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Chilton, Texas

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Rivers & Roads in Song near Chilton

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

Brazos River 43 songs Interstate 35 45 songs

History of Chilton

The Town Named for Davy Crockett's Ghostwriter's Son RoadyGoat

1828

The town of Chilton is named for a storekeeper, but the storekeeper's father helped write one of the most famous books about the American frontier. Lysias B. Chilton opened a store near here in eighteen seventy-six, and the post office took his name in eighteen eighty-two. His father was Thomas Chilton, a Baptist preacher who served in Congress from Kentucky. In Washington, Thomas Chilton shared a room at a boarding house with a congressman from Tennessee named David Crockett. The two became close friends. In eighteen thirty-four a Philadelphia publisher released the Narrative of the Life of David Crockett. Plenty of readers suspected Crockett had help. He did. Crockett supplied the story, but the manuscript was in Chilton's handwriting, and Crockett quietly signed over half of his share of the profits to him. The two kept it secret. It took about a century for a Crockett biographer to find the letters that proved it. Thomas Chilton later moved his family to Texas to preach in Houston, and one of his grandsons, Horace Chilton, became a United States senator from Texas.

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Mistaken for a Bear RoadyGoat

Chilton's first settlers came from Missouri. Five families arrived in eighteen fifty four, onto prairie and creek bottoms where, by one old newspaper account, deer, wolves and even bears still roamed. An early settler, Newton Maxey, ran a wagon line all the way to Galveston just to haul in supplies. And in that very first year, things went badly wrong. A settler named John Wethers was shot by another settler, who thought he was a bear. The record doesn't say whether Wethers survived. It does say what became of the man who fired. He lost his mind, and he was sent back home to Missouri.

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They Drilled for Oil and Hit Hot Water RoadyGoat

In April nineteen twenty two, Falls County's first oil well came in on Deer Creek, southeast of Chilton. In nineteen twenty four, during another search for oil around Chilton, the drill brought up something else: hot water. The crew had tapped hot artesian wells. Chilton put it to use. The hot water was piped throughout the town. It was not the first time Falls County had been surprised this way. Twelve miles east, back in eighteen ninety two, Marlin had gone looking for an ordinary artesian well and hit hot mineral water. Marlin built bathhouses, a hotel and a flowing hot water fountain, and sold itself as a place to get well. In Chilton, the hot water from an oil hunt simply went into the town's pipes.

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Chilton, TX

1876

Chilton is on State Highway 7 a mile east of U.S. Highway 77, twelve miles west of Marlin, and twenty-one miles south of Waco in northwestern Falls County. The first settlers in the Chilton area were five Missouri families who arrived in 1854. Newton B. Maxey, one of the early settlers, established a wagon line to Galveston to bring in supplies. In the first year of settlement John Wethers was mistakenly shot by another settler, who thought he was a bear. The man who shot him lost his mind and was sent back to Missouri. In 1873 the site was bought by James C. Gaither. The town was originally called Abney's Farm. In 1876 Lysias B. Chilton, in partnership with W. J. de Bardeleben, opened a store near the present site of Chilton. The post office opened in 1882 and was named after Chilton. When the San Antonio and Aransas Pass Railway built through the county in 1888, the town was moved closer to the tracks and officially designated Chilton by the Texas Townsite Company. Chilton then became one of several railroad stations in Falls County and served as a shipping center. In 1884 it had a population of 100, a steam flour mill, a cotton gin, a Baptist church, a First Christian church, and a district school. By 1896 the Chilton school had three teachers. Population estimates for the early twentieth century vary widely, from 230 to 750 for the same period. They also fluctuate markedly afterward. By 1914 Chilton had a bank, three churches, a large lumberyard, two cotton gins, a new schoolhouse, a telephone system, and a weekly newspaper, the Chilton Homeland . The first oil well in the county was brought in on Deer Creek southeast of Chilton in April 1922. During an attempt to find oil in 1924, hot artesian wells were discovered, and the water was piped throughout the town. In 1935 the Chilton school district had 585 students, 8 percent of the students in Falls County. By the mid-1950s, when the Chilton district was one of only four independent school districts in the county, the town's population reached 750. It stayed at that level until the mid-1970s, when the number of residents dropped to 310, which was still the reported population in 1990. In 2000 the population was 274. In the 1930s the town had twenty-five businesses, but by 1966 the number had dropped to eleven. In 1988 Chilton had ten businesses, six churches, one school, a town hall, and a recreation center. In 2000, however, the town had thirty-five businesses.

