaker of the 1911-13 Session. Rayburn was elected to the U.S. Congress from the 4th District in 1912, the first of his 25 consecutive terms there. Rising quickly to a leadership position, he was chairman of the Democratic party caucus in 1921. As head of the House Interstate and Foreign Commerce Committee (1931-37) and then Majority Leader (1937-40), Rayburn sponsored much of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal legislation. On Sept. 16, 1940 Rayburn was elected Speaker of the House of Representatives. Except for the 80th (1947-49) and 83rd (1953-55) Congresses, when he was Minority Leader, Rayburn held the speakership until 1961, longer than anyone in the nation's history. A party leader as well, he was chairman of the Democratic National Conventions of 1948, 1952, and 1956. Rayburn died on Nov. 16, 1961, and Presidents Harry S Truman, Dwight Eisenhower, and John F. Kennedy, along with Lyndon B. Johnson, were among national figures at his funeral. He is buried in Willow Wild Cemetery. (1975)

Historical Marker →

Everything Near Bonham

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

Sam Rayburn House · Historical Marker
Sam Rayburn served in the United States Congress for 48 years and was Speaker of the House for 17 of them, longer than anyone in American history. He helped pass the New Deal, steered the nation through World War II and…
Fannin County Courthouses · Historical Marker
You're driving through Bonham, the site of a long history of Fannin County courthouses. The first meeting was in Jacob Black's cabin back in 1836. Over the years, the county seat moved, and courthouses were built from…
Gober Cemetery · Historical Marker
You're driving past Gober Cemetery, which has served the Bonham community for generations. The earliest grave here dates back to 1865, and a tabernacle was built on the site just ten years later. Today, it holds over…
Confederate Commissary · 0.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Bonham, and right here stood the Confederate Commissary for the Northern Sub-district of Texas. Imagine this place bustling, dispensing uniforms, blankets, saddles, and food rations. It wasn't…
Steger Opera House, Site of · 0.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Bonham, and right here stood the Steger Opera House. Built in 1890 by a local stock company, it quickly became the heart of the town's entertainment. Purchased just two years later by Ed D.…
Fannin County · 0.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Fannin County, named for James W. Fannin, who was tragically massacred at Goliad in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1836</say-as> after surrendering. This area saw its first Anglo settlers…
Bonham Daily Favorite · 0.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of the Bonham Daily Favorite, Fannin County's oldest daily newspaper. It began in 1887 as the Weekly Fannin Favorite and grew into a daily publication, serving this community for decades.…
Constantine Lodge No. 13, A. F. & A. M. · 0.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Constantine Lodge No. 13, one of the earliest Masonic lodges in Texas, organized way back in 1840. It moved to Bonham in 1844, and by 1878, it joined forces with the Odd Fellows to…
First National Bank · 0.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past First National Bank. Oldest bank in Fannin County. Chartered December 12, 1883. At that time, county had 25,000 people; farming and industry prospered; a new railroad was being built; seven schools…
Scarborough, A. B., Banker, Old Home of · 0.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Bonham, and look to your right for a truly unique home, built in 1897. This massive place is a wild mix of architectural styles – think Gothic arches, Grecian balconies, a cupola, and turrets, all…
Brownlee, W. W. (Old Home) · 0.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the W.W. Brownlee home in Bonham, built way back in 1872. Imagine the effort it took to haul lumber all the way from Jefferson for this place! It started as a single story, but a second floor was…
First Christian Church of Bonham · 0.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Bonham's First Christian Church. The congregation organized in 1868 with 27 members, led by Charles Carlton, who also founded Carlton College here. The first building went up in 1878,…

