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Celeste's founding was a direct result of the railroad development in the late 19th century. In 1886, the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railway platted the townsite 3 miles north of Kingston, on open prairie already crossed by another rail line. This strategic location was chosen to bypass Kingston, which had refused to offer incentives to the railway. The two rail lines stimulated rapid growth, and by 1888, three churches were holding services in the settlement.
Celeste, a city in Hunt County, Texas, has a rich history deeply intertwined with the railroad industry. Founded in 1886, the town was strategically placed by the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railway to bypass Kingston, which had refused incentives to the railway. This move sparked rapid growth, with merchants relocating from Kingston and the population reaching 600 by the mid-1890s. Celeste incorporated in 1900, and by the eve of World War I, the population had swelled to 850. Despite a decline in the 1930s, the town revived after the 1960s, with a population of 745 in 1976. Today, Celeste stands as a testament to the enduring impact of the railroad on American towns.
The name Celeste, which means 'light blue' in Spanish, was chosen in honor of the wife of a Santa Fe official. This romantic origin story adds a personal touch to the city's identity, reflecting the influence of the railroad on its founding and development.
Most decorated soldier in World War II. Born 4.5 miles south, June 20, 1924, sixth of nine children of tenant farmers Emmett and Josie Killian Murphy. Living on various farms, Audie Murphy went to school through the 8th grade in Celeste -- considered the family's home town. He had to quit school to help support the family, acquiring marksmanship skills by hunting to provide food. On his 18th birthday, after being rejected by the Marines because of his size (5 feet, 7 inches; 130 pounds), he enlisted in the Army while working in Greenville. For unusual courage and bravery, he received 24 decorations, including the U. S. Congressional Medal of Honor; the French Legion of Honor, Chevalier: the Distinguished Service Cross; and a Silver Star. After the war he became a successful actor, his most prominent role portraying himself in the film "To Hell and Back," his war career autobiography. Following his untimely death in a plane crash in Virginia, May 28, 1971, and burial in Arlington National Cemetery, the U. S. Congress paid him a final tribute, dedicating a new veterans' hospital in San Antonio to the memory of this American hero. Survived by widow Pamela, sons Terry and James. (1973)
Born on a farm near Kingston, Audie Murphy (1925-1971) joined the army on his 17th birthday in 1942, and later became the most decorated soldier in WWII. He was awarded 24 citations for bravery in action, including the Congressional Medal of Honor, the Distinguished Service Cross, the Belgian Croix de Guerre with Palm and the French Legion of Honor Chevalier. Upon his return to the United States, he began a career in film, starring in "The Kid from Texas," "The Red Badge of Courage" and his most successful film where he portrayed himself, "To Hell and Back." While on a business trip in 1971 Murphy's plane crashed and he was buried with military honors in Arlington National Cemetery. (1973, 2018)
Born here on October 8, 1909, Mack Harrell received early training as a violinist. He later studied the instrument at Oklahoma City University, where he changed direction to pursue his baritone singing talent. After attending the Juilliard School of Music, he began a professional opera career and performed with the Metropolitan Opera. In 1945 he joined the voice faculty at Juilliard, and was later administrator of the Aspen Music Festival and voice professor at Southern Methodist University. A world renowned artist, Harrell died in Dallas on January 29, 1960. Texas Sesquicentennial 1836 - 1986
Elmwood Institute was a college-preparatory academy in Celeste, Hunt County. The catalyst for the school's establishment was the arrival of the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railway, which built through the area in 1886 to intersect the Missouri, Kansas and Texas. The intersection of the two lines transformed Celeste from a one-business rural community to a shipping point for area farmers. The town soon acquired the businesses that had operated at Kingston, three miles southeast. Kingston was the home of Calhoun College. As Kingston declined, the faculty of Calhoun joined the exodus. In 1890 C. C. Perrin established Perrin School. By 1897, however, it had changed hands and operated successively under the names Gladstone College and Hawthorne College. Unable to compete with the increasing number of schools offering college-level courses in the county, the residents of Celeste abandoned the idea of a college and in 1899 collected $10,000 towards the establishment of an academy. B. A. Stafford and C. F. Gibson owned and operated the college preparatory school called Elmwood Institute, located in an eight-room stone and brick building. The institute provided two dorms for girls and a curriculum designed to prepare students for college. Like the colleges that preceded it, Elmwood Institute failed to compete with the introduction of nearby academic institutions. The Celeste public high school enticed students from the private school, bringing declining enrollment, decreasing funds, and the decision in 1910 to close the academy for good.
