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Bowie, Texas

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Rivers & Roads in Song near Bowie

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

Red River 88 songs Texas State Highway 199 8 songs Interstate 35 45 songs Wichita River 2 songs Interstate 44 5 songs

History of Bowie

The Brawl That Built a Legend RoadyGoat

The name of this town points back to one wild afternoon that turned Jim Bowie into a household name. It was the nineteenth of September, eighteen twenty-seven, on a sandbar in the Mississippi River between Vidalia, Louisiana, and Natchez, Mississippi. Two men, Samuel Wells and Doctor Thomas Maddox, had a quarrel they figured could only be settled with pistols. They picked a sandbar because dueling was illegal on dry land in the parish. The two duelists fired, missed, and shook hands to make peace. Everything should have ended right there. Instead, the crowd of supporters who had come along drew on each other, and the whole thing exploded into a brawl. Jim Bowie was shot and stabbed, but he pulled out a big butcher-style knife his brother had given him and fought back ferociously. When the dust settled, two men lay dead and Bowie was badly wounded but alive. Witnesses could not stop talking about the fearsome blade and the man who wielded it. That single fight is where the legend of the Bowie knife was truly born.

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From the Alamo to the Rock Stage RoadyGoat

Now for a twist that connects a Texas frontiersman to one of the biggest rock stars who ever lived. The town you're passing through is named for Jim Bowie, and so, in a roundabout way, was David Bowie. The rock icon was actually born David Robert Jones in London in nineteen forty-seven. Trouble was, another young singer named Davy Jones, the fellow who'd soon front the Monkees, already had the name locked up. So in nineteen sixty-five, David Jones went looking for a new one. He landed on Bowie, in tribute to Jim Bowie and that famous frontier knife. He later explained that he liked how the blade could cut both ways, calling it the ultimate American knife, a fitting image for a performer who reinvented himself again and again. So the same name that a group of Texas railroad settlers chose for their new town in eighteen eighty-two, a Brixton kid chose for his stage career eighty-some years later. A frontier blade, a Montague County town, and a glam-rock legend, all pointing back to one man.

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How Jim Bowie Really Died RoadyGoat

The picture most folks carry of Jim Bowie's last stand at the Alamo is a man swinging his famous knife until the very end. The truth is quieter and a little sadder. By the time the siege closed in during late February of eighteen thirty-six, Bowie was gravely ill, bedridden, and slipping in and out of delirium. Historians have argued for well over a century about exactly what laid him low. Some point to a form of pneumonia, others to typhoid, and still others to consumption, which is what people then called tuberculosis. The honest answer is that we do not know for certain. What we do know is that on the sixth of March, eighteen thirty-six, when Mexican forces overran the Alamo, Jim Bowie died in his sickbed. There are competing eyewitness accounts, some romantic and some grim, and one famous storyteller named Madam Candelaria claimed she was cradling him when soldiers rushed in, though her tale changed with every retelling. So the legendary knife fighter did not go down in a whirlwind of blades. He met his end sick and confined, which arguably makes his refusal to leave the fort even braver. This town's name honors that quieter kind of courage too.

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Wagonseller, Wayne Warren

1955

Wayne Warren Wagonseller, attorney, Texas state legislator, and rancher, son of Amos Warren Wagonseller and Clara Augusta (Beck) Wagonseller, was born in Nocona, Montague County, Texas, on February 1, 1921. He was the third generation of a pioneering family whose roots in North Texas reached back nearly five decades. His grandfather, William Riley Wagonseller, arrived in Texas from Indiana a decade after the Civil War and established himself in Wise County as a blacksmith. By 1920 his son, twenty-six-year-old Amos Wagonseller, had established a farmstead in neighboring Montague County, and in 1921 Wayne was born. Wayne Wagonseller attended North Texas State Teacher’s College (now University of North Texas), but like so many young men of his generation, the onset of World War II interrupted his studies. Two months after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Wagonseller enlisted in the United States Army as a private and was assigned to the Ninth Infantry Regiment, Second Infantry Division (known as the Indianhead Division). The division trained in England and Wales from October 1943 to June 1944 before crossing the channel and landing at Omaha Beach on D-Day Plus 1. The Indianhead Division participated in the breakout at Saint-Lô, the siege of Brest, the Battle of the Bulge, and in 1945 fought its way across the Rhine and into Germany. While serving in the Ninth Infantry, Wagonseller distinguished himself. He was twice wounded (at Saint-Lô and Brest) and earned the Bronze Star and Purple Heart. He ascended to the rank of technical sergeant. The army discharged him from active duty in June 1945 shortly after the end of the war in Europe. He married Betty Clarice Benton on December 28, 1949, but the couple divorced within several years and had no children. After receiving an honorable discharge from the army, Wagonseller resumed his studies, earned his bachelor’s degree, and then attended law school at the University of Texas, where he remained active in the Ex-Serviceman’s Association. He ultimately graduated and gained admittance to the Texas Bar Association in 1953 and practiced law in both Bowie and Austin. However, Wagonseller’s abilities in the political arena soon established his reputation throughout the state of Texas. He first won election to the House of the Fiftieth Texas Legislature and served two terms as a representative of District 47 (Montague County) between 1947 and 1951 before winning a seat for District 22 (representing multiple counties in North Texas, including Denton, Jack, Montague, Palo Pinto, Parker, and Wise counties) in the Texas State Senate, where he was elected for three terms. During his years in the state legislature he served on many committees. He chaired the Labor Committee during the Fifty-first legislature, chaired the Stock and Stock Raising Committee and Military and Veteran’s Affairs Committee during the Fifty-second legislature, and chaired the Labor Committee during the Fifty-third legislature. On November 22, 1954, Wagonseller married Mina F. Hawkins and became stepfather to her two daughters—Mina Jo and Susan. Wagonseller’s abilities as an orator served him well in his political career. Described as possessing a formidable voice, his skills brought him a brief moment of fame on March 31, 1955, when he set a national filibuster record in the Texas State Senate. Wagonseller and his colleagues, Kilmer Corbin of Lubbock and William T. Moore of Bryan, spoke against a bill authorizing a reduction in registration fees for bus companies. Senator Johnnie B. Rogers proposed the measure on the grounds that bus companies had been losing money and that a reduction in registration fees would offer relief. The three men who filibustered the bill, which was ultimately approved, maintained that the lost revenue would come out of the funds of the State Highway Department . Wagonseller further observed that the fee cut would increase one major bus company’s profits by 50 percent, amounting to a governmen