Show all 200 nearby places

First Baptist Church · 0.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Bonham's First Baptist Church. It was organized in November 1852 with just six members. The first log church here also served as the town's school. Over the years, the congregation built…
Biard Home · 0.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Biard Home in Bonham, a house with a history as rich as the industry that built it. <break time="400ms"/> It was constructed in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1857</say-as> by Z. K. Sims,…
Bonham Cotton Mill · 0.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Bonham's first major industrial plant: the Bonham Cotton Mill. Nine local businessmen banded together in 1900 to build it, right here, because this blackland prairie was prime cotton…
Texas and Pacific Depot · 0.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of the Bonham Texas and Pacific Depot. The railroad first rolled into town in 1873, replacing a small wooden station with this grander brick building in 1900. Imagine the hustle and bustle!…
McClellan-Cunningham House · 0.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the McClellan-Cunningham House, a beautiful example of Queen Anne architecture right here in Bonham. Judge Eugene McClellan and his wife, a piano teacher, built this home in 1879. Notice the…
Trinity Episcopal Church · 0.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Bonham, passing the site of Trinity Episcopal Church. Organized in 1877, this congregation worshipped in homes and other churches before completing their first building in 1883. Though a fire…
First United Methodist Church of Bonham · 0.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the First United Methodist Church of Bonham, founded way back in 1844 by a circuit rider. It started in a shared log cabin, but grew over the years, eventually sending lifelong member Lelia Roberts…
First Presbyterian Church · 0.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Bonham's First Presbyterian Church. The congregation was organized way back in 1872, and this building, erected in 1885, was the only one in the area featuring a spire and belfry.
Mr. Sam of Bonham · 0.4 mi
Of all the stories in Bonham, none are bigger than that of Sam Rayburn. He served in the U.S. Congress from 1913 until his death in 1961, and for 17 years, he held the gavel as Speaker of the House. He was a political…
Engineering a Landmark's Rebirth · 0.4 mi
The Fannin County Courthouse you see today is an engineering marvel, not just for its original 1888 construction, but for its 21st-century rebirth. In 1965 the ornate Second Empire building was stripped and encased in a…
The Jazz Pioneer Born in Bonham · 0.4 mi
Bonham’s contribution to music history is a big one, even if it was brief. In 1916, the legendary jazz musician Charlie Christian was born here. Though his family moved to Oklahoma City when he was a toddler, his roots…
Risser Hospital · 0.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Bonham, and just ahead is the site of a place that made national headlines. This building, constructed around 1915, first served as a home before Dr. Joe Risser purchased it in 1956. He…
The Frontier Days of Fort Inglish · 0.4 mi
When Bonham was founded in 1837, it wasn’t a town; it was a fort. This area was the edge of the frontier, and settlers were in constant fear of raids. The founder, Bailey Inglish, knew his small group of families needed…
When the Railroad Made Bonham King · 0.4 mi
For its first few decades, Bonham was a remote country town. Getting goods in or out meant a long, slow journey by wagon. That all changed on October 15, 1873. On that day, the first Texas and Pacific Railway train…
On Route of Early Texas Streetcars · 0.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Bonham, and believe it or not, you're passing along the route of one of Texas's earliest streetcar lines! Built around 1890, this wasn't your modern subway. Bonham's streetcar was steam-powered,…
Carlton College · 0.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Carlton College. Formally chartered in 1881, Carlton College began under the direction of Charles Carlton (1821-1902) as the Bonham Female Institute. Carlton, a native of England and a Disciples of…
The Courier Who Rode Back In · 0.5 mi
The Texas town of Bonham, up in Fannin County, is named for a man who never lived to see it, James Butler Bonham. So who was he? He was twenty-nine years old when he died, and he did not have to be there at all. Born in…
A Message Meant For A Mammoth · 0.5 mi
Roll through Bonham, Texas, in the fall and you will see softball-sized green fruits thudding down off the bois d'arc trees, the tree behind this town's original name. So why does that fruit exist if nothing eats it?…
Mister Sam Ran Washington · 0.5 mi
This North Texas town of Bonham gave the country one more towering figure, and he is not from the Alamo era. His name was Sam Rayburn, and for a long stretch of the twentieth century he was arguably the most powerful…
The Name The Legislature Chose · 0.5 mi
Here is a town whose name was settled by a legislature, not by its own neighbors. Bonham, Texas, started life as Bois d'Arc, after the creek and the trees along it. When it became the seat of Fannin County in eighteen…
Wood Of The Bow · 0.5 mi
Before this Fannin County town was called Bonham, Texas, it went by another name, Bois d'Arc, and that name is not random. It is French, and it means, almost literally, wood of the bow. French traders in this country…
Hard As Ceramic, Yellow As Gold · 0.5 mi
The North Texas town of Bonham started out named Bois d'Arc, after a tree, and that tree is genuinely strange, so let us talk about it. Botanists call it Maclura pomifera, the Osage orange, and for a long time it was…
Horse-High, Bull-Strong, Pig-Tight · 0.5 mi
Around Bonham, Texas, and its home county of Fannin, the bois d'arc tree quietly shaped the whole American frontier. Before barbed wire, fencing the open prairie was a nightmare, because there was no cheap stone and no…
The Spider Myth That Won't Die · 0.5 mi
Here in Bonham, Texas, you are in bois d'arc country, and where those trees grow you will hear a certain myth, so it is worth clearing up. People swear that setting the green Osage orange fruits around the house keeps…
The Oldest Name, The Newest Lake · 0.5 mi
Just northeast of Bonham, Texas, the oldest name in the county has come roaring back. The creek that started all of this, Bois d'Arc Creek, now feeds the newest big lake in the state. Bois d'Arc Lake was finished in the…
One Name, The Whole Thread · 0.5 mi
So think about how much one small North Texas town name is holding. Bonham. Start with the word and it splits in every direction. It leads to a South Carolina lawyer riding back into a doomed fort at the Alamo, choosing…
Sam Rayburn Library and Museum · 0.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Sam Rayburn Library and Museum in Bonham. Designed by the Speaker himself and architect Roscoe DeWitt, this building was constructed between 1955 and 1957. It's a striking example of Classical…