Tsha Handbook →

Powell-Tull Cemetery

1889

John Powell (1826-1889) was the first to be interred here in 1889. It was this event that caused the Powell family to set aside this land as a burial ground that was to serve them, as well as the Bolton, Busby, Greer, McRae, Sims, Suggs, Sylvester, Taylor and Tull families. One of the Tulls, Thomas Marion (1836-1921), was a Confederate veteran who, with his wife, Amy Caple (1835-1919), came here from Arkansas, where he had served in the state legislature and as a justice of the peace. The lives of these Falls County pioneers are remembered by descendants who continue to care for this site that chronicles their families' heritage. Historic Texas Cemetery - 2001

Historical Marker →

Sank Majors Lynching

1905

Between 1890 and 1930 accusations of criminal behavior by African American Texans triggered mobs of Anglo Texans to bypass the legal system and advocate vigilantism. Alleging that lenient officials and slow-moving hearings justified lynchings , White communities largely accepted the brutal practice. Black-on-White crimes (and perceived Black-on-White crimes), particularly rapes and murders, prompted hysteria in many White communities, and frenzied acts of retaliation resulted in barbaric consequences. Sank Majors (alias Tommie Sank Cheatham), a twenty-year-old Black man, lived with his mother and siblings near the small town of Golinda, Texas, south of Waco in southern McLennan County. His neighbors included the families of Nathan A. C. Mackie and William C. Robert. Sank's mother worked for the Mackie family. In April 1905 Mackie's sixteen-year-old daughter, Clintonia Beatrice ("Clintie"), married William Robert's nineteen-year-old son, William Benjamin ("Bennie"). Although Sank Majors and Bennie Robert likely knew each other since childhood, their relationship proved volatile during the early months of Bennie's marriage to Clintie. In fact, Bennie instructed Sank to never trespass on the newlyweds' property. On July 11, 1905, Bennie left for the day, and Clintie tended to her daily chores. During such time, she witnessed Sank walk across their yard. Moments later, as the young woman read the newspaper, she became the victim of a surprise assault and stabbing. The violent attack left her badly beaten, bloodied, and unconscious. Crowds of people gathered. They were mounted on horses and eager for vengeance. The search for Sank Majors stretched up and down the Brazos River from Waco to Marlin. Confusion and hysteria caused disorder as the posse rounded up several Black men; they did not find Sank. One man said, "If Sank Majors is caught no jail can keep him safe from our hands." Some days later, Governor Samuel W. T. Lanham passed through Waco and offered a reward for the lawful return of the accused. The governor intended for Sank to receive a fair trial as he clearly stated his intolerance of lynchings. For some ten days, the search for Majors in the Waco area proved unsuccessful. Meanwhile, a family member (his half-brother according to the Dallas Morning News ) notified officials of the fugitive's whereabouts. Sheriffs John J. Sanders of Caldwell County and Will T. Jackman of Hays County finally apprehended Sank at the home of his brother, Polk Majors, near Lockhart. The surprise capture frightened Sank as he begged for protection from mob violence and asserted his innocence. He was taken to the Travis County jail in Austin. After a Waco grand jury returned an indictment charging Sank with criminal assault, law enforcement officers brought Majors to Waco, and the case was set for trial. According to newspaper reports, Golinda's citizens made assurances that there would be "no attempt at mob violence." In Judge Marshall Surratt's court, George W. Barcus defended Majors; district attorney Oliver H. Cross, assisted by Pat M. Neff , represented the state. Majors pleaded not guilty, but a previous confession he had made to McLennan County Sheriff George W. Tilley was admitted as evidence and corresponded with details given by the victim, who, though she never saw the assailant's face, identified a scar on his hand. On August 2, the jury returned a guilty verdict and assessed the punishment at death. However, due to a technicality, the court, on August 5, granted Sank a new trial that was scheduled for August 9. The judge had failed to instruct the jury correctly and worried that a conviction would be overturned on appeal. This new trial caused outrage, and in the early morning hours of August 8, 1905, scores of citizens stormed the Waco jail. They made prisoners of Sheriff George W. Tilley and his men. With sledge hammers, the mob battered five steel doors and eventually reached Majors. One man said, "We came to kill Sank Majors,