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Allred, Governor James V., Home County of

1935

(March 29, 1899-Sept. 24, 1959) Vigorous, forthright and humane chief executive of Texas in years 1935-1939. Born in Bowie, one of nine children of Renne and Mary Henson Allred worked in youth as a soda pop bottler, shoeshine boy, newsboy. Attended local schools, Rice University, Cumberland Law School; was in U.S. Navy during World War I. Admitted to the Bar in 1921, his early law practice was with firm of Bernard Martin and Ben G. O'Neal, Wichita Falls. After experience as Assistant District Attorney, was named in 1923 by Governor Pat Neff to office of District Attorney, 30th District, where he earned a strong reputation in fight against Ku Klux Klan. Married Joe Betsy Miller, of Wichita Falls, and had three sons: James V. Jr., William David, and Sam Houston Allred. As Texas Attorney General 1931-1935, won many victories over monopolies; put "teeth" into gasoline tax law, to halt evasions; corrected a number of unfair trade practices; defended oil proration laws, winning the very first test case; successfully fought attempts of Federal officials to tax the income of Texas schools; established school fund's title to West Texas oil royalties worth over twenty million dollars. In 1934 race for Governor, James V. Allred was victorious over five opponents. In 1935 he was named "Outstanding Young Man in America" by the National Junior Chamber of Commerce. Won second term by landslide, in 1936. As Governor, 1935-1939, he implemented strong executive, legislative and judicial programs to correct social and economic ills; led fight that outlawed pari-mutuel gambling in Texas. During his administration, Social Security amendments were added to Texas Constitution, and on Nov. 19, 1935, he signed the state's first Old-Age Assistance Bill; soon instituted Aid to Dependent Children, Aid to Needy Blind, and a Teachers' Retirement Fund. Secured for schools the greatest per capita apportionment that they had known; obtained for the instructors fairer salaries; advanced building programs for colleges and other state institutions. Set up a Board of Pardons and Paroles to correct old system whereby it was alleged a Governor might "sell" pardons; initiated prison reforms; revised Industrial Labor Commission; instituted Unemployment Insurance system. Combined Texas Rangers and Highway Patrol to form State Department of Public Safety. In 1937 gave encouragement to an aspiring statesman, Lyndon B. Johnson, then running for Congress and later to be 36th President of the United States. Befriended many others seeking high public office, including later U.S. Senator Ralph Yarborough, Secretary of Treasury Robert B. Anderson, and Chief Justice of Texas Supreme Court Robert Calvert. Named to Texas Judiciary its first woman member--Judge Sarah T. Hughes, of Dallas. After his two terms as Governor, Allred was twice appointed United States District Judge, and was on bench at time of his death. He is buried in Riverside Cemetery, Wichita Falls. Outstanding Texas Statesmen Series, 1968.

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Lamb, William Robert

1886

William Robert Lamb, Texas Populist leader, was born on October 21, 1850, in McNair County, Tennessee, one of seven children of John Madison and Parmelia A. (Thomason) Lamb. His father was from Missouri. While he was a boy his family moved to Claibourne Parish, Louisiana, where William's mother died. When his father moved to Arkansas, William was bound out for eighteen months to a local Claibourne Parish man, and when his contract was up he worked for two other men in the parish. In 1869, the year his father died in Bowie County, Texas, William moved to Collinsville, Grayson County, Texas, where he worked as a stationary engineer. In 1871 he moved to Denton County and worked first as a rail splitter and then as a hired hand for area farmers. On October 12, 1873, Lamb married eighteen-year-old Drusilla E. Wilson of Jackson Parish, Louisiana, and began farming on rented land. In July 1876 he took a preemption on land in Montague County adjoining the block on which the town of Bowie was later laid out. He built a log cabin on the land and in 1883 moved his family to it. By March 12, 1891, when his wife died, Lamb had five children. On April 24, 1892, he married Mrs. Elizabeth Mary Greenwood Pepperell. In Denton County, Lamb had worked in a cotton mill and gin, and in 1886, with thirteen other members of the Farmers' Alliance , he opened a cooperative gin and mill that, according to one historian, collapsed because of lack of access to credit. Lamb apparently was involved in another gin in Salona at about the same time, and in 1898 in Bowie with a third gin and mill and cooperative warehouse. The last subsequently burned. Throughout the period he speculated in land; he sold town lots to help finance the third Bowie gin, mill, and warehouse. As of 1905 he still owned sixty acres of land adjoining Bowie. A year after he settled his family on his land in Montague County, Lamb was recruited into the Texas Farmers' Alliance by S. O. Daws, the organization's first traveling lecturer. Despite only twenty-five days of formal education, Lamb immediately became president of the Montague County alliance. He was so successful an organizer in his county that the state alliance meeting in October 1885 devised a new office for him, that of state lecturer. His subsequent career in the Farmers' Alliance and then the People's party marked him as a leader in both organizations equal, in Texas, to Charles William Macune , who is much better known. In late 1885 Lamb, a leading proponent of cooperative purchasing and marketing, became the first traveling agent of the Texas Farmers' Alliance, the state representative for all county alliance cooperative-purchasing operations dealing in farm machinery. By early 1886 Lamb had emerged as the leader within the Texas alliance pushing hardest for the organization to cooperate with the Knights of Labor , particularly in the Great Southwest Strike . His experience with manufacturers' opposition to large-scale cooperative purchasing by the alliance, and with Jay Gould 's intransigence in the Southwest Strike, led him by the spring of 1886 to advocate involvement of the alliance in politics. Around Lamb grew a group responsible for the Cleburne Demands, an aggressive platform outlining farmers' grievances, which the Texas alliance adopted in its state convention in August 1886. The group's greenback, antimonopoly sentiments reappeared in a number of alliance and third-party platforms, then emerged in final form in the Populists' 1892 Omaha platform. By 1888 Lamb was active in third-party politics. In the spring of that year he was elected to the national executive committee of the Union Labor party and served as the ex officio chairman of the credentials committee at the national convention. With the support of such alliance radical antimonopoly greenbackers as Harry Tracy , Evan Jones , H. S. P. (Stump) Ashby , Thomas Gaines , and James Perdue, Lamb organized the Union Labor party in Texas in the summer of 1888,