Booker T. Washington School · 0.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're passing the site of the Booker T. Washington School in Bonham. Local tradition says it started as a one-room schoolhouse way back in the early 1890s. By 1920, this school was called Booker T. Washington and…
Bonham High School Auditorium and Gymnasium · 0.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the historic Bonham High School Auditorium and Gymnasium. Built in the late 1930s with a mix of federal and local funds, this building was designed by architects Voelcker and Dixon. Notice the…
Inglish Cemetery · 0.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Fannin County's oldest cemetery, established around <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1838</say-as> on land donated by Bailey Inglish. This plot near the old Fort Inglish holds the remains of…
Rowlett, Dr. Daniel · 0.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Fannin County, and the man who helped create it is Dr. Daniel Rowlett. Born in Virginia in 1786, Rowlett arrived in Texas in 1836. Just a year later, he was instrumental in the creation of Fannin…
Tarleton, Col. James · 0.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Bonham, and just off the road is the resting place of Colonel James Tarleton. Born in Virginia in 1789, Tarleton was a veteran of the War of 1812 before he ever heard the call of Texas…
Bailey Inglish · 0.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Fannin County, near the site of the first settlement in this area, which grew into Bonham. Bailey Inglish moved his family here in 1837, becoming a key leader. He helped form Fannin County, served…
Clark Memorial United Methodist Church · 0.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Clark Memorial United Methodist Church in Bonham. The congregation organized in 1893, meeting in homes before building a small sanctuary here in 1901. It was renamed Clark Memorial in the…
Charles Henry Christian · 0.7 mi · Historical Marker
(July 29, 1916 - March 2, 1942) As a child Bonham native Charles (Charlie) Christian was exposed to the guitar artistry and soprano solos of his parents Clarence and Willie Mae Christian. Though taught in the guitar…
Fort English, Vicinity of · 0.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving near Bonham, where the town's story began with Fort English. <break time="400ms"/> In <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1837</say-as>, Bailey Inglish led a group of settlers here, building a log…
Bethlehem Baptist Church · 0.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Bethlehem Baptist Church in Bonham. Organized in 1871, the congregation first met in a log cabin before purchasing this lot in 1872. The church has been remodeled and rebuilt over the…
Rayburn, Sam · 0.9 mi · Historical Marker
(Jan. 16, 1882 - Nov. 16, 1961) Tennessee native Sam Taliaferro Rayburn moved to Texas with his family in 1887. His long and successful political career began with his election to the Texas Legislature in 1906. It…
Military Headquarters Northern Sub-District of Texas, C.S.A. · 0.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Bonham, the site of a key Civil War headquarters for the Northern Sub-District of Texas. General Henry E. McCulloch, a seasoned frontier fighter, commanded this vital post. His mission was immense:…
Bonham, James Butler · 1.0 mi · Tsha Handbook
James Bonham, officer of the Alamo garrison, son of James and Sophia Butler (Smith) Bonham, was born at Red Banks (present-day Saluda), Edgefield County, South Carolina, on February 20, 1807. Recent evidence indicates…
Hardin, John Wesley · 1.0 mi · Tsha Handbook
John Wesley (Wes) Hardin, outlaw, son of James G. and Elizabeth Hardin, was born in Bonham, Texas, on May 26, 1853. His father was a Methodist preacher, circuit rider, schoolteacher, and lawyer. Hardin's violent career…
Rayburn, Samuel Taliaferro · 1.0 mi · Tsha Handbook
Sam Rayburn, Texas legislator, congressman, and longtime speaker of the United States House of Representatives, was born near the Clinch River in Roane County, eastern Tennessee, on January 6, 1882, son of William…
Morgan, Joe Leonard · 1.0 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through East Texas, and right here is Bonham, the birthplace of Joe Morgan, one of baseball's all-time greats. Born in 1943, Morgan stood just 5'7" and weighed 140 pounds, but scouts saw his potential. He…
Christian, Charles Henry [Charlie] · 1.0 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Bonham, Texas, the birthplace of a true jazz legend: Charlie Christian. Born right here in 1916, Christian wasn't just a guitarist; he revolutionized the instrument. Around 1939, a chance…
Sam Rayburn Library and Museum · 1.0 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving past Bonham right now, and you might be passing the Sam Rayburn Library and Museum. This place was a dream of Sam Rayburn himself, the longest-serving Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives. He…
Saunders, Bacon · 1.0 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through North Texas, and right here, in what was then Bonham, Dr. Bacon Saunders performed a groundbreaking surgery in 1879. He's credited with what many consider the first recorded operation for acute…
Fannin County · 1.0 mi
You're driving through Fannin County, right on the Oklahoma border. This land was a frontier in the 1830s, a place of intense conflict between early Anglo settlers and Native American tribes, particularly the Cherokees.…
Bois D'arc Creek (Grayson County) · 1.0 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Fannin County, and right here, this creek you're crossing, Bois d'Arc Creek, was the heart of early settlement. In 1836, pioneers like Daniel Rowlett arrived, drawn by the rich lands along its…
Carlton, Charles · 1.0 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Bonham, Texas, a town that owes much of its educational history to Charles Carlton. After a life that took him from England to Canada and across the United States, Carlton arrived here in 1867. He…
Crawford, Roberta Dodd · 1.0 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through North Texas, near Bonham, the birthplace of Roberta Dodd Crawford. Born in 1897, she became a celebrated Black lyric soprano, even known as Princess Kojo Tovalou-Houenou later in life. Imagine…
Inglish, Bailey · 1.0 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Fannin County, and right here is the birthplace of Bonham. It all started in the late 1830s when Bailey Inglish, a settler from Arkansas, built a fortified blockhouse and stockade on his land to…
Phillips, Bobbie Erskin · 1.0 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Fannin County, and right here in Bonham, you're passing the neighborhood where Bobbie Phillips spent most of her life. She wasn't just any cook; for 24 years, she was the master of the Rayburn…
Rowlett, Daniel · 1.0 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Fannin County, and right here is where Daniel Rowlett, a pioneer and political leader, settled in Texas back in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1836</say-as>. He arrived near the mouth of…
Stanley, Wright Augustus · 1.0 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Fannin County, Texas, and right here is where Wright Augustus Stanley raised a company of men for the Confederacy. Born in Tennessee, Stanley moved to Fannin County and became a doctor. But when…