Tsha Handbook → · 5.7 mi away

McLennan's Bluff

1835

McLennan's Bluff, a steep bank on the northwest shore of Rosebud Lake a mile west of Rosebud near Pond Creek in southwest Falls County (at 31°04' N, 97°00' W), is on land of the original league granted to Neil McLennan by Coahuila and Texas on July 28, 1835. The bluff, on which McLennan's home was located, is 400 feet above the surface of the lake. In 1835 three McLennan brothers, who had immigrated from Scotland to North Carolina and later resided in Florida, brought their families to Texas to join Sterling Clack Robertson 's colony, sailing up the Brazos River from its mouth and eventually stopping at Sugar Loaf on Pond Creek, later called McLennan's Bluff. After receiving grants on Pond Creek and building houses on the bluff that also overlooked rolling prairie land, the families were threatened by Indians, who had posed few problems for settlers in the area during the early 1830s, but who were beginning to increase their attacks on White settlers. In the spring of 1836 Indians raided the Laughlin McLennan household, killing Laughlin, his wife, and his crippled mother, whose head they split with an ax before casting her body into the house and setting everything on fire. Three children were taken into captivity, during which two of them died; the third one, a seven-year-old boy, was adopted by the Indians and the boy rejoined his relatives in 1846. In the spring of 1837 the Indians attacked Neil McLennan, his son John, and his young slave. Neil and his son escaped, but the slave was taken prisoner; however, through the mediation of friendly Indians and by his own efforts, he was released and returned to his master. After living at the site for ten years, the McLennans abandoned their home, and Neil McLennan eventually exchanged his land on Pond Creek for claims on the Bosque River near Waco.

Tsha Handbook → · 7.8 mi away

Bull Hill Cemetery

1837

This graveyard, one of the oldest in Falls County, was used for the interment of African Americans for more than a century. James Coryell, an Anglo frontiersman killed in 1837, may be on of the earliest burials. Bull Hill became the burial ground for the enslaved African Americans from the Churchill Jones plantation. Jones arrived in 1849 from Conecuh County, Alabama with nearly 60 enslaved African Americans and established a 28,000 acre plantation encompassing the former Sarahville de Viesca settlement. After emancipation, African American freedmen from the China Grove community continued to use Bull Hill to inter their deceased. The cemetery is one of the surviving vestiges of the China Grove community. About 1880, members of the Bailey, Broadus, Curry, Johnson, Mozee, Paul, Sneed, Stokes, Taylor, Tomlinson and Travis families formed this vibrant Freedman's community. Community members established the China Grove African Church, later renamed the China Grove Baptist Church, and built a school for their children. Many enslaved African Americans were brought to this area from Alabama by the Jones, Tomlinson and Stallworth families. Newly freed African Americans often remained in the area working as tenant farmers. Several families acquired land and some started businesses. The last burial in Bull Hill was in 1961. Recent archaeological, archival and oral historical research has helped reconstruct and preserve its history. Archaeology has confirmed oral history testimony stating there were more than 100 burials in Bull Hill. Grave marker materials include native stone, brick, concrete, marble, granite, metal and wood. Today, Bull Hill Cemetery remains a hallowed place and a vital link to the area's rich African American heritage. Historic Texas Cemetery - 2009

Historical Marker → · 7.5 mi away

Westbrook, Charles A., Plantation

1859

Charles Alexander Westbrook (1838-1895) came to Texas from Mississippi in 1859. He settled first at Washington-on-the-Brazos, where he married Mary Virginia Whitsitt. They eventually were the parents of thirteen children. After his service in the Confederate Army during the Civil War, Westbrook moved his family to McLennan County and established a large cotton plantation along Cow Bayou. He built a large family home here in the 1870s. Constructed of locally quarried stone, the three-story structure featured six fireplaces and square Doric columns. Although the house was significantly altered in the 20th Century, it is a reminder of the once-thriving Westbrook Cotton Plantation. The stage road from Waco to San Antonio traversed the Westbrook property, and the family often hosted travelers in their home. The plantation also included a number of outbuildings. Charles Westbrook served as County Commissioner from 1876 to 1878. One of the first schools in the area was established on his plantation. When the railroad was built through the area in 1881, the resulting town (1.5 mi. NW) was named for the Westbrooks' daughter, Lorena.