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M. Johnson Poultry Ranch

1905

Mose Johnson was born at New Harp (Montague Co.) In 1881, his father died when Mose was three, and his mother Sarah gave him a baby chick to teach responsibility at an early age, sparking a lifelong interest in poultry. In 1904, Mose married Mabel Jones, and the following year they began the M. Johnson Poultry Ranch with five single comb white leghorns and one rooster. The ranch’s large incubator led to international shipment of day old chicks, and by 1915, the ranch covered 350 acres and was considered one of the largest enterprises of its kind. The Johnsons’ 1924 home was advertised as “the house that white leghorns built.” The business continued to expand in Bowie and Wichita Falls before closing after Mabel’s death in 1974. 					(2008)

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Pelham Park

1878

Before Bowie was incorporated in 1883, Confederate Captain John J. Carter purchased 160 acres in 1878. As early as 1879, veterans of the Confederate Army would meet on land owned by Captain Carter. The Carter Property was situated near the new cemetery and was a place to congregate before or after a burial. Captain Carter died on Jan. 29, 1882, but his wife, Charlotte Jane Carter, permitted the veterans to continue using the property. Bowie Pelham Camp, No. 572, United Confederate Veterans, was organized in 1895 with over 100 members. The veterans purchased 26.5 acres from Charlotte Carter in 1901 for $450 with stipulations that the property would always be dedicated to veterans, past, present and future. In 1905, a pavilion was built in the park along with three water wells, a barbeque pit, mess house and a long dining shed. Land was paid in full by 1910 and the group grew to over 300 members. Over the years, membership declined and the remaining camp members decided to transfer the property to the city of Bowie, which was finalized on August 14, 1923. On Jan. 6, 1931, the city fathers officially named the park Bowie Pelham Park. The confederate monument located elsewhere in bowie was moved to the park in 1936 as well as the WWI marker. The first Jim Bowie Days celebration and rodeo to promote the community was held in 1967. “Second Monday,” a popular meeting of farmers and ranchers to barter livestock and goods near the railroad tracks, was eventually moved to Pelham Park in 1970. In 1989, the city of Bowie purchased 28 adjoining acres from the Hill Family for expansion of the park to continue the historical and community legacy of Pelham Park.

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Bowie, TX

1882

Bowie is an incorporated community on U.S. Highway 81 fifteen miles southwest of Montague in southwestern Montague County. In 1882, when the tracks of the Fort Worth and Denver Railway were built through the area, local settlers who had been there since the early 1860s moved to the site of the construction camps, and soon businesses appeared in canvas tents. A townsite was laid out on August 15, 1882, and residents applied for a post office to be named for James Bowie . On July 22, 1884, residents voted to incorporate the new town. Bowie became a market and financial center for farmers and ranchers between Fort Worth and Wichita Falls. In 1885 it had a population of 1,000, three hotels, a bank, a weekly newspaper, schools, and a number of churches. The Chicago, Rock Island and Texas Railway came to Bowie in 1893, and by 1900 the community had an estimated 2,600 residents. By the mid-1920s Bowie had a population of 3,000 and about 100 businesses, including four banks, two weekly newspapers, a hospital, and a business college (opened in 1912). During the mid-1950s the population was 6,796, and by the late 1980s the town reported 5,818 residents and 160 businesses. By then Bowie was the largest town in Montague County. In 1990 its population was 4,990, and it rose in 2000 to 5,219.

Tsha Handbook →

Sports in Bowie

🏆 STATE CHAMPIONS Class 3A · Boys Basketball · 2018

Bowie — 2018 UIL 3A Boys Basketball State Champions

Most recent: 2018 3A

Bowie High School, nestled in the heart of Bowie, Texas, stands as a proud Class 3A institution with a notable record in boys basketball. The Jackrabbits have established themselves as a competitive force within the UIL, bringing significant athletic recognition to their community. The school's commitment to sports is a key part of local identity.

The boys basketball program reached the pinnacle of Texas high school sports, securing a state championship in 2018. This achievement highlights a period of strong performance and dedication from the Bowie athletes. The success of the Jackrabbits on the court is a point of pride for the entire town.

State titles
2018
Most recent
2018
Class
3A
The moment

The Bowie High School boys basketball team captured the 3A state championship in 2018.