Winkler, Rayburn Franklin · 1.0 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through North Texas, maybe near Bonham, where Ray Winkler got his start. He was a songwriter, a radio man, and a businessman, but he co-wrote one song that became a massive hit: 'Welcome to My World.'…
Bonham, TX · 1.0 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Bonham, Texas, a town that started as a frontier fort. Right here, Bailey Inglish built Fort Inglish in 1837, a blockhouse and stockade to protect early settlers. The original townsite, then…
Lee, Roswell Walter · 1.0 mi · Tsha Handbook
Roswell Walter Lee, military officer of the United States, Republic of Texas , and Confederate States; public servant; and surveyor; was born on August 12, 1810, in Hamden, Connecticut, to Col. Roswell Lee and Phebe…
Carlton College · 1.0 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Fannin County, and right here in Bonham, you're passing the site of Carlton College. Founded in 1866 as one of the earliest Disciples of Christ schools in Texas, it moved to Bonham in 1867. It…
Carreathers, Raymond Eugene · 1.0 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Northeast Texas, maybe near Bonham, and right here is a story of a man who broke barriers. Raymond Eugene Carreathers, born in Clarksville back in 1921, grew up on farms in Red River and Lamar…
Dorn, Andrew Jackson · 1.0 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through North Texas, and right here in Bonham, you're passing through the hometown of Andrew Jackson Dorn. He wasn't exactly a household name, but he snagged the job of Texas State Treasurer in 1873,…
Nold, Wendelin J. · 1.0 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Bonham, Texas, the birthplace of Wendelin Nold. He wasn't just any Texan; he became the fifth bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Galveston-Houston. Nold was the first student from St. Mary's…
Rayburn, Lucinda [Miss Lou] · 1.0 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Fannin County, not far from Bonham, and you might be passing the Sam Rayburn House State Historic Site. Right here lived Lucinda Rayburn, known as Miss Lou, the sister and social hostess for…
Roberts, Samuel Alexander · 1.0 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Bonham, the hometown of Samuel Alexander Roberts, a key figure in the Republic of Texas. He arrived in Texas in 1837, encouraged by Mirabeau B. Lamar, who would later become president. Roberts…
Taylor, Robert H. · 1.0 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Fannin County, near Bonham, where Robert H. Taylor built a remarkable life. Arriving in Texas in 1844, he quickly became a lawyer, a soldier in the Mexican War, and a rising political star. He…
John P. Simpson · 1.0 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Bonham, the heart of Fannin County. Look around – much of this downtown commercial area, including the courthouse square, sits on land donated by John P. Simpson. He arrived in Texas around 1837,…
Bonham Daily Favorite · 1.0 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Fannin County, and right here in Bonham, a newspaper has been a constant voice for over a century. The Bonham Daily Favorite traces its roots back to the weekly Fannin County Favorite, started…
Chenoweth, James Q. · 1.0 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Fannin County, Texas, maybe past Bonham. Right here, James Q. Chenoweth, a Confederate colonel during the Civil War, found a new life after the fighting. After serving in the Kentucky legislature,…
Lane, Robert H. · 1.0 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Fannin County, heading towards Bonham. Right here is where Robert H. Lane, a Mexican War veteran and lawyer, made his mark in Texas politics. After fighting in the Mexican War and serving on the…
Pace, Alfred Elkins · 1.0 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Fannin County, and right here in Bonham, you're passing through the stomping grounds of Alfred Elkins Pace. Pace wasn't just a farmer and merchant; he was a state representative in the Third…
Panhandle National Grasslands · 1.0 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through North Texas, and right here are remnants of a massive conservation effort. In 1958, the U.S. Forest Service created the Panhandle National Grasslands, totaling nearly 300,000 acres across Texas,…
Russell, John R. · 1.0 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Fannin County, and right here in Bonham is where John R. Russell made his mark. He fought in the Mexican War with the Texas Rangers, then came back to Texas to build a business empire. But when…
Smith, Gideon · 1.0 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Fannin County, near Bonham, where Gideon Smith made his mark. He arrived in Texas in 1847, eventually settling here in Red River and turning his land into a prosperous plantation. Smith wasn't…
Van Noy, Henry Harrison · 1.0 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Fannin County, and right here in Bonham is where Henry Harrison Van Noy's political career ended. Van Noy was a Radical Republican who, after serving in the Confederate Army and surviving Union…
Spies, Dr. Tom Douglas · 1.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Bonham, and right around here is the birthplace of Dr. Tom Douglas Spies. Born in 1902, Dr. Spies became a leading expert on nutritional diseases. In the 1930s, he was at the forefront of…
Sam Rayburn House Museum · 1.7 mi · Scraped Hmdb
Step back in time and walk through the home of Sam Rayburn, one of the most influential Speakers of the House. This unassuming house in Bonham was the heart of a political powerhouse. Sam Rayburn, born in 1882, served…
Rayburn, Congressman Sam · 1.8 mi · Historical Marker
Born in Tennessee on Jan. 6, 1882, Samuel Taliaferro Rayburn came to north Texas with his parents in 1887. His political career began in 1906 with his election to the Texas House of Representatives, where he was Speaker…
Sam Rayburn House · 1.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Sam Rayburn House, built in 1916 by the Congressman for his parents, three years into his career in Washington. This two-story home, once called 'The Home Place,' was later enlarged in 1934 with…
Moore's Chapel Cemetery · 3.9 mi · Historical Marker
Driving through Bonham, look for Moore's Chapel Cemetery. This place started in the mid-1870s when Alexander and Mary Jane Moore donated land for a graveyard. The first burial was Martha Cashion in 1876. Later, Baptists…
Arledge Ridge Cemetery · 4.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Arledge Ridge, named for two brothers who settled here from Alabama in the 1850s: Joseph and William Arledge. Joseph ran one of Fannin County's first freight lines, all the way to Jefferson. William…
Banta, William · 4.3 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through North Texas, perhaps near Bonham, where William Banta settled with his family in the 1840s. Banta was a hardened Indian fighter and Civil War soldier who spent years on the Texas frontier. In the…
