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Bridgeport, Texas

Everything Bridgeport is known for

1 song mention this city 1 artist from here

RoadyGoat plays music like this when you drive through Bridgeport. It's free on iPhone, and full songs play through Apple Music.

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Music in Bridgeport

Songs About Bridgeport

I’ve Been Everywhere...In Texas
Brian Burns
7%
"Bridgeport"

Artists From Bridgeport

P
Pat Waters
country

Rivers & Roads in Song near Bridgeport

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

Texas State Highway 199 8 songs Interstate 20 13 songs Interstate 35 45 songs Brazos River 43 songs Red River 88 songs

History of Bridgeport

A Star in the Window, a Marker by the Road RoadyGoat

1945

This road carries a Blue Star Memorial Highway designation, one of a string of them across Texas. The name comes from a family tradition. When someone in a household was serving in the armed forces, the family displayed a star in the window, one star for every member serving. That was the blue star. When a service member made the ultimate sacrifice, a gold star replaced the blue. Since nineteen forty five, National Garden Clubs has carried that symbol forward with Blue Star markers. Communities can apply to sponsor new ones. The markers are cast aluminum, made by hand and custom ordered, and a single marker on its post costs more than two thousand dollars. The design is strictly controlled. The garden clubs say the markers are approved by Congress and the Department of Defense, and no club may change the colors or add any other sign or insignia. Some markers have stood for decades, braving the weather, and the clubs keep a restoration fund to repair them. For the nation's two hundred fiftieth anniversary in two thousand twenty six, National Garden Clubs counted three thousand nine hundred ninety one Blue and Gold Star memorials, and set a goal of a marker in every community.

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The Town That Moved to Coal City RoadyGoat

1893

In 1893 the railroad came, but not quite where the town was. The Rock Island line was routed through the coal fields about two miles from the old Bridgeport, so the coal company gave land for a depot and a brand-new town was platted right by the tracks. They first christened it Coal City. One newspaper of the day captured the migration perfectly, reporting that, quote, Bridgeport is making a general move to Coal City. And move it did, residents picked up their homes and businesses and relocated to the rails. The downtown streets were named for the coal-company founders, names like Halsell and Cates that you can still read on the street signs of Bridgeport today.

Five Hundred Miners, and the Slow End of Coal RoadyGoat

1900

At its peak just after 1900, the Bridgeport coal operation employed around five hundred men, and many of them were immigrants from Mexico and other Latin American countries, who lived in rows of miners' cottages right beside the pits. It was hard, dangerous work in tight tunnels. The decline came not from a disaster but from changing fuel: a natural-gas pipeline arrived in 1910, and around 1915 the railroad, the mines' biggest customer, switched its locomotives from coal to oil. The orders dried up, the miners drifted away, and by 1929 most of the pits had closed, though one stubborn mine kept digging into the early 1940s. The coal that built Bridgeport gave out within a single lifetime.

Mexican Americans and Repatriation

1930

Although a great deal of attention has been focused on Mexican immigration by scholars on both sides of the border, far less attention has been given to emigration of Mexicans and Mexican Americans from the United States. Casual reference has been made in many studies to the repatriation of Mexicans from Texas, but few published studies have examined these departures in detail. The most neglected era of Mexican repatriation from the United States is before 1930. Although substantial Mexican repatriation from Texas occurred at that time, no published study has examined Mexican departures between 1836 and 1930. Mexican repatriation during the Great Depression has received more attention. During the 1930s, a single article on Mexican repatriation from Texas was published; "The Mexicans Go Home" by Edna E. Kelley appeared in the Southwest Review in 1932. Nothing more appeared until the 1980s, when four brief articles on diverse aspects of depression-era repatriation appeared. These included articles on deportation from the lower Rio Grande valley (1981), on Mexican repatriation and the Texas Cotton Acreage Control Law of 1931–32 (1983), on the repatriation of Bridgeport, Texas, coalminers (1984), and on Mexican repatriation from South Texas (1990). Mexican repatriation from Texas is often associated with the Great Depression of the 1930s because of the massive exodus that occurred during that time. Large numbers of Mexicans were repatriated from Texas before that time, however. The departures began soon after Texas declared its independence from Mexico. Much of this cross-border migration was associated with the seasonal return of Mexican labor to Mexico each fall. However, exceptionally large numbers of Mexicans were compelled to return to Mexico periodically. Perhaps the first large-scale repatriation occurred at the conclusion of the Mexican War in 1848. San Antonio, for example, was practically abandoned by Mexicans after 1848, and a number of Mexicans were repatriated under the sponsorship of the Mexican government in the late 1840s. The precise number of Mexicans returned to Mexico from Texas during this period is unknown, although they probably numbered several thousand. During the remainder of the nineteenth century, harassment against Mexicans by Anglo-Americans was occasionally so severe that many were forced to abandon their homes in Texas and return to Mexico. In the 1850s a number of Mexicans were driven from their homes in Central Texas, and in 1856 the entire Mexican population of Colorado County was reportedly ordered to leave the county. Conflict between Anglo-Americans and Mexicans in the 1870s reportedly resulted in the expulsion of Mexicans from various locations in South Texas. The first mass Mexican repatriation movement from Texas during the twentieth century occurred in 1915 and was an indirect result of efforts by Mexicans to implement the irredentist "Plan of San Diego ." Although the plan consisted of fifteen specific points, its fundamental objective was to organize the Mexican people of the Southwest and encourage them to rebel against United States authority and reconquer territories lost by Mexico to the United States in the nineteenth century. Mexican efforts to implement the plan resulted in numerous well-organized raids against the Texas Rangers , local posses, and the United States Army in the lower Rio Grande valley beginning in July. The panic that gripped Anglo-American society in the Valley after July 1915 resulted in widespread harassment and intimidation of the Mexican population of Texas. Fear among Valley residents changed to hysteria in September as the border raids increased. Anglo-American fear and vengeance proved to be effective in intimidating Mexican residents, as evidenced by the forced repatriation of thousands of Mexicans. By mid-September the repatriation movement became a massive exodus, as the roads leading to the border were congested with lengthy wagontrains of fleeing Mexi

Tsha Handbook →

Hunt, Col. William Hudson

1836

(1815-1864) Born in Ithaca, New York, William Hudson Hunt became a principal figure in the development of Wise County. He came to Texas in 1836, joining the War for Independence. He then served in the Army of the Texas Republic, participating in the Santa Fe Expedition. His engineering and surveying skills led to an appointment to the council which located the site of the Texas capitol. He also surveyed public and school lands and proposed roadways. In 1855, Col. Hunt became an early Wise County pioneer, settling along the Trinity River's West Fork. He built his residence and ranch headquarters on a hill (later Cactus Hill) at the confluence of a creek (later Hunt's Creek) with the West Fork. He and his wife, Catherine (Cordel), raised five children on the land. Hunt built livestock and grazing operations, and together with neighbors, including noted rancher Daniel Waggoner, he began a cattle business that later thrived. Hunt also specialized in raising sheep. Col. Hunt was also a community leader. He laid out the county seat of Taylorsville (later Decatur) and became postmaster at Cactus Hill. He was also active in church and Masonic activities. Additionally, he led residents in a successful effort to encourage routing of the Butterfield Overland Mail Route through Wise County. In 1861, after the death of his wife, Col. Hunt moved his family to Decatur. His death in 1864 was the result of a wreck caused by a runaway team of horses leading his vehicle. Col. Hunt and other family were originally buried in their family cemetery in Cactus Hill, but the construction of a dam and creation of Lake Bridgeport led to their reinterment here. Today, Col. Hunt is remembered as a pioneer, rancher and noted leader in the early days of Wise County. (2008)