Ruth Fox, social worker, was born in Celeste, Hunt County, Texas, around 1902. Her father was a rural physician. She graduated from Baylor University and then studied two years at the New York School of Social Work, where she completed her work in criminology early in the 1920s. She then served as supervisor of classification and parole at the Federal Correctional Institution in Seagoville, Texas, where she was credited with obtaining probation and parole privileges for adult offenders. Later, through relief work she supervised in rural areas during the Great Depression , Fox became involved with the western part of Dallas. This work impressed upon her the indignities suffered by people who lacked proper food and other necessities. In the early 1950s, after a bout with tuberculosis, she continued her service to West Dallas when she joined the staff of the Dallas Housing Authority. As a self-described "little ol' do-gooder," she used her position with DHA for twenty-two years to wage a war on poverty in West Dallas and to set an example for other endeavors of this nature across the state. Acknowledging that the authority was not strictly a welfare agency, she nonetheless made welfare her priority there, spending most of her time making referrals for needy people. Officially, she served as the authority's liaison to city, county, and state offices through her role as agency relations supervisor and management aide. Unofficially, she consistently fought to lower discrepancies in living standards between West Dallas and more affluent areas of the city and to encourage the rest of Dallas to recognize and assist West Dallas. She also engineered several beautification projects in West Dallas before retiring from the agency in 1974. Fox's interest in social work was supplemented by a variety of efforts in civic affairs. She served as president of the Texas Federation of Business and Professional Women , as well as president of the Dallas chapter of this group. She supported the Equal Rights Amendment in the 1970s and was a close associate of the leader for that movement in Texas, attorney Hermine Tobolowsky . Fox also assisted Edna Gladney in her efforts to have the word "illegitimate" kept off public birth records. As the first woman to serve on the Dallas County grand jury commission, Fox was instrumental in having the first two women in the county named to a grand jury. She also was a member of the county welfare board and the board of the Dallas Civic Opera and received numerous community service awards. She was married to Phil E. Fox, an advertising and public relations executive, who preceded her in death. She died in Gilmer, Texas, on November 23, 1978, and was buried in Grovehill Cemetery in Dallas. She was survived by one son and one sister.
360 stories, landmarks & places within ~20 miles — the nearest 200 are listed here — the same local lore RoadyGoat plays as you drive through.
Elmwood Institute was a college-preparatory academy in Celeste, Hunt County. The catalyst for the school's establishment was the arrival of the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railway, which built through the area in 1886…
Ruth Fox, social worker, was born in Celeste, Hunt County, Texas, around 1902. Her father was a rural physician. She graduated from Baylor University and then studied two years at the New York School of Social Work,…
You're driving through Hunt County, not far from Celeste, the birthplace of Mack Harrell. Born in 1909, Harrell wasn't just any Texan; he became one of America's finest opera singers. He discovered his powerful baritone…
You're driving through Hunt County, and right here is Celeste. This town owes its very existence to a railroad feud! In 1886, the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railway wanted to build a line, but the nearby town of…
Most decorated soldier in World War II. Born 4.5 miles south, June 20, 1924, sixth of nine children of tenant farmers Emmett and Josie Killian Murphy. Living on various farms, Audie Murphy went to school through the 8th…
Celeste's founding was a direct result of the railroad development in the late 19th century. In 1886, the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railway platted the townsite 3 miles north of Kingston, on open prairie already…
You're driving through Celeste, and right here is the First Baptist Church. It was organized in 1887, the same year this town was platted by the railroad. Their first pastor was the Reverend Jim Price. For a while,…
Born here on October 8, 1909, Mack Harrell received early training as a violinist. He later studied the instrument at Oklahoma City University, where he changed direction to pursue his baritone singing talent. After…
US Highway Sixty Nine north of Greenville, in Hunt County, is named for Audie Murphy, the most decorated American combat soldier of the Second World War. He was born into a large family of Hunt County sharecroppers; his…
As you travel through this part of Hunt County, you're in the boyhood home of Audie Murphy, America's most decorated soldier of World War II. Born in nearby Kingston in 1925, Murphy grew up in desperate poverty. His…
The town of Celeste is a product of 19th-century transportation engineering, born where two railroads crossed. The Katy came first. In November 1880 the Missouri, Kansas and Texas pushed track from Whitewright down to…
Celeste's development was heavily influenced by the railroad. The townsite was platted in 1886 by the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railway, 3 miles north of Kingston. This location was chosen to bypass Kingston and…
You're driving past the Sabine River, a waterway that's seen some serious history. Back in 1836, its lower channel wasn't just a river, it was the border between the Republic of Texas and the United States. Imagine…
You're driving through Kingston, Texas, a town born from the railroad. Back in 1880, 26 charter members founded Kingston Baptist Church right here as the town itself sprang up along the Missouri-Kansas-Texas line. But…
You're driving past what was once one of the first religious gathering spots in Hunt County. Back in the 1850s, early settler Richard Harrell established this site, building cabins and brush arbors. For fifty years,…
Born on a farm near Kingston, Audie Murphy (1925-1971) joined the army on his 17th birthday in 1942, and later became the most decorated soldier in WWII. He was awarded 24 citations for bravery in action, including the…
You're driving past the site of the old Lane community. It all started in 1866 when Robert W. Lane opened a general store. By 1878, the government approved a post office, and the community grew with farms, churches,…
You're driving through Greenville, and this marker tells the story of White Rock Baptist Church. It started way back in 1872 as Pleasant View Baptist Church, with just thirteen members and Reverend A. D. Manion. They…
You're cruising through Hunt County, and you're passing the site of White Rock, originally called Tidwell Creek. <break time="400ms"/> This spot was a busy stop along the old Sherman-Jefferson Trail. <break…
You're driving past the site of White Rock Methodist Church, a community cornerstone for over a century. This congregation officially kicked off on November 25, 1880, with just eleven members and a preacher named J. T.…
Honors Audie Murphy, most decorated American soldier of WWII (Medal of Honor plus 32 other awards by age 21). Sharecropper's son from Hunt County, later Hollywood actor. Died in plane crash 1971.
You're driving through Fannin County, passing the site of the R. E. Stokes homestead. In 1895, Bob Stokes, his wife Ada, and their ten children packed up from Mississippi and headed for Texas. They bought this farm in…
You're driving past a spot where history was supposed to happen, right here near Wolfe City. Back in 1844, the Republic of Texas Congress envisioned a grand Central National Road. Imagine it: a superhighway connecting…
You're driving by the Lee Cemetery, established around 1860. It was recognized as a Historic Texas Cemetery in 2000.