Evans, Lemuel Dale · 4.3 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Fannin County, and right here, Lemuel Dale Evans was a key player in Texas's struggle with secession. A lawyer and former congressman, Evans was a staunch Unionist, fiercely opposing the…
Military Road · 4.3 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Texas, and right here, you're tracing the path of a vital frontier artery. Back in 1838, the Republic of Texas ordered a military road to be cut, connecting Austin to Fort Inglish, which is now…
Morgan, Abel · 4.3 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through what is now Fannin County, Texas, but back in 1836, this was the site of unimaginable horror. Abel Morgan, a man who'd already lost a fortune and fled marital troubles, enlisted in the Texas army…
Snively Expedition · 4.3 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through what was once claimed as Texas territory, but back in 1843, it was a wild frontier. This is the story of the Snively Expedition, also known as the Battalion of Invincibles. Authorized by the Texas…
Bug Tussle, TX · 4.3 mi · Tsha Handbook
Bug Tussle is at the junction of Farm Road 1550 and State Highway 34, ten miles south of Honey Grove and five miles north of Ladonia in southeastern Fannin County. The community was initially called Truss, after John…
Grove Hill, TX (Fannin County) · 4.3 mi · Tsha Handbook
Grove Hill, also known as Oak Hill, is on Farm Road 1553 twelve miles south of Bonham and four miles northeast of Leonard in southwestern Fannin County. Grove Hill is reportedly the oldest settlement in that part of the…
Old Warren, TX · 4.3 mi · Tsha Handbook
Old Warren (Fort Warren or Fort Kitchen), on the Fannin-Grayson county line, was named for Abel Warren , a trader from Fort Smith, Arkansas, who established a trading post on the Red River one mile below the mouth of…
Telephone, TX · 4.3 mi · Tsha Handbook
Telephone is at the intersection of Farm roads 273 and 2029, twelve miles northeast of Bonham in northeastern Fannin County. While settlers had moved into the vicinity as early as the 1870s, the community was not…
Howell’s Company Light Artillery · 4.3 mi
You're driving through Fannin County, Texas, where Captain Sylvanus Howell organized his light artillery company in April of 1862. Known as Howell's Battery, most of the men hailed from right here. They fought in…
Harling Site · 4.3 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Fannin County, not far from Honey Grove, and right here used to stand a remarkable piece of Texas history. This was the Harling Site, a prehistoric Caddo Indian ceremonial center, dating back to…
Merrick, George Washington · 4.3 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Fannin County, Texas, where George Washington Merrick served as a Confederate cavalry officer during the Civil War. Born in Tennessee, Merrick came to Texas as a boy and farmed before heading to…
Barrett, Alva Pearl · 4.3 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Fannin County, and right here in Gober, Alva Pearl Barrett got his start. It was 1902, and he was principal of the local school. But Barrett had bigger ambitions. He ran for the Texas House of…
Dial, TX (Fannin County) · 4.3 mi · Tsha Handbook
Dial is on Farm Road 824 twenty-five miles southeast of Bonham in southeastern Fannin County. The settlement was first called Bethel, when in 1837 the one-room Bethel school was established a mile from Fort Lyday . This…
Tulip, TX · 4.3 mi · Tsha Handbook
Tulip is on Farm Road 2554 twelve miles north of Bonham in north central Fannin County. It was established in April 1836 by Daniel Rowlett , John and Edward Stephens, David Slack, Richard Locke, and other settlers, who…
Landmark Movement · 4.3 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Texas, maybe near Fannin County, and you're passing through the heart of a unique Baptist belief system called Landmarkism. It started way back in the 1850s, a way of seeing religious truth that…
Pyle, Wynne Belle · 4.3 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Fannin County, Texas, the birthplace of Wynne Belle Pyle, a remarkable pianist and recording artist. Born in 1881, she showed early talent and studied piano right here in North Texas. Her teachers…
White Rock, TX (Fannin County) · 4.3 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Fannin County, not far from Bonham, and you might be passing the site of White Rock. It got its name from a local limestone that shines brilliant white in the sun. In 1871, a wagon train led by…
Allen's Point, TX · 4.3 mi · Tsha Handbook
Allen's Point is on Farm Road 100 fifteen miles northeast of Bonham in eastern Fannin County. The settlement began in 1836, when its founder, Tennessean Wilson B. Allen, established a homestead near Honey Grove Creek…
Hail, TX · 4.3 mi · Tsha Handbook
Hail (Hale) is on Farm Road 1550 twelve miles southeast of Bonham in Fannin County. It was founded between 1845 and 1850 by Kentuckians Elijah Jackson and Nancy Triplett Clark, who came to Texas in a wagon train of…
Randolph, TX (Fannin County) · 4.3 mi · Tsha Handbook
Randolph is at the junction of State highways 121 and 11, eight miles southwest of Bonham in Fannin County. The area was first settled in the late 1830s. During the late 1840s Thomas Lindsey set aside four acres for a…
Savage, TX (Fannin County) · 4.3 mi · Tsha Handbook
Savage, also known as Antioch and Evans, was located at the crossroads five miles east of Leonard, six miles west of Wolfe City, five miles north of Celeste, and twelve miles south of Bonham in south central Fannin…
Selfs, TX · 4.3 mi · Tsha Handbook
Selfs is on Farm Road 100 sixteen miles northeast of Bonham in east central Fannin County. The first settlers in the area were John Western Jones and his family, who in the late 1830s or early 1840s built and operated a…
From Iron Rails to Asphalt: The Highway 82 Transformation · 5.5 mi
The road you're driving on, U.S. Highway 82, tells a powerful story of engineering and economic change. For its first 70 years, Ector's lifeblood was the Texas and Pacific railroad. But by the mid-20th century, a new…
Ector, TX · 5.5 mi
In 2017, a $320 million resort and bunker facility called Trident Lakes was under development near Ector. The project was led by CEO James O'Connor and chief security officer Rob Kaneiss, a former Navy SEAL. However, by…
Ector, TX · 5.5 mi
The city of Ector, Texas, is named in honor of one of the pioneer settlers of the area, Ector Owens. The community started in the late 19th century when farmers settled near Caney Creek. Interestingly, the town was…
Ector Lodge N. 687 · 5.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Ector, where Ector Lodge No. 687 began in 1887 as a Masonic lodge in Ravenna. It moved to this railroad town in 1889, changing its name in 1901. Members met in various locations before moving into…
Ector Methodist Church · 5.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Ector, where the Methodist congregation started meeting in a schoolhouse back in 1885. They built their first frame church with twin steeples in 1888. The congregation is still active today,…
Dodd City, TX · 5.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Fannin County, on the road to Dodd City. This community began way back in 1839, when Major Edmund Hall Dodd and his wife Elizabeth arrived from Kentucky. They built a log house that quickly became…