Historical Marker →

Bridgeport Coal Mines

1882

Once a staple of Bridgeport's economy, coal was discovered here in later part of 19th century. Diggers hit vein 60 feet deep while seeking water. Mine No. 1 lies under northeast Bridgeport, and entire area is honeycombed with tunnels and shafts. Wise County Coal Company was chartered August 23, 1882, by C. D. Cates, J. C. Carpenter, J. G. Halsell, J. J. Lang, H. Greathouse, and D. Waggoner. The firm was bought in 1900 by Colonel William H. Aston of Virginia. Renamed Bridgeport Coal Company, it had 500 employees at Zenith. Mines closed in 1929 due to increased use of oil and gas.

Historical Marker →

Republic of Texas' Santa Fe Expedition in Wise County

1841

IN JUNE 1841, REPUBLIC OF TEXAS PRESIDENT MIRABEAU B. LAMAR COMMISSIONED AN EFFORT TO INCREASE TEXAS’ POLITICAL, MILITARY AND COMMERCIAL INFLUENCE IN SANTA FE, THEN A PART OF MEXICO CLAIMED BY THE REPUBLIC OF TEXAS. A PARTY OF 321 MEN SET OUT FROM NORTH OF AUSTIN ON BRUSHY CREEK (PRESENT-DAY ROUND ROCK) ON JUNE 19. THIS GROUP INCLUDED MERCHANTS, ENGINEERS, INFANTRYMEN AND A NEWSMAN. THEY TOOK WITH THEM A LARGE QUANTITY OF TRADE GOODS AND ONE CANNON. THE EXPEDITION HAD GREAT DIFFICULTY PENETRATING THE DENSE UNDERGROWTH OF THE WESTERN CROSS TIMBERS OF NORTH CENTRAL TEXAS. THREE MILES SOUTHEAST OF HERE, THE MEN BURNED MOST OF THEIR TENTS, POLES AND OTHER GEAR IN ORDER TO MOVE FASTER. THEY THEN FORDED THE WEST FORK OF THE TRINITY RIVER AND CROSSED NEAR THIS SITE MID-DAY ON JULY 26, 1841. THE MEN ENDURED HARDSHIPS AND DELAYS FURTHER WEST, AND WERE CAPTURED IN THE FALL BEFORE REACHING SANTA FE. THEY WERE MARCHED TO MEXICO CITY AND IMPRISONED. MOST WERE FINALLY RELEASED IN APRIL 1842. ONE OF THE GUIDES WHO SURVIVED THIS EXPEDITION WAS COLONEL WILLIAM HUDSON HUNT. ON RETURNING TO TEXAS, HE TOOK UP HIS SURVEYING PROFESSION. HE SETTLED IN WISE COUNTY, WHERE ON THE SANTA FE EXPEDITION HE HAD OBSERVED THE REGION’S RANCHING POTENTIAL. HIS RANCH, CALLED CACTUS HILL, NOW LIES UNDER THE WATERS OF LAKE BRIDGEPORT. COL. HUNT BECAME A RESPECTED COMMUNITY LEADER AND IN 1859, HE AND OTHERS REQUESTED A REROUTING OF BUTTERFIELD OVERLAND MAIL STAGES TO THE SOUTH FROM COOKE COUNTY TO DECATUR AND THEN WEST TO JACKSBORO AND ON TO SAN FRANCISCO. THE REROUTING LED TO BRIDGING AND FERRYING ACTIVITIES FOR STAGECOACHES AND FREIGHT WAGONS AT THIS TRINITY RIVER CROSSING, RESULTING IN THE CREATION OF THE TOWN OF BRIDGEPORT IN 1860.

Historical Marker →

Bridgeport, TX

1860

Bridgeport is on State Highway 114 eight miles west of Decatur and two miles east of Lake Bridgeport in western Wise County. It originated in February 1860 when a group organized by William H. Hunt secured a charter from the West Fork Bridge Company to build a bridge across the West Fork of the Trinity River. The bridge was to be part of the Butterfield Overland Mail route. Pierce Woodward suggested the name. A year later, however, the Civil War began, the mail route was abandoned, and the wooden bridge collapsed. Bridgeport remained a small, rural community until 1873, when a new iron bridge was constructed for transporting supplies from Decatur to Fort Richardson. In May of that year a post office was established. In the 1880s coal was discovered near the town, and for the next forty years the Wise County Coal Company was one of the state's chief producers of bituminous coal. Competition from oil and gas forced the coal mines to close in 1929. In 1893, when Rock Island tracks reached within two miles of Bridgeport, the town moved a mile east to take advantage of the rail line. The railroad established Bridgeport as an retail center for area cattle ranchers and dairy farmers. The town incorporated in 1913 and in 1920 had a population of 1,872. By the end of the decade Bridgeport was producing crushed stone for road construction and was the site of a brick factory. The completion of Lake Bridgeport in 1931 further diversified the economy; Bridgeport became a tourist center for visitors to the lake. The population of Bridgeport grew steadily after the 1920s and surpassed 2,000 in the mid-1950s. In 1986 it had an estimated 3,737 residents and 153 businesses and was the second largest town in Wise County. In 1990 the population was 3,581, and in 2000 it was 4,309.

Tsha Handbook →

Lake Bridgeport

1931

Lake Bridgeport, formerly known as Bridgeport Reservoir, is on the West Fork of the Trinity River in the Trinity River basin five miles west of Bridgeport in western Wise County (at 33°13' N, 97°52' W). The project is owned and operated by the Tarrant County Water Control and Improvement District Number 1. Lake Bridgeport was built for the proposed Trinity River canalization plan and was completed in December 1931 at an estimated cost of $2 million. In conjunction with Eagle Mountain Lake and Lake Worth, Lake Bridgeport controls the floodwaters of the West Fork of the Trinity River. The lake is 1,850 feet long and was designed primarily for flood control, water storage, and recreation. The crest of the spillway is 826.2 feet above mean sea level. The lake has a conservation storage capacity of 270,900 acre-feet and covers a surface area of 10,400 acres. The drainage area above the dam is 1,111 square miles. Water stored in the lake is used for municipal, industrial, and agricultural purposes. Construction of the dam helped prevent seasonal flooding of rich farmland in western Wise County and stimulated land development along the lakeshores, including the communities of Lakevue Estates, Lake Bridgeport, and Runaway Bay. Marinas, excellent fishing, and lakeside parks have transformed nearby Bridgeport into a prosperous commercial and resort community. The terrain surrounding the lake is characterized by resistant ledges and low cuestas with shallow, stony soils. Vegetation consists primarily of live oak, juniper, and grasses.