Sources: UIL State Championship Archives

Everything Near Bowie

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

  • The Brawl That Built a Legend

    The name of this town points back to one wild afternoon that turned Jim Bowie into a household name. It was the nineteenth of September, eighteen twenty-seven, on a sandbar in the Mississippi River between Vidalia,…

  • From the Alamo to the Rock Stage

    Now for a twist that connects a Texas frontiersman to one of the biggest rock stars who ever lived. The town you're passing through is named for Jim Bowie, and so, in a roundabout way, was David Bowie. The rock icon was…

  • How Jim Bowie Really Died

    The picture most folks carry of Jim Bowie's last stand at the Alamo is a man swinging his famous knife until the very end. The truth is quieter and a little sadder. By the time the siege closed in during late February…

  • The Hero Was Also a Con Man

    Here's a side of the town's namesake that doesn't make it onto many statues. Before Jim Bowie was an Alamo martyr, he was a slick and, frankly, crooked land speculator. He and his brother Rezin were both fluent in…

  • Anatomy of the Blade

    Since this town honors Jim Bowie, the Alamo defender it was named for, let's talk about the knife that made his name legend. The very first one wasn't even made by Jim. His brother Rezin had a blacksmith named Jesse…

  • The Town That Chose a Hero's Name

    Here's the honest story of how this town got its name. Back in eighteen eighty-two, when the tracks of the Fort Worth and Denver Railway pushed through this part of Montague County, settlers who'd been ranching out here…

  • One Name, A Whole Legend

    As you roll through Bowie, it's worth appreciating just how much history is packed into these five little letters on the road sign. This town was named on purpose in eighteen eighty-two for James Bowie, and that one…

  • Queen's Peak Indian Lookout · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Queen's Peak, a place discovered by white settlers back in 1848. Permanent settlement in this region kicked off in 1858, but the early years were defined by constant Indian raids. This monument…

  • First National Bank of Bowie · 0.1 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Bowie, and right here is a piece of its financial backbone. This is the First National Bank of Bowie, chartered way back on March 10th, 1890. That makes it the oldest financial institution in…

  • City of Bowie · 0.1 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Bowie, a town born from the railroad boom. In the 1870s, the Fort Worth and Denver Railroad bought land here, leading to a temporary camp called 'Tent City' for the construction workers. Once the…

  • First Baptist Church of Bowie · 0.1 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of the First Baptist Church of Bowie. It was organized on Christmas Eve in 1882 by fourteen local Baptists and two ministers. The congregation has rebuilt its church building three times…

  • Wagonseller, Wayne Warren · 0.2 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Wayne Warren Wagonseller, attorney, Texas state legislator, and rancher, son of Amos Warren Wagonseller and Clara Augusta (Beck) Wagonseller, was born in Nocona, Montague County, Texas, on February 1, 1921. He was the…

Show all 125 nearby places
  • Lamb, William Robert · 0.2 mi · Tsha Handbook

    William Robert Lamb, Texas Populist leader, was born on October 21, 1850, in McNair County, Tennessee, one of seven children of John Madison and Parmelia A. (Thomason) Lamb. His father was from Missouri. While he was a…

  • Bowie, TX · 0.2 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Bowie is an incorporated community on U.S. Highway 81 fifteen miles southwest of Montague in southwestern Montague County. In 1882, when the tracks of the Fort Worth and Denver Railway were built through the area, local…

  • Duke & Ayres · 0.2 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through North Texas, and right here in Bowie, you're passing the birthplace of a Texas retail giant. Back on October 15, 1894, Hardie Duke opened 'The Nickel Store' – the very first Duke & Ayres. This…

  • Allred, Renne, Jr. · 0.2 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Bowie, Texas, the hometown of Renne Allred Jr. He was born here in 1901 and got his start learning shorthand and typing at the local "Knowledge Box" commercial college. Allred went on to become a…

  • M. Johnson Poultry Ranch · 0.5 mi · Historical Marker

    Mose Johnson was born at New Harp (Montague Co.) In 1881, his father died when Mose was three, and his mother Sarah gave him a baby chick to teach responsibility at an early age, sparking a lifelong interest in poultry.…

  • Saint Peter Lutheran Church · 0.5 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of Saint Peter Lutheran Church. Organized in 1894 by German immigrants, this congregation built its first sanctuary nearby in 1894, later moving facilities here in 1948. Services were held…

  • Allred, Governor James V., Home County of · 0.6 mi · Historical Marker

    (March 29, 1899-Sept. 24, 1959) Vigorous, forthright and humane chief executive of Texas in years 1935-1939. Born in Bowie, one of nine children of Renne and Mary Henson Allred worked in youth as a soda pop bottler,…

  • Montague County · 0.6 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Montague County, a place named for Daniel Montague, a man who lived a full life right here in early Texas. Born in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1798</say-as>, Montague was a pioneer…

  • The World's Largest Bowie Knife · 0.7 mi

    You don't need to look hard to find Bowie's most famous landmark—it's a 20-foot-tall, 3,000-pound Bowie knife. Located in Pelham Park, this gleaming stainless-steel sculpture is a bold statement about the town's pride…

  • Born From a Construction Delay · 0.7 mi

    The town of Bowie owes its existence to a railroad -- but not to a plan. In early 1882 the Fort Worth and Denver City Railway was pushing north out of Fort Worth toward Wichita Falls, and construction of the roadbed…

  • Bowie, TX · 0.7 mi

    In 1884, a daring heist shook the town of Bowie when four men robbed the First National Bank, making off with over $10,000 in gold coins. The townspeople didn't take this lightly and gave chase, eventually capturing the…

  • The Second Monday Tradition · 0.7 mi

    For well over a century, Bowie has been a place where people come to buy, sell, and swap. If you're passing through on the weekend before the second Monday of any month, you'll see it happening. This is Second Monday…

  • Elmwood Cemetery · 1.0 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Elmwood Cemetery, a final resting place for Bowie's earliest residents. It all started in 1880 when settler James W. Stallings donated the first land, just two years before the town of Bowie itself…

  • Pelham Park · 1.2 mi · Historical Marker

    Before Bowie was incorporated in 1883, Confederate Captain John J. Carter purchased 160 acres in 1878. As early as 1879, veterans of the Confederate Army would meet on land owned by Captain Carter. The Carter Property…

  • Lindale Cemetery · 3.1 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Lindale Cemetery, established in 1880 when the Lindale School District bought land for a burial ground. The first recorded burial was E. T. Foster, and the cemetery grew to three acres by 1893. It…

  • Brushy Cemetery · 3.3 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Brushy Cemetery, established around 1880. It serves as a reminder of the once thriving community of Brushy. The earliest documented grave here is W.C. Hatfield, who died in 1877.