Carson Cemetery · 6.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Carson Cemetery, a resting place with a tragic beginning. Local stories say this ground was named for John Carson, who once owned this land. But the earliest graves here might date back to an 1842…
Building a Lake from Scratch · 6.7 mi
Just southeast of Ivanhoe, a massive feat of modern engineering has reshaped the Texas map. You're near Bois d'Arc Lake, a 16,641-acre reservoir dedicated in 2022 - the first major reservoir built in the state in nearly…
In Mr. Sam's County · 6.7 mi
You can't tell the story of any place in Fannin County without talking about Sam Rayburn. From his home in nearby Bonham, 'Mr. Sam' served as Speaker of the U.S. House longer than anyone in history, and his power in…
The Last Bell at Ivanhoe School · 6.7 mi
For most of a century, the heart of Ivanhoe was its school. It was more than a place for reading and writing; it was the community's social center, the site of holiday programs, town meetings, and celebrations. By the…
Dodd City, TX · 6.8 mi
Dodd City High School Hornets made history in 2021 by becoming the Texas State Class 1A champions in both Girls Basketball and Softball, a significant achievement for the town.
One Town Absorbed the Other · 6.8 mi
The very existence of Dodd City in its current spot is a story of nineteenth-century engineering. In the early 1870s, surveyors for the Texas and Pacific Railway pushed across this landscape with transits and chains,…
Mister Sam of Fannin County · 7.2 mi
State Highway One Twenty One carries the name Sam Rayburn Memorial Highway. Rayburn was born in Tennessee in eighteen eighty two, and in eighteen eighty seven his family moved to a forty acre cotton farm near Windom in…
Biggers, James Fowler · 7.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Fannin County, and just ahead is the area where James Fowler Biggers settled in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1869</say-as>. A native of South Carolina who grew up in Mississippi, Biggers…
Lindsey-Randolph Cemetery · 7.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Lindsey-Randolph Cemetery, a place that started with a donation of farmland in the late 1840s. Thomas Lindsey, who came here from Tennessee in 1837, set aside four acres for a school and this…
Ravenna, TX · 7.4 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Fannin County, not far from Bonham, heading towards the Red River. Right here is Ravenna, a town that started out as Willow Point around 1850. By the 1880s, settlers had named it Ravenna,…
Little Jordan Cemetery · 7.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Little Jordan Cemetery. Sid and Suzan Pierce donated this burial ground near the Little Jordan Baptist Church, which was active from 1850 to 1893. Heirs of the pioneers fenced the area in…
Biggerstaff Cemetery · 8.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Dodd City. The Jackson and Biggerstaff families settled here in 1854, coming from Missouri. The Biggerstaff farm became the site of this cemetery, established around 1864 and last used in 1935.
Buchanan Cemetery · 8.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Buchanan Cemetery in Randolph. Alexander Buchanan, his wife Delilah, and their eleven children moved here from Illinois in 1844, settling on this site in 1846. Alexander died that same year and…
Ely · 8.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Fannin County, past the site of what was once the Ely community. It all started when Civil War veteran Levi Wells Ely and his wife Laura moved here from Georgia in 1882. They settled on this…
Gober Baptist Church · 9.0 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Gober, Fannin County. This marker tells the story of the Gober Baptist Church, organized in 1889. Early services were held in a schoolhouse or brush arbor before their first sanctuary was built in…
Gober Public school · 9.0 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Gober, a town settled in the 1840s and first known as Grittersville. Public education started in a one-room schoolhouse. Fire destroyed that school in 1924, but it was replaced by a new two-story…
The First Speaker With a Doctorate · 9.1 mi
Farm to Market Road Sixty Eight in Fannin County is Speaker Jimmy Turman Road. The Legislature voted for it unanimously in two thousand five, honoring the son of a farm tenant family who rose to speaker of the Texas…
Gober Garage · 9.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Gober Garage. Vernon C. Shive and John N. Glover operated a garage in Gober as early as 1933. After Shive died in 1944, John and Ruth Glover acquired a full share in the Gober Garage.
The Storm of 1919 · 9.3 mi
Late on the night of April 9, 1919, disaster struck Ravenna out of the dark. A violent tornado, part of a larger outbreak across North Texas, had already run thirty miles up from Blue Ridge, tearing through Collin and…
Building a 21st-Century Lake · 9.3 mi
Just a few miles from Ravenna lies one of the most significant Texas engineering projects of the 21st century: Bois d'Arc Lake. As you drive nearby, consider the immense challenge of building the first major reservoir…
Bypassed by the Iron Horse · 9.3 mi
In the 1880s Ravenna was a growing Fannin County town, and in 1891 it got the thing every nineteenth-century town prayed for: the Denison, Bonham and New Orleans Railroad laid its tracks right through here. The boom was…
Portland · 9.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Portland, a farming community that almost faded into ghost town history. Jesse Green London, a Confederate veteran, settled here with his family in 1873. By the late 1800s, Portland had a…
Rain, State Highway Eleven, and a Fannin County Deputy · 9.4 mi
The Deputy Rahamy Mitchell Memorial Highway is on State Highway Eleven. Rahamy Mitchell joined the Fannin County Sheriff's Office as a reserve deputy in two thousand one. He became a licensed corrections officer in two…
First Baptist Church of Bailey · 9.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of the First Baptist Church of Bailey. It began in 1888 as Corinth Baptist Church with twelve charter members, meeting in a schoolhouse. By 1890, the congregation moved to Bailey and changed…
Rayburn, Sam, The Homesite · 9.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Fannin County, not far from where Sam Rayburn spent his formative years. Born in Tennessee in 1882, Rayburn moved to Texas with his family in 1887, settling near this spot. He studied law and…
Fort Warren · 10.0 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Fannin County, near Savoy. Look ahead for the site of Fort Warren, the first settlement and fort in this county, built way back in 1836. Abel Warren, an Indian trader from Arkansas, constructed…
Allmond, Ruby Nell · 10.0 mi · Tsha Handbook
Ruby Allmond, singer, songwriter, and country fiddler named "National Champion Lady Fiddler," was born on a farm near Bailey, Texas, in southeastern Fannin County on May 2, 1923. She was the youngest child of Arthur M.…