Tsha Handbook →

Things to Do in Bridgeport

quirky 21.6 mi away
Chewbacca's Grave — May the 4th

May the 4th be with you — and with the Wookiee. Peter Mayhew the seven-foot-three British actor who brought Chewbacca to life in every Star Wars film from 1977…
quirky 17.6 mi away
Springtown Dinosaur Tracks

A family went out hunting arrowheads along Walnut Creek in 2017 and found something about 110 million years older than they expected. Pressed into the creekbed…
quirky 21.6 mi away
Chewbacca's Grave

The seven-foot-three British actor who played Chewbacca in every Star Wars film from 1977 to The Force Awakens is buried right here at Azleland Memorial Park.…
quirky 24.9 mi away
The Azle Earthquake Swarm

Starting in November 2013 the ground beneath Azle started shaking and it did not stop for 84 days. Twenty-seven earthquakes rattled windows cracked foundations…
historical 24.9 mi away
WWII Marine Glider Base at Eagle Mountain

In 1942 the United States Marines bought 2931 acres of ranchland on Eagle Mountain Lake for a purpose that sounds almost unbelievable now — training pilots to…
historical 17.3 mi away
Comanche Raids at Springtown

For twenty years the settlers of Springtown slept with one eye open. The Comanche considered this land theirs and they were not subtle about making the point.…
historical 17.4 mi away
Springtown's Civil War Frontier Collapse

When the Civil War called the Texas Rangers east to fight for the Confederacy they left behind an unguarded frontier. The Comanche knew it immediately. They…
historical 17.5 mi away
Parker County and Quanah Parker's Legacy

The county Springtown calls home carries a name tangled up in one of the most dramatic stories in Texas history. Parker County was named for Isaac Parker whose…

Everything Near Bridgeport

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

  • First Baptist Church Bridgeport · 0.2 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of the First Baptist Church of Bridgeport. It started in 1882 with Reverend Alpheus Hawkins and 23 charter members in Old Town Bridgeport. After meeting in the schoolhouse and two other…

  • Bridgeport Coal Mines · 0.3 mi · Historical Marker

    Once a staple of Bridgeport's economy, coal was discovered here in later part of 19th century. Diggers hit vein 60 feet deep while seeking water. Mine No. 1 lies under northeast Bridgeport, and entire area is…

  • Bridgeport Lodge No. 587, A.F. & A.M. · 0.3 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of Bridgeport Lodge No. 587, chartered in 1884. Its original twenty-seven members were mostly local coal miners, ranchers, and businessmen. The lodge has been active in community affairs…

  • First United Methodist Church of Bridgeport · 0.5 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of Bridgeport's First United Methodist Church. Organized in 1893, the same year the railroad arrived, the congregation started meeting under brush arbors and in the Masonic Lodge. They built…

  • St. John the Baptizer Catholic Church · 0.6 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Bridgeport, home to St. John the Baptizer Catholic Church. Established in the 1890s as a mission served by a traveling priest, it was the first Catholic church in Wise County. The original wooden…

  • First Presbyterian Church of Bridgeport · 0.6 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of Bridgeport's First Presbyterian Church. The congregation officially organized in 1898, meeting in a school before completing their first building that same year. Descendants of charter…

  • A Star in the Window, a Marker by the Road · 0.7 mi

    This road carries a Blue Star Memorial Highway designation, one of a string of them across Texas. The name comes from a family tradition. When someone in a household was serving in the armed forces, the family displayed…

  • The Town That Moved to Coal City · 0.9 mi

    In 1893 the railroad came, but not quite where the town was. The Rock Island line was routed through the coal fields about two miles from the old Bridgeport, so the coal company gave land for a depot and a brand-new…

  • Five Hundred Miners, and the Slow End of Coal · 0.9 mi

    At its peak just after 1900, the Bridgeport coal operation employed around five hundred men, and many of them were immigrants from Mexico and other Latin American countries, who lived in rows of miners' cottages right…

  • Stagecoaches and a Lake · 0.9 mi

    Bridgeport leans into its frontier roots harder than most towns. The Texas legislature officially named it the Stagecoach Capital of Texas, and the town displays a real Concord stagecoach and throws an annual…

  • The Toll Bridge That Named the Town · 1.0 mi

    Bridgeport is named for exactly what you would guess: a bridge. In 1860 a man named Colonel Hunt got a charter to build a span across the West Fork of the Trinity, redirecting the great Southern Overland stagecoach mail…

  • Drilling for Water, Striking Coal · 1.0 mi

    Bridgeport's biggest break came by accident. Sometime around 1880, workers digging a water well on the merchant Cates's property struck something far more valuable about sixty feet down: a thick seam of bituminous coal.…

Show all 200 nearby places
  • One Rock, Two Industries · 1.0 mi

    The coal under Bridgeport is deep time made useful. It formed in the Pennsylvanian period, around three hundred million years ago, when this part of Texas cycled endlessly between swampy land and shallow sea, burying…

  • Mexican Americans and Repatriation · 1.0 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Although a great deal of attention has been focused on Mexican immigration by scholars on both sides of the border, far less attention has been given to emigration of Mexicans and Mexican Americans from the United…

  • Bridgeport, TX · 1.0 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Bridgeport is on State Highway 114 eight miles west of Decatur and two miles east of Lake Bridgeport in western Wise County. It originated in February 1860 when a group organized by William H. Hunt secured a charter…

  • Lake Bridgeport · 1.0 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Lake Bridgeport, formerly known as Bridgeport Reservoir, is on the West Fork of the Trinity River in the Trinity River basin five miles west of Bridgeport in western Wise County (at 33°13' N, 97°52' W). The project is…

  • Hunt, Col. William Hudson · 1.1 mi · Historical Marker

    (1815-1864) Born in Ithaca, New York, William Hudson Hunt became a principal figure in the development of Wise County. He came to Texas in 1836, joining the War for Independence. He then served in the Army of the Texas…

  • Republic of Texas' Santa Fe Expedition in Wise County · 1.1 mi · Historical Marker

    IN JUNE 1841, REPUBLIC OF TEXAS PRESIDENT MIRABEAU B. LAMAR COMMISSIONED AN EFFORT TO INCREASE TEXAS’ POLITICAL, MILITARY AND COMMERCIAL INFLUENCE IN SANTA FE, THEN A PART OF MEXICO CLAIMED BY THE REPUBLIC OF…

  • Toll Bridge & Old Bridgeport · 1.9 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Bridgeport, a town that owes its existence to a river crossing. Back in the late 1850s, the Butterfield Overland Mail needed a way across the West Fork of the Trinity. Colonel W. H. Hunt got a…

  • Clearing the Road Ahead of the Chase · 2.1 mi

    This piece of State Highway One Fourteen, from Twelfth Street in Bridgeport to County Road Thirty Three Thirty, is the Sergeant Randy D. White Memorial Highway. Randy White served five years with the Bridgeport Police…

  • The Bank That Rolled to the Tracks · 2.2 mi

    The Bridgeport you’re in right now is actually Version 2.0. The original town, founded in the 1860s, was about a mile southwest of here. It was doing just fine as a stagecoach stop until 1893, when the Chicago, Rock…