You're driving through Merit, Texas, where a community cemetery holds stories stretching back to the 1870s. Settlers, many from Georgia, arrived here, including Dr. Alexander Murchison, who helped organize the local…
You're driving through Leonard, a town with roots stretching back to the 1840s and 50s. This area, known as Wildcat Thicket, was a notorious hiding spot for fugitives and outlaws. Even a Confederate captain, Bob Lee, a…
You're driving through Leonard, Texas, a town that owes its existence in part to a dense, almost impenetrable thicket. Right here, near Wildcat Thicket, outlaws and fugitives once hid. This dense area was the scene of…
You're driving through Fannin County, not far from Leonard. Right here, twelve miles southwest of Bonham, used to be Valley Creek. It wasn't just any town; it was a Presbyterian mission colony, founded in 1869 by folks…
You're driving past the site of the First United Methodist Church of Leonard. This brick structure, completed in 1906, was the second sanctuary for the congregation. It was dedicated free of debt just three years later…
You're driving through Fannin County, passing the area where Dr. William Chamberlayne Jones practiced medicine. Born in Alabama in 1829, Jones first came to Texas in 1852. He actually started his career as an attorney…
You're driving through Leonard, and just ahead is the site of the former home and business of John Cadwallader Neale. He arrived here in Fannin County in 1877, after serving with the Confederate cavalry in the Civil…
You're driving past the site of Leonard's First Presbyterian Church. This congregation started as a mission in 1875, moving to Leonard after a storm damaged their first building. The church built here in 1883 was the…
You're driving near Leonard, in Fannin County. This marker tells us about the Grove Hill Masonic Lodge, chartered in 1873 with fifteen members. They built their first meetinghouse in the Grove Hill community, which also…
You're driving near Leonard, and you're passing through what used to be the Savage community. It all started back in 1869, when William Hamilton 'Uncle Billy' Savage and his wife Elizabeth moved here. They were so…
You're driving past the site of Merit Methodist Church, organized way back in April of 1871. The first pastor was Reverend W. P. Reed, and the very first member was Margaret Owens. For a while, services were held right…
As you look at the solid brick buildings lining Leonard's downtown square, know that you're looking at a town shaped by fire. Leonard came into existence on July 22, 1880, when the railroad reached this spot and town…
In the early 20th century, the biggest industrial machine in Leonard wasn't the train, but the cotton oil mill. Cotton gins produced the valuable fiber, but they left behind mountains of fuzzy seeds, which were once…
The reason you're driving through a town called Leonard is a railroad that no longer exists and a land deal that came first. The ground here was part of a 3,520-acre survey granted to Martin Moore in 1845 by Anson…
If you happen to be driving through Leonard in the middle of July, you might find yourself in the middle of a party that has been going on since before this town had streets. It's the Leonard Picnic, and it is one of…
Leonard, Texas is a city located in southwestern Fannin County, with key highways playing a significant role in its transportation network. U.S. Route 69 passes along the northern and eastern edges of the city, leading…
You're driving past the site of Bethlehem Baptist Church, established way back in 1854. Land for the church and its cemetery was gifted by several families over the years, starting with the Woodys in 1859. By 1904, a…
You're driving past the site of East Shady Grove Baptist Church. It was organized on October 26, 1884, by 18 members who wanted to found a missionary Baptist church. The Sunday School started in 1885, and the current…
Wolfe City started as a mill town -- Lemuel Pinckney Wolfe built a mill near Oyster Creek around 1870, and folks called the place Wolfe's Mill before the name settled as Wolfe City in 1882. But what turned it into a…
In the fall of 1918, as the world war was ending, a different kind of war reached Wolfe City. This was a town of around fourteen hundred people then, a Blackland cotton center with two railroads and sixty-odd…
Wolfe City's boom was ignited by two competing railroads crossing in one small town. The Santa Fe's tracks reached here in 1887, the same year Wolfe City incorporated, and by the time an artist drew a bird's-eye view of…
On the afternoon of May 23, 1966, a tornado came into the north edge of Wolfe City. It was rated F3, and though its track was only about two miles long and a hundred yards wide, that was plenty. It flattened two houses…
Wolfe City was founded in the 1860s or 1870s when J. Pinckney Wolfe constructed a mill near Oyster Creek. This mill marked the beginning of the town's development.