Bank of Windom · 10.0 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Windom, and right here is the site of the town's very first bank, the Private Bank of Windom, which opened its doors in 1900. It operated out of a local store before moving into this brick…
Bailey, TX · 10.0 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Bailey, Texas, a town that owes its name to a bit of a rivalry! Back in the late 1800s, two prominent landowners, Doctors Josiah Bailey and A. J. Ray, both wanted the new railroad stop named after…
Ashley Lodge No. 681, A. F. & A. M. · 10.0 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Ashley Lodge No. 681, chartered in 1889 as the seventh Masonic lodge in Fannin County. The lodge shared its first meeting hall with the Baptist church, later bought its own building, and…
The Town That Didn't Have to Move · 10.1 mi
You're driving through Savoy, and the town has been right here the whole time. It was founded around 1863 by Col. William Savoy, a settler who had come out in the late 1850s, and it grew slowly until the end of the…
The Fires of Savoy · 10.1 mi
If you look at Savoy today, you're looking at a town that got knocked flat and got back up. On May 28, 1880, a tornado came through here and killed eleven people, virtually destroying the community. Think about what…
The Line That Moved a Town · 10.1 mi
The name on the sign here was decided by a railroad right-of-way. Farmers settled this ground in the late 1850s for the rich blackland, and by the 1880s two prominent men — Dr. Josiah S. Bailey and Dr. A. J. Ray — each…
The College on the Prairie · 10.1 mi
In its heyday, Savoy wasn't just a cotton town; it was a college town. In 1876 locals founded the Savoy Male and Female College, one of the first coeducational colleges in North Texas, put together by R. R. Halsell,…
Bailey, TX · 10.1 mi
In the late 1850s, farmers moved to the area that would become Bailey, Texas, to take advantage of the rich soil. Cotton and corn became the principal crops. A dispute over naming the town ended in 1885 when the St.…
The Cowboy with a Camera · 10.2 mi
As you pass the fields and pastures of Fannin County, you're seeing the landscape that shaped Erwin E. Smith. Born near Honey Grove in 1886, Smith dedicated his life to an urgent mission: to photograph the American…
The Iron Horse That Built Windom · 10.2 mi
Look for the railroad tracks that still slice through Windom, often running parallel to the highway. They might seem like just a part of the scenery, but you're looking at the 19th-century engineering marvel that…
Baldwin Home, Old · 10.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Windom, and you might just be passing the Old Baldwin Home. Built in the 1890s by John Baldwin, this wasn't just a house – it was a hub. Baldwin owned a cotton gin, and get this: he hosted seventy…
Fenner, Joseph F. · 10.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Fannin County, near Leonard. Look to your right for the marker honoring Joseph F. Fenner. Fenner was a veteran of the Texas War for Independence, serving in Shackelford's Company under Colonel…
Grove Hill · 10.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Grove Hill, a community that started life as Oak Hill. It all began in 1844 when George W. Smith, a Georgian, settled here. By the 1850s, a post office was established, and the first…
Windom, TX · 10.4 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Fannin County, heading east of Bonham on Highway 82, and you're passing through Windom. This community got its start around 1870, with early settlers like Nancy Fitzgerald and Major James…
Bug Tussle - Where Nothing Happened Except Bugs · 10.5 mi · Historical Marker
Bug Tussle is a ghost community in Fannin County, in the blackland prairie of northeast Texas. There are two competing origin stories for the name, and locals enjoy arguing about which is the real one. The first version…
Site of Bartley-Woods School · 10.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Gober, Texas, where you might have passed the site of the Bartley-Woods School. This place wasn't just a school; it was a community hub. It was formed in 1932 by consolidating several smaller…
Savoy Methodist Church · 10.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Savoy, a town founded in 1872 by William Savoy. Just a year later, in 1873, this Methodist congregation began meeting. Their first sanctuary, built in 1876, was one of the few buildings that survived…
Savoy, TX · 10.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Fannin County, near Savoy. This town was established about 1863 by Col. William Savoy. It grew slowly until after the Civil War, becoming an agricultural shipping center. But in 1880, a…
Savoy Male and Female College · 10.9 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Fannin County, near the town of Savoy. Back in 1876, this was the site of the Savoy Male and Female College, one of North Texas's first coeducational schools. It aimed to provide education for…
Valley Creek · 11.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Fannin County, and just off to your right is the site of Valley Creek. In 1869, eleven Presbyterian families from New York, organized by Howard L. Parmele, established this settlement. Parmele,…
Smith Plantation, Site of · 11.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Fannin County, passing the site of the old Smith Plantation. Back in 1851, Gideon Smith arrived from Alabama and bought a massive 3000-acre spread. He soon brought his brother John to join him.…
The Beetle That Steers By The Galaxy · 11.7 mi
The town of Bug Tussle, Texas takes its name from the tumblebug, and here is the part about that bug that sounds made up and is not. A dung beetle rolling its ball needs to travel in a dead straight line, because any…
The Strongest Wrestler On Earth · 11.7 mi
Back to the tussling, because the fighting hidden in the name Bug Tussle, Texas is real and it is ferocious. The dung beetle is, pound for pound, the strongest animal on the planet. One species, a horned beetle about…
Three Stories, One Bug · 11.7 mi
Here is a town that wears its whole personality on the road sign. Bug Tussle, Texas, out here in southeastern Fannin County, did not start with that name. It started as plain Truss, after a settler named John Truss, and…
What A Tumblebug Really Is · 11.7 mi
Out here in Bug Tussle, Texas, one of the naming legends says the town got its name when two old-timers looked down and saw a pair of tumblebugs fighting in the dirt. That third story has a real animal in it, and it is…
The Bug That Egypt Made A God · 11.7 mi
You are rolling through Bug Tussle, Texas, a Fannin County dot named after the lowly tumblebug. Before you write that humble bug off as a joke, know that another whole civilization, half a world away, once made it a…
Dollar Weddings And Stolen Signs · 11.7 mi
A name this good does not stay put, and Bug Tussle has had quite a second life. For a stretch it became downright fashionable for couples to drive out here just to get married, so their marriage license would forever…
Two Words On A Road Sign · 11.7 mi
So think about what one silly little name out here on the blackland can hold. Pull on the words Bug Tussle and the whole thread unspools. It leads back to a settler named Truss and a town that could not settle on its…