  • The Making of Lake Bridgeport · 2.2 mi

    The biggest landmark in the area, Lake Bridgeport, isn't natural. It's a massive feat of engineering that permanently changed this region. By the 1920s the growing city of Fort Worth desperately needed a reliable water…

  • When Coal Was King · 2.2 mi

    For a generation, the sound of Bridgeport wasn't cattle; it was the clang of mining equipment and the whistle of the coal train. Coal turned up here late in the 1800s when men drilling for water hit a vein instead, and…

  • The Butterfield Stage's River Crossing · 2.2 mi

    Before there was a town, there was a trail. The Butterfield Overland Mail, the most famous stagecoach line in American history, ran some twenty-eight hundred miles from Missouri to San Francisco between 1858 and 1861,…

  • The Engineering of Lake Bridgeport · 2.2 mi

    Lake Bridgeport is a powerful example of Depression-era civil engineering. To create it, the Tarrant County Water Control and Improvement District Number One had to tame the West Fork of the Trinity River. Work began in…

  • Bridgeport, TX · 2.2 mi

    Bridgeport's local industries have been dominated by oil, gas, and limestone. The discovery of bituminous coal in 1882 led to the formation of the Wise County Coal Company, which was a leading producer of coal for the…

  • East Mount Cemetery & School · 4.0 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past East Mount Cemetery and the former site of its school, a community named for a 19th-century lookout point. In 1876, W. C. Ellis set aside land for this public space, with the cemetery opening by…

  • Matthews, Dr. M. W. · 5.2 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Paradise, Texas, and you're passing the site of a man who saw some of the most pivotal moments in Texas history. Dr. M. W. Matthews was a pioneer physician and preacher, but he also served as an…

  • Ramsdale, George Lafayette · 5.2 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Wise County, passing the spot where George Lafayette Ramsdale lived out his days. Born in England in 1820, Ramsdale came to Texas as a teenager, enlisting in the army by 1836 to fight for Texas…

  • The Urschel Kidnapping - Shannon Ranch near Paradise · 5.3 mi · Historical Marker

    In the summer of nineteen thirty-three, a five-hundred-acre farm outside Paradise, Texas, became the center of one of the most famous kidnapping cases in American history. On July twenty-second, George Machine Gun Kelly…

  • Indian Captives Dot and Bianca Babb · 5.6 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…

  • Matthews, Mansell Walter · 5.7 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through North Texas, and right here, in what is now Wise County, you might be passing near Paradise. That's where Mansell Walter Matthews, a preacher, doctor, and legislator, spent the last years of his…

  • First Christian Church of Paradise · 5.7 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the First Christian Church of Paradise. Members held services in 'Old Town' in the late 1800s, but moved here when the railroad arrived. Merchant M. D. Cansler, school superintendent S. L. Atkins,…

  • Texas HS Baseball Playoff Leaders 2026: Paradise (Paradise) · 5.8 mi

    Paradise put 6 players on the statewide leaderboards of the 2026 Texas high school baseball playoffs. Camden Walker had 20 stolen bases (1st in the state), 18 hits (6th in the state), and 17 runs (4th in the state).…

  • Texas HS Baseball Playoff Hits 2026: Paradise (Paradise) · 5.8 mi

    Paradise, TX placed on the Texas high school baseball PLAYOFF HITS leaderboard for the 2026 postseason: Carter Mara (19 hits, #3 in TX); Camden Walker (18 hits, #6 in TX); Madden Taylor (17 hits, #8 in TX); Cash Watson…

  • Site of Old Town Paradise · 5.8 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of Old Town Paradise, a community that literally moved! Settled in 1858 and initially called Eldorado, this town grew around a central square and a community well. It even got a post office…

  • Mitchell Energy and Development Corporation · 5.9 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through North Texas, and right here is an area known as the 'Wildcatters' Graveyard.' In 1952, George Mitchell and his partners were drilling their first well in this very spot. Against the odds, they hit…

  • Owens, Ruby Agnes [Texas Ruby] · 5.9 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Wise County, Texas, the birthplace of Ruby Agnes Owens, better known to country music fans as Texas Ruby. Born in 1908, she grew up in a musical family, with a brother who became a radio cowboy.…

  • Crafton, TX · 5.9 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Crafton is on Farm Road 2127 some two miles east of the Jack county line in northwestern Wise County. Settlement of the community began in the late 1870s after the removal of Comanche Indians from the area. A post…

  • Slidell, TX · 5.9 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Slidell is on Hickory Creek twenty miles from Decatur in northeastern Wise County. The surrounding terrain, a treeless plain, is part of the Grand Prairie region of North Texas and is drained by the Elm Fork of the…

  • Greenwood, TX (Wise County) · 5.9 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Greenwood is on Farm Road 1204 fourteen miles northeast of Decatur in Wise County. It was established when two cowboys camped in the area in the 1870s. The two men, named Hart and Greenwood, decided to begin a new…

  • Sherman, Shreveport and Southern Railway · 5.9 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through North Texas, and right here is a piece of railroad history. The Sherman, Shreveport and Southern Railway was chartered in 1893, aiming to connect McKinney all the way to Decatur, and Jefferson to…

  • Cottondale, TX · 5.9 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Cottondale is on Farm Road 2123 ten miles southwest of Decatur in south central Wise County. Its settlement began in the early 1850s, and it is one of the oldest communities in the county. B. F. Banks, a local…

  • First Baptist Church of Chico · 6.2 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 · 6.2 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…

  • Brown Hotel · 6.3 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 Town Built on Crushed Stone · 6.4 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…

  • Siddons-Barnes Log Cabin · 6.4 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 · 6.4 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,…

  • Preskitt Cemetery · 6.4 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Preskitt Cemetery, established in 1886 on land originally deeded for the Lee School Community. The earliest marked grave is for infant Pearl Hobbs, who died in June 1890. The cemetery is the final…

  • Named by a Single Vote · 6.5 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…

  • The Governor's Pardon on the Hotel Porch · 6.5 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…

  • Babb Cemetery · 6.5 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 · 6.5 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…

  • Robert Calvin Mount · 6.5 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 · 6.5 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 · 6.5 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…

  • Lake Bridgeport WWII Training Site · 6.7 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of a vital World War II training ground! From 1942 to the war's end, Lake Bridgeport was a key bombing target area and seaplane base for the Marines. Pilots practiced everything from…

  • Draco · 7.3 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of Draco, a Texas town that vanished as quickly as it appeared. Settled in the early 1880s and originally called Tylewater, it got a post office in 1883 and a new name: Draco. It boomed with…

  • Mount, R.C., House · 7.5 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…

  • The Dam that Made a City · 7.7 mi

    The city of Runaway Bay exists because of an engineering project finished half a century before the town did. Fort Worth was growing fast and needed water. The Tarrant County Water Control and Improvement District…

  • The Texans Who Became the Lost Battalion · 7.9 mi

    The Lost Battalion Memorial Highway carries U.S. Highway Three Eighty through Wise and Jack Counties, and its name comes from a group of Texas soldiers in World War Two. In November nineteen forty one, the Second…