You're driving through Hunt County, and right here in Wolfe City, Dr. Charles E. Cantrell got his start. He earned his medical degree in 1893 and practiced here before moving to Greenville. But his career really took…
You're driving past the site of the oldest institution in Hunt County: Concord Baptist Church. Organized way back in 1844 by Reverend Ben Watson, the first members met under a tree near Shady Grove. After a few moves,…
You're driving through Wolfe City, but it all started with a mill. Built around 1873 by Lemuel P. Wolfe and Abbey Wilson, this was the area's first grist mill. Imagine oxen walking in circles on a giant wheel to power…
You're driving past the site of Wolfe City's first African American church, Ebenezer Baptist. In 1889, a group of community members, including four women, gathered to form the congregation. Louise Loftin suggested the…
You're driving past the site of the Blanton School, a testament to a remarkable educational initiative. Back in 1912, educator Booker T. Washington teamed up with Julius Rosenwald of Sears, Roebuck & Company to build…
You're driving past Blanton Chapel Methodist Church. supplemental plaque: Blanton Chapel founded 1872 by Benjamin J. Blanton
You're driving past the site of Peniel, a town founded on strict principles. In 1899, E. C. DeJernett and B. A. Cordell established Texas Holiness University here, and the community grew around it. The rules were clear:…
You're driving past Mt. Carmel Cemetery, a place with roots going back to 1852. That's when William J. Williams, known as 'Uncle Billy', set aside land here for his two-year-old niece, Angelina. The oldest stones belong…
You're driving through Fannin County, and just off to your right is the site of Valley Creek. In 1869, eleven Presbyterian families from New York, organized by Howard L. Parmele, established this settlement. Parmele,…
The most decorated American soldier of World War II grew up dirt poor on a sharecropper's farm near here. Audie Leon Murphy was born in Hunt County in 1925, one of twelve children. His father abandoned the family. His…
You're driving past the site of Grove Hill, a community that started life as Oak Hill. It all began in 1844 when George W. Smith, a Georgian, settled here. By the 1850s, a post office was established, and the first…
Bailey, Texas was named after one of its prominent residents, Doctor Josiah S. Bailey. A dispute between Bailey and another resident, Doctor A.J. Ray, over naming the town ended in 1885 when the St. Louis Southwestern…
The name on the sign here was decided by a railroad right-of-way. Farmers settled this ground in the late 1850s for the rich blackland, and by the 1880s two prominent men — Dr. Josiah S. Bailey and Dr. A. J. Ray — each…
You're driving through Fannin County, near Leonard. Look to your right for the marker honoring Joseph F. Fenner. Fenner was a veteran of the Texas War for Independence, serving in Shackelford's Company under Colonel…
Ruby Allmond, singer, songwriter, and country fiddler named "National Champion Lady Fiddler," was born on a farm near Bailey, Texas, in southeastern Fannin County on May 2, 1923. She was the youngest child of Arthur M.…
You're driving through Bailey, Texas, a town that owes its name to a bit of a rivalry! Back in the late 1800s, two prominent landowners, Doctors Josiah Bailey and A. J. Ray, both wanted the new railroad stop named after…
You're driving past the site of Ashley Lodge No. 681, chartered in 1889 as the seventh Masonic lodge in Fannin County. The lodge shared its first meeting hall with the Baptist church, later bought its own building, and…
You're driving past the site of the First Baptist Church of Bailey. It began in 1888 as Corinth Baptist Church with twelve charter members, meeting in a schoolhouse. By 1890, the congregation moved to Bailey and changed…
In 1919 a tornado tore straight through Blue Ridge, and for a town of only about six hundred people, the toll was devastating: seven killed and a fortune in property destroyed. It was the kind of event that marks a…
Despite the name, the real story of the ground under Blue Ridge is not the ridge, it is the clay. The town sits on the Blackland Prairie, whose signature soil is a deep, dark clay so fertile it made this belt the…
Blue Ridge has one of the prettier name stories in Collin County. The town was established in 1876 on a low rise of land where a blue-flowering grass grew thick across the surrounding hills. From a distance, that grass…
A familiar Hollywood face got his start in tiny Blue Ridge. Griff Barnett was born here in 1884 and grew up to become one of those character actors whose name you may not know but whose face you have seen, appearing in…
When you roll through Blue Ridge, the place to stop is right on the old town square: Cattleman's Cafe. It is exactly the kind of independent small-town spot the chains never quite kill off, serving up ribeyes,…
You're driving past a piece of Texas history, folks! This road, Colony Line Road, was a vital artery in the mid-1800s. It followed the northern boundary of the vast Charles F. Mercer colony, a massive 6,500-square-mile…
The Deputy Rahamy Mitchell Memorial Highway is on State Highway Eleven. Rahamy Mitchell joined the Fannin County Sheriff's Office as a reserve deputy in two thousand one. He became a licensed corrections officer in two…
You're driving past the site of the Center Point Christian Church, organized in 1879. Founded by formerly enslaved African Americans escaping Reconstruction violence, early leaders like Charlie C. Haley and Elder Andrew…
You're driving past where Burleson College once stood, a testament to the late 19th-century trend of denominations establishing schools. Founded in 1895 by the Hunt County Baptist Association, it served thousands of…
You're driving past the site of Portland, a farming community that almost faded into ghost town history. Jesse Green London, a Confederate veteran, settled here with his family in 1873. By the late 1800s, Portland had a…
You're driving past the Indian Creek Baptist Church and Cemetery in Fannin County. The oldest readable stone here dates back to 1870, predating the church itself by four years. Services actually started in a schoolhouse…
You're driving past the former home of William R. J. Camp, a respected Greenville banker. He and his wife, Dora, built this impressive two-story brick house back in 1914. Take a look at those giant Ionic columns…
You're driving past the Bourland-Stevens-Samuell House in Greenville. This grand southern colonial structure has roots going back to 1854, when Colonel James Bourland deeded this land to his daughter, Virginia. She…
You're driving past the site of the Greenville Herald, the oldest business institution in Hunt County! It was established way back in April of 1869 by J. C. Bayne. The paper really picked up steam when E. W. Harris took…