Black Dirt And A Speaker Of The House · 11.7 mi
Look down at the ground you are standing on out here, because it explains almost everything else. Bug Tussle sits on the Blackland Prairie, a belt of famously rich, black, waxy soil that runs about three hundred miles…
Mulberry Cemetery · 11.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Mulberry Cemetery, a place that's seen more than its share of hardship. Established in the early 1880s, it holds the remains of Civil War Captain Thomas Lightfoot and the community's first…
Sears, T. H., Home of · 12.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the T.H. Sears home in Whitewright, a colonial-style house built by the son of a pioneer settler. <break time="400ms"/> This place has been a local showplace since <say-as interpret-as="date"…
The Night Leonard Burned · 12.2 mi
As you look at the solid brick buildings lining Leonard's downtown square, know that you're looking at a town shaped by fire. Leonard came into existence on July 22, 1880, when the railroad reached this spot and town…
From Farm Waste to Factory Gold · 12.2 mi
In the early 20th century, the biggest industrial machine in Leonard wasn't the train, but the cotton oil mill. Cotton gins produced the valuable fiber, but they left behind mountains of fuzzy seeds, which were once…
The Iron Horse Arrives · 12.2 mi
The reason you're driving through a town called Leonard is a railroad that no longer exists and a land deal that came first. The ground here was part of a 3,520-acre survey granted to Martin Moore in 1845 by Anson…
The Oldest Party in Town · 12.2 mi
If you happen to be driving through Leonard in the middle of July, you might find yourself in the middle of a party that has been going on since before this town had streets. It's the Leonard Picnic, and it is one of…
Leonard, TX · 12.2 mi
Leonard, Texas is a city located in southwestern Fannin County, with key highways playing a significant role in its transportation network. U.S. Route 69 passes along the northern and eastern edges of the city, leading…
Greenwood Cemetery · 12.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Greenwood Cemetery, also known as Jenkins Cemetery. The oldest stones here have lost their lettering, but the earliest dated burial is for Jas. P. Montgomery, who died in 1869. The land was formally…
William W. Bell Cemetery · 12.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Fannin County, near Savoy, where a family cemetery holds the stories of early Texas pioneers. This resting place began in 1845 with the burial of William W. Bell, an English immigrant who arrived…
Kirkpatrick Home, Old · 12.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Whitewright, and if you look closely, you might catch a glimpse of the Kirkpatrick Home, built way back in 1899. This Victorian beauty still boasts its original cypress roof and a foundation made…
Savage · 12.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving near Leonard, and you're passing through what used to be the Savage community. It all started back in 1869, when William Hamilton 'Uncle Billy' Savage and his wife Elizabeth moved here. They were so…
Wheeler House · 12.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're cruising through Honey Grove, Fannin County, and you might just pass the Wheeler House. Built between 1852 and 1854, this wasn't just any home – it was the very first Classic Revival house in the area. Imagine,…
Virginia Point Methodist · 12.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of the Virginia Point Methodist Church, the oldest church in Fannin County. It was organized in 1837 at Old Warren, and this building was erected in 1860.
Burns Cemetery · 12.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Burns Cemetery, a final resting place for some of Fannin County's earliest settlers. Land for this cemetery was donated in 1876 by William Boyd Burns, a pioneer who also gave land for a church that…
Galbraith House · 13.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Galbraith House, built around 1870 by Marshall A. Galbraith. He was a farmer and businessman who came to Texas in 1847 and later served in the Confederate Army during the Civil War. The house, a…
McCraw's Chapel · 13.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of McCraw's Chapel, a Methodist congregation that started gathering in 1859. For years, settlers met in the home of Ezekiel Phillips Warren, who had moved to this area in 1856. Later, in…
First Presbyterian Church and Manse · 13.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of the First Presbyterian Church in Whitewright. It began as a Cumberland Presbyterian Church organized in 1853, with several congregations established in the 1860s. The church moved to…
Quedlinburg Art Affair · 13.3 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through North Texas, not far from Dallas, and right here in Whitewright is where a lost treasure from World War II ended up. In 1945, a young lieutenant named Joe Meador was stationed in Quedlinburg,…
Hall, Morris Eugene [Gene] · 13.3 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through North Texas, and right here near Whitewright, we can talk about a man who changed how jazz was taught in America. Morris Eugene "Gene" Hall was born in 1913, right here in Whitewright. He loved…
Samuel E. and Mary C. Marshall House · 13.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Whitewright, and just ahead is a beautiful example of Queen Anne architecture. This is the Samuel E. and Mary C. Marshall House, built for them between 1899 and 1900. Sam Marshall, a Civil War…
Whitewright Masonic Lodge No. 167 · 13.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Whitewright, and the story of this Masonic Lodge is a story of this town itself. It started way back in 1855 as the Kentucky Town Masonic Lodge, getting its charter the next year. But when the…
Whitewright, TX · 13.3 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Whitewright, Texas, a town that owes its existence to a New York investor and a railroad. Back in 1878, William Whitewright bought land right where the Missouri, Kansas, and Texas Railroad was…
First Methodist Church of Whitewright · 13.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of the First Methodist Church of Whitewright. Its history traces back to Sears Chapel, established in the late 1850s. The current congregation organized as the First Methodist Church of…
Martindale-Lackey-Hudgins House · 13.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Martindale-Lackey-Hudgins House. Built around 1905, likely by David Martindale, this home was later owned by tinsmith Ott Lackey and his wife Vesta. In 1946, Andrew and Ileta Hudgins bought the…

Explore Bonham on the Map

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

Bonham, Texas

Music in Bonham

Songs About Bonham

Artists From Bonham

Rivers & Roads in Song near Bonham

History of Bonham

Mr. Sam of Bonham RoadyGoat

Engineering a Landmark's Rebirth RoadyGoat

The Jazz Pioneer Born in Bonham RoadyGoat

Charles Henry Christian

Rayburn, Sam

Bonham, James Butler

Hardin, John Wesley

Rayburn, Samuel Taliaferro

Rayburn, Congressman Sam

Everything Near Bonham

Sign up for the free newsletter