  • New Salem Freewill Baptist Church · 8.1 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of the New Salem Freewill Baptist Church, organized in April 1893 by Reverend Josephus Wesley Ford and other families. Reverend Ford pastored here until his death in July 1898, and the…

  • Dallas, Pacific & Southeastern Railway · 8.3 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Wise County, where a ghost of a railroad runs alongside you. The Dallas, Pacific & Southeastern Railway was planned way back in 1889 to connect Dallas all the way to Albuquerque. They graded a…

  • Mount Zion Baptist Church & Jonestown Cemetery · 8.3 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of Mount Zion Baptist Church and Jonestown Cemetery. Andrew Jackson Jones deeded land here back in 1833 for the church and cemetery, with the earliest marked grave dating to that same year.…

  • Wise County, TX · 8.7 mi · Local history

    The rolling hills of Wise County, part of the Cross Timbers region, offered early settlers a mix of prairie and woodland, ideal for ranching and farming. Unlike the flatter plains to the west, the varied terrain…

  • Wise County Reunion · 8.9 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Decatur, and you might just be passing the site of one of Texas's oldest public events! It started as informal gatherings for Confederate veterans in the 1860s and 70s. By 1881, it grew into a…

  • First Baptist Church of Decatur · 8.9 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of Decatur's First Baptist Church. Organized in 1856, it first met in a log cabin. The church has a long history of community involvement, including working with Northwest Texas Baptist…

  • Trimble Cemetery · 9.0 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Trimble Cemetery, the main burial ground for the tiny community of Flatwood, also known as Davis City, in the late 1800s. Named for James W. Trimble, who bought land here in 1877, it was formally…

  • Perrin Log Cabin · 9.2 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Perrin Log Cabin. William Perrin and his wife, Charlotte, along with two other families, left Rock Castle, Kentucky in the fall of 1853, arriving forty days later in the Peters Colony near Dallas.…

  • Wise County Poor Farm & Cemetery, Site of · 9.2 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving near Decatur, and you're passing the site of the old Wise County Poor Farm. From 1885 to 1962, this 320-acre farm was home to dependent citizens and county convicts who worked out their fines. The first…

  • Athena Strand and the Paradise Alert · 9.4 mi

    Paradise is a rural town in Wise County, near Fort Worth. On November thirtieth, two thousand twenty two, seven-year-old Athena Strand disappeared from outside her father's home there. A contract delivery driver for…

  • The Iron Horse Arrives · 9.4 mi

    Imagine this spot in 1893. Paradise had been here for twenty years already -- Bill Anderson's general store, a post office since 1876, a place folks first called Eldorado and then Paradise Prairie for the wildflowers.…

  • Engineering a Town's Future · 9.4 mi

    The Paradise you see today was fundamentally re-drawn by a 19th-century engineering project: the railroad. This was not open country before it came -- there had been a store here since the early 1870s and a post office…

  • Butterfield Overland Stage Line · 9.4 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Decatur, folks, and right here is where a legendary piece of American history blazed a trail. Imagine, if you can, semi-weekly stagecoach service connecting St. Louis all the way to San Francisco!…

  • Hyde Cemetery · 9.4 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Hyde Cemetery, a resting place for early settlers. Look for the graves of Dizania and Felix Barnes, who died on the same day in 1879. This cemetery also holds many unmarked graves and serves as the…

  • First National Bank of Decatur · 9.7 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of Decatur's First National Bank, a financial pillar for over a century. Organized in 1883 by local businessmen, it was led for decades by W. T. Waggoner, a Texas legend in cattle and oil.…

  • Gose Trees · 9.7 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the last remnants of a historic hedge, right here near Decatur. These aren't just any trees; these are bois d'arc, planted back in 1861. They formed a natural, spiny fortress around the log cabin of…

  • Bishop, Absalom · 9.8 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Wise County, Texas, and right here is the town of Decatur, the county seat that owes its very existence to one man: Absalom Bishop. Bishop arrived in Texas in 1852, but it was in 1855 that he…

  • Waggoner, Daniel · 9.8 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Wise County, Texas, where Daniel Waggoner carved out a massive ranching empire. In the 1850s, this was a dangerous frontier, prone to Indian raids and cattle thieves. Waggoner, who moved here from…

  • Colonel Absalom Bishop · 9.8 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Decatur, the county seat of Wise County, a town that owes a lot to Colonel Absalom Bishop. Bishop, a veteran of the Seminole War, arrived in Texas in 1852 and settled here in 1855. He was…

  • Williams, Guinn Terrell, Jr. [Big Boy] · 9.8 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Decatur, Texas, the hometown of Guinn "Big Boy" Williams, Jr. He was born here in 1899 and headed to Hollywood in 1919, drawn by the new motion picture business. His good looks and horsemanship…

  • Wise County · 9.8 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Wise County, a place that was once a vital frontier outpost. Established in 1856, this region was home to Wichita and Delaware Indians before settlers arrived. But life here wasn't always…

  • Decatur Baptist College · 9.8 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Decatur, and right here is a spot with a claim to fame in higher education. In 1898, Decatur Baptist College was planned as the world's very first institution designed from the ground up as a…

  • Wise County, C.S.A. · 9.8 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Decatur, the heart of Wise County, a place that saw some serious action during the Civil War. <break time="400ms"/> Even though the county voted against secession, its men were eager to fight,…

  • Decatur, TX · 9.8 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Decatur, the county seat of Wise County. This town was established in 1856, originally named Taylorsville. But just two years later, in 1858, a state legislator changed the name to Decatur to…

  • Dallas Baptist University · 9.8 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Wise County, and right here is where Decatur Baptist College got its start back in 1891. It was founded by the Northwest Texas Baptist Association, who chose Decatur for its central location and…

  • Lang, John J. · 9.8 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Decatur, Texas, a town that owes much of its early financial success to a man named John J. Lang. After fighting in the Civil War, losing an eye at the Battle of Seven Pines, and even trying his…

  • Pickett, George Bibb · 9.8 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Wise County, Texas, right near Decatur. Back in 1854, a man named George Bibb Pickett was drawn to this area by the promise of wide-open pastureland. He settled here, building his life and raising…

  • Terrell, Charles Vernon · 9.8 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Wise County, perhaps near Decatur, where Charles Vernon Terrell got his start. Born in a log cabin in 1861, Terrell's life was a testament to Texas grit. He worked as a store clerk, drove ox…

  • Williams, Guinn Terrell · 9.8 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through North Texas, not far from Decatur. Right here, you're passing through the heart of land once shaped by Guinn Terrell Williams. He wasn't just a local banker and rancher; Williams rose to represent…

  • Terrell, John James · 9.8 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through what was northeastern Wise County, near where John James Terrell was born on January 28, 1857. He grew up in Decatur after his family moved there for protection from intensified Indian conflicts.…

  • Woodruff, Henry Grady · 9.8 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Wise County, not far from Decatur, the hometown of Henry Grady Woodruff. He wasn't just any lawyer; Woodruff served in the Texas Legislature for over a decade. He started in the House of…