  • Briar Creek Cemetery · 3.4 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Briar Creek Cemetery, where many of the area's pioneers are buried. The first burials here were in the late 1870s, including an infant of the Dooley family. Land for the cemetery was later deeded by…

  • Brushy Mound · 4.6 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Brushy Mound. From this lookout on whose summit an indian chief lies buried, Kiowas and Comanches spied on early settlers before launching unexpected attacks.

  • Salona Cemetery · 6.1 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Montague County, past the site of the old Salona community. Settlers arrived in the 1870s, establishing a school by 1881 and a post office that served from 1889 to 1905. The Salona Cemetery itself…

  • Davis, Lincoln, Sr. [Link] · 9.1 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through East Texas, maybe near Wills Point, and right here in Sunset, Texas, a musical legend was born. Lincoln "Link" Davis, Sr. started fiddling as a kid, but by the late 1920s, he was all about the…

  • Sunset, TX · 9.1 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Sunset, Texas, a town with a name almost as colorful as its origin story. Back in the 1870s, a settler named Sam Smith opened a store and wanted to name his budding community Smithville. But that…

  • United Methodist Church of Montague · 10.3 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of Montague's United Methodist Church. The fellowship began in 1873 with four members, led by The Rev. Joseph Clinton Weaver. The original meetinghouse was built in 1878, moved to this site…

  • Montague County · 10.4 mi

    You're driving through Montague County, right on the Oklahoma border. This land was once the site of major Wichita and Comanche settlements, even a Spanish fort! In 1759, Spanish soldiers tried to attack these villages,…

  • Montague County Courthouse · 10.4 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Montague, the county seat that's seen its share of courthouse troubles! Fires wiped out two previous buildings in 1873 and 1884. Then, a 1912 storm did a number on the next stone courthouse. But…

  • Montague, TX · 10.4 mi

    Montague was founded in 1858 on 160 acres of land donated by the state of Texas. The community was named after Daniel Montague, an early surveyor, and a post office was opened in 1860.

  • Montague County Jail · 10.4 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the old Montague County Jail, built in 1927 by the Southern Prison Company. The first floor housed the jailer and his family, with six cells upstairs. This solid stone building served as the county…

  • Montague, TX (Montague County) · 10.4 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Montague, the county seat that almost got its own railroad! Established in 1858, this town was once the only place for farmers to get their grain milled. But as railroads bypassed Montague in the…

  • Montague Cemetery · 10.7 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the Montague Cemetery, a final resting place for many of this county's earliest residents. The first settlers arrived here in 1849, and by 1871, the town was growing fast. Back in 1862, pioneer James…

  • Montague Catholic Cemetery · 10.7 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the Montague Catholic Cemetery, a testament to the Italian immigrants who settled here in the early 1880s. They established St. John Catholic Church in 1901, and the bishop purchased this land for…

  • San Teodoro · 10.9 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Montague County, not far from Spanish Fort. Right here, back in the 1700s, stood San Teodoro, a major Taovaya Indian settlement. It wasn't just any village; it was a bustling intertribal trading…

  • Spanish Fort, TX · 10.9 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Spanish Fort is located in north central Montague County at the end of Farm Road 103 one mile south of the Red River. Spanish Fort began in the eighteenth century as a fortified Taovaya Indian settlement, misnamed later…

  • Gladys, TX (Montague County) · 10.9 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through eastern Montague County, not far from Saint Jo. Right here is the Clear Creek valley, the site of a brutal Kiowa raid back in 1868. On January fifth and sixth of that year, raiders swept through…

  • Italians · 10.9 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Texas, and right now, you're passing through a story of migration. Between 1880 and 1920, thousands of Italians came to Texas, fleeing tough times back home. They settled across the state, from…

  • Spanish Fort Sites · 10.9 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through what used to be a major hub for Native American tribes, right here along the Red River. Settlers in the 1800s found earthworks and mistakenly thought they were Spanish forts. But later studies…

  • Bellevue, TX · 10.9 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Bellevue, a town that almost didn't make it. It was founded in 1882 as a railroad shipping point, and things were looking good. But on April 26, 1906, a devastating tornado ripped through town.…

  • Fruitland, TX · 10.9 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Fruitland is on State Highway 101 six miles southeast of Bowie in south central Montague County. Community development occurred in the early 1880s. For a few years residents called the settlement Plano; in 1884 they…

  • Red River Station, TX · 10.9 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Red River Station was a small rural community in north central Montague County two miles south of the Red River on Salt Creek. The settlement was established in 1860 after earlier attempts failed due to hostile Indians…

  • Cable, Robert Lee · 10.9 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Montague County, not far from Saint Jo, where Robert Lee Cable made his home. Cable wasn't just a farmer and stockman; he was a state legislator for over a decade, serving in the Texas House…

  • Matlock, Avery L. · 10.9 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through North Texas, and right here is where Avery L. Matlock took on the desperadoes of the legendary XIT Ranch. In 1887, this attorney and former state senator was sent to the massive XIT properties.…