Historical Marker → · 8.3 mi away

Things to Do in Chilton

historical 10.0 mi away
When the New York Giants Called Marlin Home

From 1908 to 1918 manager John McGraw brought the New York Giants all the way down to tiny Marlin Texas for spring training. It was the first permanent spring…
historical 9.9 mi away
When 80000 Pilgrims Sought the Healing Waters

By the 1930s word had spread so far that 80000 visitors a year were pouring into Marlin to soak in the hot mineral springs. Bathhouses lined the downtown…
historical 10.0 mi away
The 147-Degree Gusher That Built a City

In 1892 the folks in Marlin drilled a well hoping for drinking water. What they got was a 75-foot geyser of scalding 147-degree sulfur water shooting out of…
historical 10.0 mi away
The Morgan Massacre of 1839

On New Years Day 1839 a band of Anadarko raiders descended on the Morgan cabin near present-day Marlin. Young Isaac Marlin arrived to find his mother and the…
historical 10.0 mi away
Conrad Hiltons Eighth Hotel and Its Secret Tunnel

In 1929 Conrad Hilton was still building his hotel empire one town at a time. He chose tiny Marlin for his eighth property — an eight-story tower with 110…
food 18.9 mi away
Magnolia Market at the Silos

Chip and Joanna Gaines' Fixer Upper empire. Shopping food trucks and shiplap everything.
quirky 9.9 mi away
The Vanishing Waterfalls That Named a County

Falls County got its name from a set of 10-foot waterfalls on the Brazos River — the only hard-bottom crossing within 200 miles. Native tribes had used them…
quirky 9.9 mi away
The Haunted Hilton That No One Checks Into

The 1929 Falls Hotel rises eight stories above downtown Marlin and every single room is empty. No guests have checked in for decades but visitors swear the…

Everything Near Chilton

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

  • The Town Named for Davy Crockett's Ghostwriter's Son

    The town of Chilton is named for a storekeeper, but the storekeeper's father helped write one of the most famous books about the American frontier. Lysias B. Chilton opened a store near here in eighteen seventy-six, and…

  • Mistaken for a Bear

    Chilton's first settlers came from Missouri. Five families arrived in eighteen fifty four, onto prairie and creek bottoms where, by one old newspaper account, deer, wolves and even bears still roamed. An early settler,…

  • They Drilled for Oil and Hit Hot Water

    In April nineteen twenty two, Falls County's first oil well came in on Deer Creek, southeast of Chilton. In nineteen twenty four, during another search for oil around Chilton, the drill brought up something else: hot…

  • Chilton, TX · Tsha Handbook

    Chilton is on State Highway 7 a mile east of U.S. Highway 77, twelve miles west of Marlin, and twenty-one miles south of Waco in northwestern Falls County. The first settlers in the Chilton area were five Missouri…

  • Thirty-Four Years Between Titles

    Chilton is a small town, but its Pirates have climbed to the top of Texas high school football twice, thirty-four years apart. The first state title came in nineteen seventy-two. Then came the long wait. In the fall of…

  • Nineteen Dollars and Half a Bushel of Peaches

    Over the Fourth of July weekend in nineteen thirty-one, somebody pulled off a safecracking in Chilton. The burglars pried open a window at the William Cameron and Company store and blew the safe open with a powder…

  • Uncle Billy's Revolutionary Rifle

    One of Chilton's early settlers arrived carrying a piece of the American Revolution. Billy Nelson, known around here as Uncle Billy, came from Blount County, Alabama, with a rifle his grandfather, also named Billy…