  • Decatur, TX · 9.9 mi

    In the midst of the Civil War, Decatur, Texas, witnessed a dark chapter in its history. In October 1862, Unionist sympathizers were arrested by Confederate troops and taken to Gainesville for trial on charges of treason…

  • Vesey, Randolph · 9.9 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Decatur, and you might have just passed a legend. Randolph Vesey wasn't just a respected homeowner; he was a champion pioneer fiddler whose music filled the air at frontier forts across this county.…

  • Sponsored North Texas State University · 9.9 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Wise County, the birthplace of Charles Vernon Terrell. He started as a lawyer here in 1886, then served in the Texas Senate, even sponsoring the act that created North Texas State University. But…

  • Terrell, Charles Vernon · 9.9 mi · Historical Marker

    A leading public man in Texas, 1896-1939. Born in Wise County to early (1854) settlers. After two years at Texas A & M, read law and began practice in 1886. Served 1888-92 as Decatur City attorney; 1892-96 as county…

  • Stone Prison, Old · 9.9 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Decatur, and right here is the Old Stone Prison. Built around 1859 using prison labor, this wasn't just a jail – the main part was the sheriff's home! The basement served as the jail cells, with…

  • Captain George Stevens · 9.9 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Wise County, where Captain George Stevens carved out a life on the Texas frontier. Born in Alabama in 1830, Stevens moved here in 1855 and quickly became a leader in defending settlers from Native…

  • Wise County Messenger · 9.9 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Decatur, and right here is the birthplace of a Texas newspaper that's seen it all. The Wise County Messenger started in 1880, bouncing between Paradise and Alvord before settling in Decatur in…

  • Episcopal Mission of the Ascension · 9.9 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Decatur, and look to your left for the Episcopal Mission of the Ascension. This little church, consecrated by Bishop A. C. Garrett, was built way back in 1889, facing Main Street. It earned the…

  • Tilghman, S. W., House · 10.0 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the S. W. Tilghman House in Decatur. Born in Tennessee, Tilghman arrived in Wise County in 1870. He married a local woman, Eliza Miller, and they had four children. Tilghman was a master builder, and…

  • Decatur First United Methodist Church · 10.0 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of Decatur's oldest congregation, organized way back in 1862. Services started in a vacant store, and early members even used their home and pump organ for worship. The first sanctuary was…

  • Battle of the Knobs · 10.1 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of the Battle of the Knobs, a fierce clash that happened on November 10, 1837. A small company of eighteen Republic of Texas soldiers, led by Lt. A. B. Benthuysen, found themselves…

  • Texas Tourist Camp · 10.3 mi · Scraped Hmdb

    Before interstate highways and fancy hotels, there were tourist camps like this one! They offered a safe and affordable place for early automobile travelers to rest. The Texas Tourist Camp in Decatur, Texas, was built…

  • Cottondale, TX · 10.3 mi · Local history

    Cottondale sits nestled in the rolling hills of Wise County, where the Eastern Cross Timbers transitions into prairie. This North Texas region is characterized by its mix of post oak and blackjack oak forests,…

  • Texas Tourist Camp Complex · 10.3 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the old Texas Tourist Camp Complex, a relic from the early days of road trips. Businessman E. F. Boydston bought this spot in 1927, turning a feed lot into a gas station and cabins for travelers. By…

  • Grave of Machine Gun Kelly - Cottondale Cemetery · 10.4 mi · Historical Marker

    Somewhere in Row 11 of the Cottondale Cemetery, under a small headstone that reads George B. Kelley, 1954, lies George Machine Gun Kelly, one of the most notorious gangsters of the Prohibition era. The misspelled name…

  • "Machine Gun" Kelley · 10.4 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past "Machine Gun" Kelley. During the Prohibition Era, organized crime increased. Big-name gangsters like Al Capone ruled the streets while public enemies such as Bonnie and Clyde swept across the…

  • Waggoner Mansion · 10.4 mi · Scraped Hmdb

    Imagine a time of cattle barons and sprawling Texas ranches – that's the world surrounding the Waggoner Mansion. Built in 1883 by the prominent Waggoner family, this sixteen-room mansion, also known as El Castile, was a…

  • East Side Elementary School · 10.4 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Decatur, and to your right, you might have passed the site of East Side Elementary School. In 1882, Decatur's African American community, concentrated east of the railroad tracks, established this…

  • Cottondale · 10.4 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Cottondale. Area's oldest settlement. Platted by landowner B. F. Banks, who also gave lots for public use named, 1875, for lush growth of cotton planted by John Bridges, blacksmith, to finance a trip…

  • Huff Family Massacre · 10.5 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.…

  • St. John Missionary Baptist Church · 10.5 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Decatur, passing the site of St. John Missionary Baptist Church. Organized in the spring of 1882 by a group of women led by Missouri Brown, this church has served the community for over a century.…

  • The 'Free State of Wise' · 10.6 mi

    Standing in the heart of Texas, it's hard to imagine a time when this area was a hotbed of anti-Confederate suspicion. But few Wise County settlers owned slaves, and when the Civil War came, opinion here was badly split…

  • The Revolution Beneath Your Feet · 10.6 mi

    As you drive around Decatur, you're passing over the heart of a technological revolution that changed the global energy map. Deep beneath you lies the Barnett Shale, a layer of rock containing vast amounts of natural…

  • The Pink Granite Palace · 10.6 mi

    You can't miss the building that dominates downtown Decatur. The Wise County Courthouse, with its towering clock tower and distinctive pink granite, is the heart of the city. But it's actually the fourth courthouse to…

  • When the Cowboys Came to Town · 10.6 mi

    Picture the town square you see today in the late 1860s, with the eastern fork of the Chisholm Trail running just past the edge of town. From the late 1860s to the 1880s, Decatur lived off that trail. Drovers pushing…

  • Decatur, TX · 10.6 mi

    The town was originally named Taylorsville in honor of Zachary Taylor. However, Absalom Bishop, an early settler and member of the Texas Legislature, opposed naming the town after a Whig Party member. In 1858, he…

  • The Boy From Alvord Who Set the Price of Oil · 10.7 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…

  • Watermelon Country · 10.7 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…

  • Covington, Weldon Joseph · 10.7 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…

  • Evetts, Samuel G. · 10.7 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Willow Point, home to Samuel G. Evetts, a Texan who fought for independence. He was wounded in December 1835, during the Siege of Bexar, a key battle in the Texas Revolution. After the war, Evetts…

  • Olive Branch Cemetery · 10.7 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…

  • Willow Point Cemetery · 10.7 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Willow Point Cemetery, which began in 1882 with the burial of Anna M. English on land later owned by Samuel G. Evitts. Evitts himself was buried here the next year. The land was eventually deeded to…

  • Hopewell Cemetery · 10.7 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Hopewell Cemetery, established in 1872. It was recognized as a Historic Texas Cemetery in 2010.