  • Melton, Amos W. · 10.9 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through North Texas, maybe past Bellevue, where Amos W. Melton was born. He wasn't just a local kid, though. After graduating from TCU and touring Asia, Melton became a sports writer for the Fort Worth…

  • Rock Island System · 10.9 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through North Texas, and right here, the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad pushed its way into the Lone Star State. In 1892, they chartered a company specifically to build south from the Oklahoma…

  • Belcherville, TX · 10.9 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Belcherville is at the intersection of U.S. Highway 82 and Farm Road 1816, fifteen miles northwest of Montague in northwestern Montague County. The settlement was first called Belcher, after John and Alex Belcher, area…

  • Forestburg, TX · 10.9 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Forestburg is at the intersection of Farm roads 455, 1655, 922, and 677, some fifteen miles southeast of Montague in southeastern Montague County. It was settled in the early 1850s by cattlemen including Austin…

  • Saint Jo, TX · 10.9 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Saint Jo is at the intersection of U.S. Highway 82 and State Highway 59, near the Cooke county line fifteen miles east of Montague in extreme east central Montague County. It was founded in 1849 by Ithane and Prince…

  • Chicago, Rock Island and Texas Railway · 10.9 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through North Texas, a region transformed by the arrival of the railroad. Back in 1892, the Chicago, Rock Island and Texas Railway was chartered to push south from the Oklahoma border, aiming for…

  • The Jovial Trooper of Montague County · 11.6 mi

    From the Oklahoma line south to Bowie, Highway Eighty One is the Corporal David Slaton Memorial Highway. David Slaton spent thirty six years with the Texas Highway Patrol. Around Montague County, the Legislature's own…

  • Highway Paved with Gold · 14.7 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Ringgold, and you might be driving on gold! Forget those old legends of cities paved with gold. Back in 1936, the Texas Highway Department was paving U.S. Highways 81 and 287 right here. The sand…

  • Dye Mound Cemetery · 14.9 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of Dye Mound, a community that sprang up in the late 1850s, named for a trapper's trading post. By 1889, the Dye Mound Cemetery trustees purchased over three acres for burials. The town saw…

  • Olive Branch Cemetery · 15.3 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Olive Branch Cemetery, a final resting place born from a wagon train tragedy. Back in the early 1870s, settlers H. H. Bradford, B. P. Cox, J. C. Cartwright, and J. C. Weaver donated this land…

  • Perryman Cemetery · 15.4 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the Perryman Cemetery, a final resting place for folks who shaped this corner of Texas. The story here starts in 1862 with the unmarked grave of an infant. Not long after, in 1863, a well-digger…

  • The Gas Boom Beneath Your Feet · 16.0 mi

    As you travel through Alvord, one of the biggest economic and technological stories of the last half century is playing out, completely unseen, about a mile and a half beneath your feet. This area sits atop the Barnett…

  • Alvord, TX · 16.0 mi

    In 1882, the town that was originally known as Nina adopted its present name, Alvord, in honor of the president of the Fort Worth and Denver Railway. By 1890, Alvord had become a retail center for area farmers. The…

  • Thompson, General Ernest O. · 16.1 mi · Historical Marker

    You're cruising through Alvord, Texas, the birthplace of a true oil titan, General Ernest O. Thompson. He left college during World War I to earn a battlefield commission, becoming one of the youngest lieutenant…

  • Rhoads Family Cemetery · 16.2 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Wise County, heading towards Alvord. Look to your right, and you'll see the Rhoads Family Cemetery. Originally from Tennessee, Abner and Chloe Rhoads arrived here in 1870 with their family,…

  • Uz Community · 16.3 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Montague County, passing the site of a farming community named Uz. Early settlers chose the name from the Biblical Book of Job. By the 1870s, Uz was a thriving farming town, peaking in the early…

  • City of Alvord · 16.3 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Alvord, a town that owes its start to the railroad and an old Indian trail. By 1882, this agricultural community was already growing, but the arrival of the Fort Worth & Denver Railroad that year…

  • Once Called Nina, and Not Named for an Outlaw · 16.4 mi

    Alvord almost had a completely different name. The settlement started in the early 1880s as a community called Nina. When the Fort Worth and Denver Railway arrived in 1882, the town renamed itself Alvord, in honor of…

  • The Forest Belt That Blocked the Pioneers · 16.4 mi

    Alvord sits right on a natural seam in the Texas landscape. Wise County is split between open grassland prairie to the east and a band of woodland called the Western Cross Timbers to the west, and the town straddles the…

  • Alvord Lodge No. 512, A.F. & A.M. · 16.4 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the Alvord Lodge No. 512, a Masonic organization. It began in 1879 near Audubon, moved to Alvord in 1886, and built this new stone hall in 1991. The Masons continue their tradition of community…

  • First United Methodist Church Alvord · 16.4 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the First United Methodist Church in Alvord. Originally organized in 1884 as the Methodist Episcopal Church, south, it has served the community for 130 years. The original 600-pound bell from 1884 is…

  • The Boy From Alvord Who Set the Price of Oil · 16.5 mi

    One of the most powerful oil regulators in American history was born in this little Wise County town in 1892. Ernest Thompson served on the Texas Railroad Commission for thirty-three years, the longest tenure in its…

  • Covington, Weldon Joseph · 16.5 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through North Texas, and right here in Alvord, a young Weldon Covington was already making music. At just nine years old, he was the pianist for the local Baptist church. Then, in his junior year of high…

  • Watermelon Country · 16.6 mi

    In its early decades Alvord was a busy farm trade center, and the country around it was known for two things: cattle and watermelons. The sandy soil of this stretch of Wise County grew melons well, and the town thrived…