You're driving past the site of Greenville's oldest organized congregation, Wesley United Methodist Church. Methodists were gathering here as early as 1848, served by traveling preachers. By 1850, thirteen charter…
You're driving past the old Greenville Post Office, a building with a story that goes way beyond mail delivery. Built in 1910 and later enlarged, this Neo-classic structure was a hub for the city. But on June 20, 1942,…
You're driving through Greenville, and right here is where Hunt County got its first taste of the railroad age. <break time="400ms"/> It was the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railway, or the Katy, that laid the first tracks.…
You're driving past the Germany House in Greenville, a place that's been home to the same family for over a century. Built in 1886 for Joseph P. Germany, a local merchant and civic leader, this house stands out with its…
On April 9, 1919, Blue Ridge, Texas, experienced a devastating F4 tornado during a tornado outbreak. The violent storm struck the city at night, cutting a 30-mile path through Collin and Fannin counties. The tornado…
You're driving past Central Christian Church, a landmark right here in Greenville. Organized way back in 1879 as the First Christian Church, it started meeting in a simple Union Church building. By 1898, they were ready…
You're driving through Greenville, the county seat of Hunt County. Since 1846, this town has been the center of county government, but the courthouses themselves have had a wild ride! The very first court sessions were…
Greenville, Texas, has a rich history that dates back to its founding in 1846. Named after Thomas J. Green, a key figure in the establishment of the Texas Republic, the city has seen its fair share of pivotal moments.…
You're driving past Greenville, and right here, you're passing a piece of Texas history! In 1891, this town flipped the switch on the very first municipally owned electric plant in the entire state. Imagine that! It…
You're driving past the site of Greenville's First Baptist Church, a congregation that got its start way back in September of 1858. Nineteen charter members gathered in the local Masonic Hall to form this community,…
You're driving through Greenville right now, and that grand building you see is the 1929 Hunt County Courthouse. It was the seventh courthouse for the county, designed by local architects W. R. Ragsdale & Sons, with…
You're driving past the site of a Texas legend: the Greenville Cotton Compress. In its day, this was the biggest inland cotton press in the world! On September 30, 1912, workers here set an incredible record, pressing…
You're driving through Greenville, a town that got its start in 1846, named for a Texas hero. This spot was chosen by McQuinney Wright, and the townsite was platted that same year. Greenville officially incorporated in…
You're driving past the site of Greenville's historic Phillips Field, later Majors Stadium. It all started in 1929 when Eula Lasater Phillips donated money to build an athletic field in her late husband's memory. The…
You're driving through Greenville, the town where Mary Jim Morris dedicated her life to education. Born in Georgia in 1876, she earned her teaching certificate here in 1899 and taught for 45 years, first at North School…
You're driving through what used to be Blue Ridge, Texas, a place that really boomed back in the day. Though settled in the late 1880s, it wasn't until 1919 that oil was discovered nearby. That discovery kicked off a…
You're driving through northeastern Collin County, near the intersection of State Highway 78 and Farm Road 981. Right here, in 1919, the town of Blue Ridge faced a devastating tornado. On October 8th of that year, the…
You're driving past the spot where Lallie P. Briscoe made Texas history. Back in 1902, when women couldn't even vote in Texas, she was appointed to finish her late husband's term as clerk of Hunt County. The…
You're cruising through Greenville, and right here is where Benjamin D. Martin called home. Born in Virginia, he arrived in Hunt County in the 1850s and quickly made his mark. During the Civil War, he organized the…
You're driving through Blue Ridge, Texas, where George Washington Smith made his home. Born in Tennessee, he arrived in Texas in 1834 and immediately joined the fight for independence. He fought in the Texas War for…
You're driving past Kavanaugh Methodist Church in Greenville. It started as a simple Methodist Mission Sunday School way back in 1892. Four years later, in 1896, it officially chartered and was named for Bishop H. H.…
You're driving through what used to be Frognot, a community east of Blue Ridge. The name itself has a few wild theories, most involving the local frogs! One story says the schoolmaster banned frogs, leading to the name.…
You're driving through Blue Ridge, a town named not for a river, but for the hazy blue glow of flowering grass on its hills. Pioneers started settling this area way back in the 1830s, drawn by the fertile land. Early…
You're driving past the site of Blue Ridge Methodist Church. It began in 1880 as a Methodist Protestant Church on land donated by the Rev. W. L. Fagg. The building was moved here in 1913 and survived a devastating…
You're driving past the site of the old Douglass School, established in the early 1900s as the East Colored School. It was one of three schools for Black students during segregation, teaching grades one through eight.…
You're driving through Greenville, and right here is the story of a financial institution that helped shape this town. The Greenville Building and Loan Association was chartered way back on December 17, 1886. It was…
You're driving past the first two-story brick house ever built in Greenville. Look for that Victorian style, constructed between 1885 and 1887 by the pioneering Will N. Harrisons. The bricks themselves were made right…
You're driving through Fannin County, near Ladonia, and you're passing the site of the Rehobeth Cemetery Chapel. This spot has been the heart of this community since 1840. It started as a place for camp meetings,…
The very ground beneath you in Trenton is part of a massive science and engineering story. You're on the Blackland Prairie, named for its dark, clay-rich soil. This soil, a type called Vertisol, is what made this area a…
Settlers from Tennessee arrived in what is now Trenton in 1852, and the area was then known as 'Wild Cat Thicket'. The town was platted by Dr. W. C. Holmes, a pioneer physician and editor of Trenton Tribune, who is…
Before it was Trenton, this place had a much more evocative name: Wild Cat Thicket. Try to imagine it as you drive. Before the neat grid of streets and the railroad, this was a hard, tangled piece of prairie — a dense…
You're driving past Grounds Cemetery, established way back in 1875. It was recognized as a Historic Texas Cemetery in 2005.