  • Once Called Nina, and Not Named for an Outlaw · 10.8 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 · 10.8 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…

  • Oak Lawn Cemetery · 10.8 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Oak Lawn Cemetery, established in 1878 when William T. Perry deeded land for a public burial ground. However, at least one grave, Eli Lindley, dates back to 1867, and others from 1857 may have been…

  • Thompson, General Ernest O. · 10.9 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…

  • Vesey, Randolph (Uncle Ran) · 10.9 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Wise County, passing the life story of Randolph Vesey, better known as Uncle Ran. Born into slavery in Georgia around 1832, Vesey served as a body servant to Confederate General William Lewis…

  • City of Alvord · 10.9 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…

  • Paschall · 10.9 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the area where Robert and Molly Paschall settled way back in 1876. They bought land near Salt Creek, and by 1902, their home became the Paschall post office. It even housed the Paschall-Cottondale…

  • Alvord Lodge No. 512, A.F. & A.M. · 10.9 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 · 11.0 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…

  • Stevens, Captain George · 11.5 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Flat Rock, Texas, a place that remembers Captain George Stevens. He arrived here in 1855, a man known as the champion of the defenseless. Stevens was deeply involved in protecting pioneer families…

  • Flat Rock Cemetery · 11.5 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of Flat Rock Cemetery, a place that began with a tradition of unmarked graves. Settled in the 1850s by pioneers like Moses Ball, the earliest burials here are said to be an unknown Native…

  • The Gas Boom Beneath Your Feet · 11.7 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 · 11.7 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…

  • Waggoner Cemetery · 11.7 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the Waggoner Cemetery, a final resting place with roots stretching back to the earliest days of settlement in Wise County. The story begins in 1849, when Reverend Henry Fullingim and his large family…

  • Hopewell Baptist Church · 11.7 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…

  • Long, Ira - Texas Ranger Captain · 11.8 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the Decatur area, the former stomping grounds of Texas Ranger Captain Ira Long. Born in Indiana and wounded twice fighting for the Confederacy, Long joined the Texas Rangers in 1874. He quickly rose…

  • Sand Hill Community · 11.8 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Sand Hill, a place that was the heart of pioneer culture in North Texas. Folks gathered here at a good spring, right near the hill that gave this community its name. Back in 1854, the first…

  • cottondale, TX · 12.0 mi

    A notable event in Cottondale's history is the burial of the infamous American gangster Machine Gun Kelly in the Cottondale Cemetery. He passed away of a heart attack at Leavenworth Prison on July 17, 1954, in…

  • Wise County, TX · 12.0 mi · Local history

    Wise County, nestled in the rolling terrain of the North Texas Cross Timbers, finds its identity rooted in agriculture and community. This land, characterized by its mix of woodlands and prairie, proved ideal for…

  • Oak Grove United Methodist Church · 12.3 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Oak Grove United Methodist Church, organized in 1878 by Reverend Jim Smith and Reverend E. C. Fullingim. Its first sanctuary was moved to this site in 1902, and the current building has been in use…

  • Anneville School · 12.4 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of the Anneville School. This community, likely named for early settler Annie Davis, got its start when land was donated in 1883 for a school, church, and cemetery. The original school…

  • Wizard Wells · 12.5 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of Wizard Wells, a place that started as a healing oasis for Native Americans and became a booming Texas resort town. The Kiowa Indians knew about these mineral waters first, using them for…

  • Rhoads Family Cemetery · 13.3 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,…

  • Ball Knob Cemetery · 13.3 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…

  • Boyd Yellowjackets — 3A DI State Champions 2026 (def. London 9-8) · 14.0 mi

    Boyd High School (Boyd, TX — Wise County, northwest of Fort Worth) won the 2026 UIL Class 3A Division I state baseball championship, beating London (Corpus Christi) 9-8 in the final.

  • Chewbacca Lived Here · 14.0 mi

    Of all the places for a movie legend to settle down, the actor who played Chewbacca in the Star Wars films chose a quiet ranch in Boyd. Peter Mayhew, the seven-foot-two Englishman behind the famous furry character,…

  • Texas HS Baseball Playoff Hits 2026: Boyd (Boyd) · 14.0 mi

    Boyd, TX placed on the Texas high school baseball PLAYOFF HITS leaderboard for the 2026 postseason: Keelan Clary (16 hits, #15 in TX).

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

    Boyd, TX placed on the 2026 Texas high school baseball PLAYOFF leaderboards (H=hits, HR=home runs, RBI, R=runs, SB=steals, K=strikeouts, H/IP=hits per inning): Will McIntire — 47 K (#3), .440 H/IP (#12); Lane Beacham —…

  • Greasy Bend, Then Parkhurst, Then Boyd · 14.1 mi

    Boyd worked through two other names before it settled on this one. Farmers settled in the early 1890s in a curve of the West Fork of the Trinity, in rich bottomland where hogs were turned loose to fatten, so the place…

  • A Pink Memorial Southeast of Boyd · 14.1 mi

    Southeast of Boyd, along a rural road in Wise County, there is a memorial rebuilt in bright pink. It stands where the search for seven-year-old Athena Strand ended. Athena disappeared from outside her father's home near…

  • Sallie Bowman's Ride for Home · 14.1 mi

    Between Boyd and Decatur, half a mile down a dirt lane off County Road forty-two twenty-seven, the Deep Creek Cemetery holds a headstone with a whole frontier story cut into it. It belongs to Sallie Bowman. Her father…

  • Barbecue in Melon Country · 14.1 mi

    For its first half-century Boyd was a cotton-and-livestock town, but after the 1940s the farms here turned to a sweeter crop and the area became known as melon country. Those farm roots still flavor the place. For a…

  • Boyd's Two Trips to the Top · 14.1 mi

    Boyd High School baseball has won two state championships at the Dell Diamond in Round Rock. On June tenth, two thousand twenty three, the Yellowjackets beat Wall six to four there for the first state baseball…

  • Boyd, TX (Wise County) · 14.1 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Boyd, Texas, a town with a name that changed almost as fast as the railroad lines! Originally settled in the early 1890s and known as Greasy Bend because farmers fattened hogs here, the community…

  • From Greasy Bend, Named Twice · 14.2 mi

    The existence of Boyd is a story of farming and railroad politics. Farmers settled here in the early 1890s, in a curve of the Trinity's North Fork, and called the place Greasy Bend -- the bottomland was used to fatten…

  • The Bend in the River · 14.2 mi

    Boyd sits right in a bend of the West Fork of the Trinity River, and that bend explains a lot about the town. When a river rounds a curve, the water on the inside of the bend slows down and drops the silt it is…

  • Gunslinger from Boyd · 14.2 mi

    This town is where an NFL gunslinger got his start. Billy Joe Tolliver grew up right here, and his athletic talent was obvious early on at Boyd High School. He went on to become a record-setting quarterback for Texas…

  • Boyd, TX · 14.2 mi

    In 2011, the new Boyd High School was completed, which is three times the size of the former high school building. This expansion was necessary to accommodate the growing population of the town.