  • Buffalo Springs · 16.8 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Buffalo Springs. A landmark as early as 1849. Watering place for buffalo hunters. Site of a proposed permanent United States Army post, July, 1867. Abandoned due to lack of water and timber, November…

  • Buffalo Springs, C.S.A. · 16.8 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Buffalo Springs, a Civil War sentry post on the North Texas frontier. From <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1861</say-as> to <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1865</say-as>, cavalry…

  • Boner, Charles Paul · 16.9 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through North Texas, and right here in Nocona, Texas, was born C. Paul Boner. He wasn't just any physicist; he was a pioneer in sound! While working at the University of Texas in the 1920s, Boner helped…

  • Justin, Herman Joseph · 16.9 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through North Texas, and right here is the story of Herman Joseph Justin, a pioneer bootmaker. He arrived in Gainesville back in 1877, but it was in Spanish Fort, in 1879, that he opened his own boot shop…

  • Nocona Boot Company · 16.9 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Nocona, Texas, and right here is the home of a bootmaking legend. The Nocona Boot Company started in 1925, founded by Enid Justin Steltzer. Her father's family business had moved to Fort Worth,…

  • Wichita Indians · 16.9 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through North Texas, and right here, around the site of present-day Nocona, was once the heart of Wichita Indian power. From the 1750s to about 1810, this Red River area was home to a prominent band of…

  • Nocona, TX · 16.9 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Nocona, a town with a name that echoes the frontier. It started in the 1870s as a cattle ranch, but when the railroad came through in 1887, the owner, D. C. Jordan, donated land for a townsite. It…

  • Forestburg · 16.9 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Forestburg, a town born from the ashes of the Civil War. Look around at the land that was once a battleground. Pioneers settled here after the war, facing down the challenges of the frontier and…

  • Pleasant Valley Cemetery · 16.9 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving near Buffalo Springs, Clay County. This Pleasant Valley Cemetery was established in 1883 on land donated by Jim Draer. The earliest documented burial here is Lydia Bowman, who died in 1883.

  • Starkey Cemetery · 17.1 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through the historic Starkey Cemetery area, which began in the 1860s. Oral history says it started when the Wells family, settling in for winter, buried their young daughter on Starkey land after asking…

  • Bob Stone Camp · 17.1 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the area where the Bob Stone Camp once stood. In 1880, Confederate veterans started this camp in Montague County for annual reunions, honoring Colonel Bob Stone. By 1899, it found a permanent home…

  • Mount, R.C., House · 17.2 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the R.C. Mount House, a testament to early Texas grit and resourcefulness. Mount, a surveyor, preacher, and the first tax assessor-collector for Wise County, started building this home in 1872. He…

  • Farmers and Merchants National Bank · 17.4 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Nocona, and right here is the Farmers and Merchants National Bank, the oldest financial institution still operating in town. It opened its doors way back in 1905, starting with thirty thousand…

  • Montague County Poor Farm · 17.4 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of the Montague County Poor Farm. In 1888, the county bought this land to care for its needy citizens, with the first operator agreeing to provide food, clothing, medical care, and burials…

  • Molsbee Chapel Cemetery · 17.4 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Molsbee Chapel Cemetery, which began as a family graveyard in 1888 when the Molsbee's 20-year-old son died. The Rev. Abraham Molsbee, a minister in the Church of the Brethren, and his wife Susan,…

  • Central Christian Church · 17.5 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Nocona, and right here is the Central Christian Church. Founded in 1888 by The Rev. M.F. Smith, this church boasts a striking Gothic Revival design. Built by craftsmen Roger Brothers and R.…

  • Ball Knob Cemetery · 17.5 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Ball Knob Cemetery in Wise County. Originally owned by pioneer James Ball, Sr., it served as a burial ground for family and friends. The land was deeded to the Audubon community in 1890 and…

  • First Baptist Church of Nocona · 17.6 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of the First Baptist Church of Nocona. Organized in the summer of 1889, the congregation first met in a schoolhouse before completing their own sanctuary in 1897. The church was renamed…

  • Red River Station · 17.7 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Montague County, heading towards Nocona. Right around here, back in 1861, was the site of Red River Station. This wasn't just any outpost; it was a Civil War-era defense against the very real…

  • Audubon · 17.8 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of Audubon, a town that vanished right here in Wise County. Settled in 1865 by D. D. Shirey, it was named for the famous naturalist John J. Audubon. Shirey's farm became a stagecoach inn,…

  • McGrady Cemetery · 17.8 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past McGrady Cemetery, a quiet reminder of Montague County's pioneer heritage. It began in the 1860s when a McGrady employee was killed by Native Americans and buried here on the family farm. Later, an…

  • The Woman Who Built Nocona Boots · 17.9 mi

    In 1925 the Justin brothers decided the family boot company had outgrown Nocona, and they moved it to Fort Worth. But their sister, Enid Justin, put her foot down. She believed her father would have wanted the boot shop…

  • The Iron Horse Creates a Town · 17.9 mi

    The existence of Bellevue is a direct result of a massive 19th-century engineering project: the Fort Worth and Denver City Railway. Laying this track wasn't as simple as putting steel on dirt. Engineers and surveyors…

  • The Last American Ballglove · 17.9 mi

    In a town famous for boots, another leather legend was born. In 1926 the Storey family opened the Nocona Leather Goods Company here, selling wallets, purses, and belts. Under Robert E. Storey the shop branched into…

  • Black Gold Beneath the Cross Timbers · 17.9 mi

    While Nocona was building its reputation on leather, a different kind of boom was happening right under its feet. This corner of North Texas sits on the northern reach of what geologists call the Bend Arch-Fort Worth…

  • The Fires of 1908 and 1916 · 17.9 mi

    Look at downtown Bellevue and you'll notice buildings that seem newer than you'd expect for a town founded in 1882. The reason isn't fire. It's wind. On April twenty-sixth of 1906, a tornado came through here. Fourteen…