You're driving through Neylandville, a community with roots stretching back to the 1850s. After emancipation, former slaves like James Brigham settled here, building churches and a school. That school, St. Paul School,…
You're driving past Burns Cemetery, a final resting place for some of Fannin County's earliest settlers. Land for this cemetery was donated in 1876 by William Boyd Burns, a pioneer who also gave land for a church that…
You're driving past the Farmersville I.O.O.F. Cemetery, established in 1899 by the local chapter of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. The earliest marked grave here belongs to Mattie Robinson Hicks, who died in…
You're driving through North Texas, not far from Trenton, the birthplace of golfer Lloyd Mangrum. Born in 1914, Mangrum learned the game caddying in Dallas before turning pro. He became one of golf's greats in the…
You're driving past the site of the First Methodist Church of Farmersville. This congregation started way back in 1856 with informal classes held in a local schoolhouse. Things really picked up in 1870 after a big…
You're cruising through Greenville, and right here, you're passing the birthplace of a local library movement that started with a book club! Back in 1897, the Women's Review Club began with members donating their own…
You're driving past the Honaker-Holsonbake House, a landmark that tells the story of early Farmersville society. Businessman John Honaker built a home here in 1893, but he really transformed it in 1910, remodeling it…
You're driving through Trenton, and right here is the site of the First National Bank, founded way back in 1901. This wasn't just a place for money; it was the town's original social media feed! Old-timers would gather…
You're driving past Trenton. The earliest Anglo settlers in this area, drawn to the fertile farmlands, probably came to the locality known as Wildcat Thicket in the mid-1800s. By the 1870s a community had begun to form,…
You're driving through Trenton, Texas, a community that started life as 'Wild Cat Thicket.' Imagine that! Back in 1852, settlers arrived from Tennessee to find an area so full of wildlife, it earned that wild name. It…
You're driving through Fannin County, and just ahead is the area where James Fowler Biggers settled in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1869</say-as>. A native of South Carolina who grew up in Mississippi, Biggers…
You're driving past Trenton, where the First Methodist Church began in 1887. Members organized the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, at the Union Church. The first sanctuary was built in 1896, and the congregation grew…
You're driving past the site of Trenton's First Baptist Church. Baptists here first gathered in 1877 in a schoolhouse, organizing as Smyrna Baptist Church of Christ. They built their first sanctuary in 1897, which…
At 108 College Street stands one of the oldest homes in Farmersville, and the story of who built it is better than the architecture. Anna Melissa Hicks Bain, a widow, had this house raised in 1865 on a parcel of land…
You're driving past the Bain-Honaker House, a home that was also a hub of community life. Built in 1865 by Anna Melissa Hicks Bain, a widow and astute businesswoman, this house wasn't just a place to raise her five…
You're driving past the site of Grace Presbyterian Church in Greenville, a congregation that began way back in 1863. Organized as the Cumberland Presbyterian Church by the Rev. John Nicholson, it holds the distinction…
You're driving through Greenville, and right here is the Ende-Gaillard House. Built between 1857 and 1859, this home was constructed by Charles Frederick von Ende, a German immigrant who became a major civic leader…
You're driving past the Farmersville Masonic Lodge, a Romanesque Revival building constructed back in 1888 and 1889. This structure housed a mercantile on the first floor and a fraternal hall above. It's one of the…
As you drive along Lee Street, you're on the same path where for nearly 40 years, a sign greeted visitors with a chilling message: 'The Blackest Land, The Whitest People.' It was a slogan with a dark double meaning. On…
Audie Murphy was born in a sharecropper's cabin near Kingston over in Hunt County, not here, and Farmersville is careful about that. But this is the town he claimed. His maternal grandparents lived in Farmersville, and…
In 1942, a skinny, baby-faced teenager from nearby Kingston walked into the U.S. Army recruiting office in Greenville. His name was Audie Murphy. He was only 17 and had been turned down by the Marines and paratroopers…
Greenville is home to one of the most sophisticated aviation engineering operations in the world, centered around the company L3Harris. Here, at their massive facility next to Majors Airport, engineers don't build…
You're driving through Farmersville, where on June 15th, 1945, thousands gathered to welcome home their most famous son, Audie Murphy. This decorated World War II hero, who earned every Army citation for valor, was…
The smell of this town used to carry for miles. After the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railway pushed through Collin County in 1886 and 1887, Farmersville had what every farm town needed: a way to get a perishable crop…
One of the most admired jazz guitarists of the 20th century grew up on a farm just outside this town. Mitchell Herbert Ellis, known to the world as Herb Ellis, was born in Farmersville on August 4, 1921. As a small boy…
The airport on the edge of Greenville has a story that explains the town's modern identity. Majors Field opened on June 26th, 1942, an Army Air Forces training field named for Lieutenant Truett Majors, the first Hunt…
Most Texas towns are named for a founder, a railroad customer, or a faraway hometown. The one you're driving into was named for what its people did all day. Settlers arrived in this corner of eastern Collin County…
Before Farmersville existed, there was Sugar Hill, two miles northeast of here, and behind Sugar Hill was John Yeary. Born in Virginia in 1796, Yeary was an old soldier and frontier Indian fighter who had ridden on an…
Farmersville turned out a world-champion cowboy. Monty Henson, nicknamed Hawkeye, was born here on October 22, 1953, and grew up alongside a childhood friend named Don Gay who would become a world-champion bull rider in…