  • Masonic Lodge #479 · 14.2 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Boyd, Texas, and if you look closely, you might imagine a whole town on the move! This building, originally constructed in 1877, was the heart of Old Aurora, just two miles east of here. The ground…

  • Keeter Cemetery · 14.4 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the Keeter Cemetery, serving this community for over a hundred years, starting in 1882. The oldest grave is Ida Mae Ryan, who lived from 1881 to 1882. Albert Lafayette Keeter, the namesake of the…

  • Sam Woody's Cabin · 14.5 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Decatur, and just ahead is the site of Sam Woody's Cabin. Woody, a pioneer from Tennessee, brought his family to Wise County in 1854 and built this cabin near Deep Creek. It was the very first…

  • Audubon · 14.8 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,…

  • Joplin Fairview Cemetery · 14.8 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Joplin Fairview Cemetery near Jacksboro. The earliest marked burial here is from 1881, for Jessie T. Gillis. Johnny Joplin, the namesake of the nearby community, was buried here in 1899.

  • James, Jesse and Frank, Old Campsite of · 14.9 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Decatur, and you might be looking for a ghost of the Old West. This area, and much of Texas, was a hideout for some of America's most notorious outlaws. Think Jesse and Frank James, Cole Younger, and…

  • Renshaw, Dr. William · 14.9 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Decatur, where Dr. William Renshaw became the very first doctor to permanently settle in Wise County. Born in Illinois and practicing in Tennessee, he first came to Texas in 1853 to claim a land…

  • Deep Creek Community · 15.1 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through what used to be Deep Creek, settled around 1854 by folks like Sam Woody and Tom McCarroll. They farmed cotton and corn, raised cattle, and built a church that also served as a schoolhouse. But…

  • The Jack County Cowboy Who Survived the Death Railway · 15.2 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…

  • Pleasant Grove No. 2 Cemetery, School and Church · 15.4 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Pleasant Grove, home to one of three communities with that name in Wise County. This spot has been a center of life since the late 1870s, when the earliest graves were marked here. In 1879, a…

  • Davis, Lincoln, Sr. [Link] · 16.4 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 · 16.4 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…

  • Gibtown Cemetery · 16.6 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Gibtown Cemetery, a final resting place with roots going back to the late 1800s. <break time="400ms"/> The land here was first known as New Hope City, but it was renamed Gibtown to honor local…

  • Texas HS Baseball Leaders 2026: Springtown (Springtown) · 17.1 mi

    Springtown (Springtown, TX) placed on the 4A Texas high school baseball stat leaderboards for the 2026 season: Layton Murrell (4 HR); Isaac Gonzalez (2 HR).

  • Two Dozen Springs Named a Town · 17.2 mi

    Early settlers reportedly found about twenty-five active springs in and around the Springtown area, grouped into three main clusters. That density of natural water sources was unusual enough to define the place…

  • College Hill: A Higher School on the Frontier · 17.2 mi

    In 1884, the same year Springtown incorporated as a town, it opened a college-level school. The Springtown Male and Female Institute, also known as College Hill Institute, served the educational needs of northern Parker…

  • The Last Ride to Walnut Creek · 17.2 mi

    On April twenty ninth, nineteen fifty seven, a carload of lawmen spotted two men near Lake Worth. One was Gene Paul Norris, an Oklahoma and Texas bandit and the brother of a onetime Public Enemy Number One. Texas Ranger…

  • Poolville · 17.2 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Poolville, a town that owes its existence to a natural spring-fed pool right here in Parker County. This pool, about a half-mile northeast of where you are now, was a vital watering spot for…

  • Dr. George and Ruth Jones House · 17.2 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the home of Dr. George and Ruth Jones, built in 1915. Dr. Jones, a respected physician, and Ruth, a dedicated teacher and missionary, were pillars of the Springtown community. Their two-story house,…

  • Poolville United Methodist Church · 17.2 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Poolville right now, and just ahead is the site of a church that started with just six members. Back in February of 1885, these folks broke away from a church in eastern Parker County to start…

  • Springtown, TX · 17.2 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Springtown, Texas, a place named for the many springs that first drew Joseph Ward to this spot back in 1856. He settled here on a creek, and three years later, he designed the town square. He…

  • Built Around a Spring · 17.3 mi

    Springtown began where a settler found reliable water. Joseph Ward settled beside a spring-fed creek in 1856, and when he laid out the town square in 1859, the settlement was called Littleton's Springs, for the springs…

  • What Made the Springs: Underground Water Science · 17.3 mi

    Springtown was not named by a railroad company or a land developer. It grew where roughly two dozen natural springs brought hidden groundwater to the surface, and the science behind those springs is hydrogeology, the…

  • Comanche Raids at Springtown · 17.3 mi · Things to Do

    For twenty years the settlers of Springtown slept with one eye open. The Comanche considered this land theirs and they were not subtle about making the point.…

  • A Full Trade Center by 1877 · 17.3 mi

    Springtown had no railroad in 1877. No rail connection, no shipping depot, none of the infrastructure that usually built Texas towns in this era. And yet by that year it had a hotel, a school, two general stores, two…

  • Its Own Newspaper Since 1881 · 17.3 mi

    The Springtown Sentinel began publication in 1881, just a few years after the community had established itself as a trade center. On the Texas frontier, a local newspaper was more than a convenience. It was a signal…

  • The Open-Air Tabernacle on the Square · 17.3 mi

    On Springtown's town square there was once a building with no walls. Just a roof and open sides, called a tabernacle, and it served as the community's main gathering space in the early twentieth century. Church…

  • Howell's · 17.3 mi

    Howell's is a long-running local favorite in Springtown, the kind of place Parker County regulars know and visitors discover. A reliable stop for a sit-down meal in a small town with limited restaurant options.

  • Springtown's Natural Springs Settlement · 17.3 mi · Things to Do

    Picture a man from New Jersey standing at the edge of a creek in 1856 watching water bubble up from dozens of natural springs. Captain Joseph Ward had found…

  • Springtown Wild West Festival · 17.3 mi · Things to Do

    Every third Saturday in September for more than 35 years the town square in Springtown transforms into something straight out of 1885. A parade rolls down the…

  • Springtown: The Biggest Little Town in Texas · 17.3 mi · Things to Do

    By 1877 Springtown had a hotel two general stores two blacksmith shops and three cotton gins — not bad for a settlement in the middle of Comanche country. The…

  • Woody Creek BBQ · 17.4 mi

    Woody Creek BBQ started as a family food operation on private property beside the actual Woody Creek, on the stretch between Springtown and Weatherford. It moved into a permanent building on the Springtown square in…

  • The Frontier College · 17.4 mi

    In 1884, the same year Springtown officially incorporated, this small frontier community did something ambitious: it opened a school of its own. The Springtown Male and Female Institute took in students from across the…

  • The Highway That Remade the Town · 17.4 mi

    The road you're likely driving on right now, State Highway 199, is the single most important piece of engineering in modern Springtown. For decades, this was just a two-lane country road connecting Fort Worth to…

  • Springtown's Civil War Frontier Collapse · 17.4 mi · Things to Do

    When the Civil War called the Texas Rangers east to fight for the Confederacy they left behind an unguarded frontier. The Comanche knew it immediately. They…

  • Springtown, TX · 17.4 mi

    Springtown's history began with Joseph Ward, an early settler who named the community Littleton's Springs. In the mid-1870s, the name was changed to Springtown. The town's post office opened in 1875, and Springtown was…

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