  • Where the Chisholm Trail Crossed · 17.9 mi

    Before the town of Nocona ever existed, this land was part of one of the greatest migrations in American history. Just to the east of here ran the legendary Chisholm Trail. From 1867 to the mid-1880s, cowboys drove…

  • Nocona, TX · 17.9 mi

    Nocona's history is deeply rooted in its founding along the Gainesville, Henrietta and Western Railway line in 1887. This railway, which later became part of the Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad, played a pivotal role in…

  • The Halsell Cattle Kingdom · 17.9 mi

    While Bellevue was a town of farmers and merchants, it sat on the edge of a cattle kingdom. The Halsells ranched this country, and the one who mattered here was Harry H. Halsell, who came into Clay County in the late…

  • Bellevue, TX · 17.9 mi

    The founding of Bellevue is traced back to 1882 when the Ortons selected the area as a railroad shipping station. This strategic choice laid the foundation for the community's development and its connection to broader…

  • Huff Family Massacre · 18.1 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Wise County, near Alvord. It's 1874, and this area is seeing one of its last Indian raids. While C.W. Huff and his son were working the far fields of their new homestead, tragedy struck the home.…

  • The Governor's Pardon on the Hotel Porch · 18.3 mi

    The man who founded Chico, Colonel J.T. Brown, lived a life with one very dramatic scene. A frontier figure described in his own obituary as a Mexican War veteran and pioneer Indian fighter, Brown built the Brown Hotel…

  • Montague County, Early Trails in · 18.3 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through what's now Montague County, but imagine this place over 150 years ago. It wasn't just open land; it was a crossroads of American expansion! The Chihuahua Traders Trail blazed through here in 1840,…

  • Named by a Single Vote · 18.4 mi

    Chico, Texas, got its name by the narrowest margin imaginable. In the mid-1870s a man named J.T. Brown, who had come from Chico, California, settled here and opened a general store. When it came time to name the new…

  • Babb Cemetery · 18.4 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Babb Cemetery, established September 5th, 1866. On that day, Mrs. John S. Babb was killed by Comanche Indians. Her children, Dot and Bianca, were captured and held for two years before their father…

  • The Stone Drugstore Where the Phones Began · 18.4 mi

    One of Chico's oldest buildings is a sturdy little drugstore built of native sandstone in 1893, and in its early days it was practically the whole downtown under one roof. Inside that single stone building you could…

  • Siddons-Barnes Log Cabin · 18.4 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the Siddons-Barnes Log Cabin, a structure built in the early 1870s. This humble cabin was more than just a home; it was the very first place of worship for Methodists in the area and also served as…

  • Hanna-Robinson-Richey Drugstore · 18.4 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the Hanna-Robinson-Richey Drugstore, built in 1893 by A.V. Hanna. This native sandstone building was more than just a pharmacy; it housed Chico's first telephone switchboard, plus a doctor, a lawyer,…

  • Robert Calvin Mount · 18.4 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Wise County, where Robert Calvin Mount arrived in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1855</say-as>. He was elected the first assessor-collector of taxes here in <say-as interpret-as="date"…

  • Chico, TX · 18.4 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Chico, a town that owes its start to a man named J. T. Brown, who hailed all the way from Chico, California. He arrived in the mid-1870s, setting up a general store near Dry Creek. This little…

  • Stephens, Ira Kendrick · 18.4 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Wise County, maybe not far from Chico, the birthplace of Ira Kendrick Stephens. Born in 1887, Stephens overcame early health issues and taught in country schools before earning degrees from…

  • Red Branch, TX (Leon County) · 18.4 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through northeastern Leon County, near Oakwood. Right here is the community of Red Branch. It all started around 1856, when the nearby community of Ringgold got a post office. Eventually, the Mount Pisgah…

  • Ringgold, TX · 18.4 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through what's now Ringgold, Texas, a town born from the railroad. Back in 1892, Joe Harris sold land where two rail lines crossed, laying out a new townsite. He wanted to name it Harrisonia after…

  • The Town Built on Crushed Stone · 18.5 mi

    Drive into Chico from the south and the roadside tells you what this town does: quarry after quarry lining the highway. After oil was found nearby in the 1940s, Chico briefly called itself the oil capital of Wise…

  • Brown Hotel · 18.5 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Chico, and right here is the site of the old Brown Hotel. Colonel J.T. Brown, who founded this town back in 1876, built this hotel in 1888. Now, this place saw some real history. Imagine standing…

  • The Jack County Cowboy Who Survived the Death Railway · 18.6 mi

    Farm to Market Road Eighteen Ten, from State Highway Fifty Nine to the eastern edge of Jack County, is the Luther G. Prunty Memorial Highway. Luther Prunty was born in Jack County in January nineteen twelve, and he…

  • First Baptist Church of Chico · 18.6 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Chico, where the First Baptist Church was organized in 1874. Starting with just five members, the congregation met in homes and a brush arbor before building several structures over the years,…

  • The Methodist Church in Chico · 18.6 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Chico, where the Methodist Church was founded back in May of 1872. Robert Calvin Mount and his wife, along with three other pioneers, held their first worship service in a log schoolhouse. Over…

  • Indian Captives Dot and Bianca Babb · 19.2 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Chico, and we're flashing back to 1865. Imagine this: two kids, 13-year-old Dot Babb and his 9-year-old sister Bianca, playing near their home. Suddenly, a Comanche raiding party of nearly 40…

  • Hopewell Baptist Church · 19.6 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of Hopewell Baptist Church, organized in 1874 with 35 charter members. The congregation moved to this location in 1887 and built a new sanctuary in 1899. Initially meeting one Sunday a…

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