The handsome brick and stone storefronts around Farmersville's square are not an accident of good taste. They are a reaction to disaster. In 1886, fire tore through the heart of downtown and destroyed much of the…
Walk into the Farmersville post office at 213 McKinney Street, look above the postmaster's door, and you'll find a piece of Depression-era American art most towns this size never got. In 1941 the painter Jerry Bywaters,…
If you could go back to Greenville in 1910, the sound, the sight and the smell of this city would be all about cotton. This wasn't just a farming town; it was an industrial operation, and the machine at the center of it…
Greenville, the county seat and most populous city in Hunt County, was founded in 1846 and named after Thomas J. Green, a key figure in the establishment of the Texas Republic. Green's contributions to the founding of…
An onion shed looks like a plain barn by the tracks, but a lot of food science happened inside one. A sweet onion like Farmersville's East Collin Sweet is mild and delicious precisely because it is low in the sulfur…
You're driving through Farmersville, and right here is the site of the First Baptist Church's beginning. Fifteen charter members gathered under a brush arbor on May 14, 1865, to organize the church, choosing Reverend…
Charles "Tex" Watson (born December 2, 1945) grew up in Farmersville, Texas, in Collin County, where he was an honor student, football captain, and newspaper editor at Farmersville High School before attending the…
You're driving through Hunt County, Texas, the birthplace of Wilds Preston Richardson. He was a West Point graduate and a decorated Army officer who spent twenty years in Alaska. His most significant achievement?…
You're driving through East Texas, and right alongside you flows the Sabine River. This waterway gets its name from the Spanish word for cypress, 'sabinas,' because of the massive cypress trees that once lined its…
You're driving through Collin County, not far from Farmersville. Right here, John Yeary was building a new life after serving in the U.S. Army. In 1841, his home near Ladonia was attacked by Native Americans, and his…
You're driving through East Texas, maybe near Henderson or Anderson County, and you might be passing near the story of John Honeycutt's ill-fated expedition. In 1865, at the tail end of the Civil War, Honeycutt led a…
Charles A. Warfield, fur trapper and officer in the Republic of Texas army, was the son of a New Orleans merchant. Little is known of his early life, but by 1832 or 1833 he was fur trapping in the Rocky Mountains. He…
You're driving through Farmersville, a town named for its people's main occupation. Back in 1885, a private bank called the Exchange Bank opened its doors. Just two years later, in 1887, it got a national charter and…
You're driving through Hunt County, a place that started as a frontier outpost in 1839. When the first Anglo settlers arrived, they found small bands of Kiowa Indians, who soon moved on. The county was officially formed…
You're driving through Hunt County, named for a man who gave his fortune to the cause of Texas. Memucan Hunt arrived in 1836, just after San Jacinto, and immediately put his talents to work for the young republic. He…
You're driving through Hunt County, Texas, a place that saw some real Civil War drama. James G. Stevens, a local county judge and Confederate officer, found himself in a tough spot. In late 1862, he led his regiment at…
You're driving through Hunt County, and right here is where the Texas Midland Railroad Company got its start, chartered back in 1892 to connect Garrett with Greenville. It was actually born from an earlier, failed…
You're driving through North Texas, and right here, you're passing through the territory where Mary Frances McClure Burleson built an empire. Starting as a part-time secretary in 1958 for Ebby Halliday Realtors, she…
You're driving through Farmersville, a town literally named for its people's main job. Settlers arrived around 1849, establishing a community for the farmers who were quickly filling up this part of Collin County. It…
Kingston is on U.S. Highway 69 and Farm roads 3427 and 903, Hickory Creek, and the Missouri, Kansas, and Texas Railroad, ten miles northwest of Greenville in northwestern Hunt County. The Cowleach Fork of the Sabine…
You're driving through Hunt County, heading north of Greenville. Right here is White Rock, a community that got its name from the very ground beneath your tires. Back in 1868, settlers established a post office and…
You're driving through Greenville, and right here is the site of Wesley College. Founded in 1905 by the Methodist Church as the North Texas University Training School, it was coeducational from the start. By 1909, it…
You're driving through Greenville, and right here is the site of the Wesley College Administration Building. This school, run by the Methodist Church, actually started in Terrell in 1905. It moved to this spot in 1912,…
Floyd is on U.S. Highway 380 eight miles west of Greenville in west central Hunt County. The settlement that became Floyd was established in 1882, when the East Line and Red River Railroad extended its tracks westward…
Scatter Branch is a small rural community off Farm Road 2874 about eleven miles northeast of Greenville and four miles west of Commerce in northeastern Hunt County. Settlement began in this area between the South…
The most decorated American soldier of World War II considered Farmersville his hometown. Audie Murphy was born in a nearby county, but his family moved around the area, and he spent formative time here. When the…
When you think of Farmersville, you have to think of Audie Murphy. Though born in a neighboring county, the most decorated American soldier of World War II always called this place home. His family were sharecroppers,…
In the early 20th century, Farmersville had a distinct aroma—the smell of money, and it smelled like onions. While cotton was a staple, it was the humble Bermuda onion that gave the town its unique claim to fame as the…
The reason Farmersville boomed wasn't just the railroad; it was the specific geometry of a railroad junction. First came the narrow-gauge East Line and Red River, bought by the Missouri, Kansas and Texas — the Katy —…
You're driving through North Texas, maybe near Greenville, where a true gospel music pioneer was born. Arizona Juanita Dranes, known as "Blind Arizona," lost her sight as a child but gained a powerful musical vision.…
You're driving through Hunt County, Texas, and right here is where a wealthy lawyer and state senator named Martin D. Hart made his final stand. Hart was a Unionist, and when Texas voted to secede in 1861, he publicly…
You're driving through Hunt County, passing the site of Cherry Hill, home of Thomas N. Waul. A South Carolinian by birth, Waul became a Texas lawyer and plantation owner. He served in the first Confederate Congress and…
You're driving through Hunt County, and right here in Greenville, Franklin Pierce Alexander was making waves. He wasn't just a newspaper editor; he was a state legislator who took on the powerful railroads. In the late…
You're driving through Hunt County, the birthplace of John Boles, a true Texas star of stage and screen. Born in Greenville in 1895, Boles defied his parents' wishes for him to become a doctor, pursuing instead a career…
You're driving through North Texas, and right here, in places like Greenville, a transportation revolution was taking root. Back in 1923, Joseph Wylie Bowman and his partner were among the very first to bring buses to…
You're driving through Northeast Texas, and right here is a story of resilience. Andrew Jackson Hurdle was born into slavery in North Carolina in 1847. Sold away from his family, he escaped during the Civil War,…
You're driving through Hunt County, near Greenville. Right here, Majors Field was a crucial flight-training center for the U.S. Army Air Forces during World War II. Opened in June of 1942, it was named for Lt. Truett…
You're driving through North Texas, maybe not too far from where Solon D. Neal earned the Medal of Honor. It was July 1870, and Neal was a private with the Sixth Cavalry near the Little Wichita River. After days of…
You're driving through Greenville, Texas, a town that became a commercial hub partly thanks to the railroad. But back in 1908, this city was the scene of a horrific act of violence. A Black man, accused of raping a…
You're driving through Greenville, Texas, the site of Burleson College. It was founded in 1895, named after Rufus C. Burleson, and took over the faculty and students from the already-closed Greenville College. The…
You're driving through North Texas, and right here is Greenville, the birthplace of Ed Hagan. Born in 1919, Hagan was a musical chameleon. He started on saxophone, hated it, and found his calling in percussion. By his…
You're driving through Greenville, Texas, the birthplace of Edward Mangum. <break time="400ms"/> Born in 1913, Mangum wasn't just a drama professor; he was a pioneer. <break time="400ms"/> He helped cofound Washington…
You're driving through North Texas, not far from where William J. McClanahan was born in Greenville back in 1907. After serving in World War II, McClanahan found his true calling as a cartoonist for The Dallas Morning…
You're driving through Harris County, and right here, you're passing through the territory of R.E. 'Bob' Smith, a Houston oilman who started as a roughneck and ended up one of the biggest landowners in Texas. Smith…
You're driving past Farmers Electric Cooperative. In 1936, President Franklin Roosevelt created the Rural Electrification Administration (REA) to fund the expansion of electricity to rural America. With federal funding,…
You're driving through Greenville, the county seat of Hunt County. Right here, the story of local news unfolded. It all began in 1869 with the Greenville Herald, the oldest business in the county. It even survived a…
You're driving through Hunt County, near Greenville, where Horace B. Simonds made his mark. Originally from New York, he came to Texas sometime after 1854, settling southwest of Greenville. He wasn't just a farmer; he…
You're driving through Hunt County, where Wesley Clark Walker made his mark. Born in Alabama in 1822, Walker came to Texas around 1849, settling near Greenville. He became a prominent citizen, helping found the…
If all that talk of onions has you hungry, Charlie's Old Fashioned Kitchen at 201 South Hamilton Street is the place to settle it, a short walk off Farmersville's historic square. It's a no-frills, scratch-made Southern…
You're driving through Scatter Branch, Texas, and you might just pass right by a unique piece of local history. <break time="400ms"/> Look around, because this community's Methodist and Baptist congregations have been…
You're driving past the site of a long-running Texas tradition: the Fourth-Sunday Singing. It started around 1885 or 1890, right near here. A traveling music teacher from Arkansas held a 20-day singing school, and it…
You're driving through what used to be the town of Clinton. Local legend says this cemetery started when an unknown cowboy was buried here with permission from landowner James Massay, who then set aside this spot for…
You're driving past Farmersville, a town born on a dusty road back in 1849. It was named for the pioneers' main hustle: farming. By the 1850s, folks started moving in, including Collin County's very first doctor, H.M.…
You're driving through Greenville, where the First Presbyterian Church was organized way back in 1880. For over a century, this congregation has been a spiritual center, meeting in various places like the courthouse and…
You're driving past Huson Cemetery near Farmersville. This place holds the final resting spot for a whole lot of Collin County history. It started with Allen Daniel, who arrived from Tennessee in 1847. He bought land…
In Greenville, Interstate Thirty is the Martin Luther King, Jr., Freeway. The City of Greenville asked for the name, backed by a city council resolution, and the Texas Legislature approved it in two thousand nine. In…
You're driving through Gober, Fannin County. This marker tells the story of the Gober Baptist Church, organized in 1889. Early services were held in a schoolhouse or brush arbor before their first sanctuary was built in…
Farm to Market Road Sixty Eight in Fannin County is Speaker Jimmy Turman Road. The Legislature voted for it unanimously in two thousand five, honoring the son of a farm tenant family who rose to speaker of the Texas…
The John L. Horn Memorial Parkway follows Farm to Market Road Fifteen Seventy between State Highway Thirty Four and State Highway Sixty Six, then Spur Fifteen Seventy on to U S Highway Three Eighty, all in Hunt County.…
You're driving past Gober Garage. Vernon C. Shive and John N. Glover operated a garage in Gober as early as 1933. After Shive died in 1944, John and Ruth Glover acquired a full share in the Gober Garage.
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