  • Chilton, TX · 0.5 mi

    Chilton is nestled in the western part of Falls County, Texas. The community is strategically positioned with U.S. Route 77 marking its western edge, offering a direct route 20 miles north to Waco or 16 miles south to…

  • Powell-Tull Cemetery · 1.9 mi · Historical Marker

    John Powell (1826-1889) was the first to be interred here in 1889. It was this event that caused the Powell family to set aside this land as a burial ground that was to serve them, as well as the Bolton, Busby, Greer,…

  • Site of North Prairie School · 3.8 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the former site of North Prairie School, a community born out of a petition back in 1896. Imagine this place buzzing with life! By 1910, a two-room schoolhouse was already teaching about twenty…

  • Cedar Grove Baptist Church · 4.6 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of Cedar Grove Baptist Church, a story of faith and resilience born right after emancipation. In 1865, newly freed African Americans gathered on Colonel Ruben Buhl's plantation to form their…

  • Mooreville Cemetery · 4.7 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Mooreville, Texas, a community founded by an Irishman named Robert Moore in the 1850s. He opened a general store right here, and soon other families joined him. By 1865, Confederate veteran Edward…

Show all 200 nearby places
  • Old Settlers and Veterans Association of Falls County · 5.0 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the grounds of the Old Settlers and Veterans Association in Lott. It started way back in 1908 as the Old Settlers Association of Falls County. A year later, they joined forces with a Confederate…

  • First Presbyterian Church of Lott · 5.5 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Lott, a town that sprang up with the railroad back in 1890. Just two years later, in 1892, this Presbyterian church was established. Their first sanctuary, built that same year, was wiped out by a…

  • Sacred Heart Catholic Church · 5.5 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of Lott's first Catholic church, Sacred Heart. Back in the early 1900s, a priest named Father Pfiffner would travel from Marlin once a month to hold Mass for just seven local German Catholic…

  • United Methodist Church of Lott · 5.6 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the United Methodist Church of Lott, a congregation that started way back in January of 1890. That’s the same year this town was officially incorporated! Early services were held in the Masonic…

  • Union Cemetery · 5.6 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Falls County, passing Union Cemetery. Donated by the Jackson family, this burial ground was named to serve all the surrounding communities. The first recorded burial here was little Mary Braswell…

  • Sank Majors Lynching · 5.7 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Between 1890 and 1930 accusations of criminal behavior by African American Texans triggered mobs of Anglo Texans to bypass the legal system and advocate vigilantism. Alleging that lenient officials and slow-moving…

  • The Town That Voted Out Its Police · 5.7 mi

    In two thousand twenty two, Lott voted its own police department out of existence. By then the department was a chief and one officer. A budget sheet put before the council said it brought in about twenty four thousand…

  • Lott, Uriah · 5.7 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Falls County, heading towards the town of Lott. You might wonder how this place got its name. It's named for Uriah Lott, a determined railroad promoter who dreamed of connecting South Texas. Lott…

  • Lott · 5.7 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Lott, Texas, a town that owes its very existence to the railroad. Back in 1889, the San Antonio and Arkansas Pass Railroad needed a stop between Cameron and Waco. The Texas Townsite Company bought…

  • Cedar Springs, TX (Falls County) · 5.7 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Falls County, and right here is the story of Cedar Springs, or as it was known for a bit, Viesca. It started as Mill Tract, named for the springs and cedar grove nearby. In 1879, a post office…

  • Kirkpatrick, Alice Glass · 5.7 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Central Texas, near Lott, the birthplace of Alice Glass Kirkpatrick. She wasn't just any Texan; she was a close confidante and political supporter of Lyndon B. Johnson. In 1937, Alice encouraged…

  • Shields, Benjamin Glover · 5.7 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Falls County, Texas, near the town of Lott, where Benjamin Glover Shields, a man who'd already served in Congress and as a diplomat, settled in 1851. Shields arrived with a strong conviction:…

  • Golinda, TX · 5.7 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Golinda, a community named after a priest, Ignacio Galindo, who received a land grant way back in 1833. Early settlers chose this spot on high ground, avoiding the malaria-prone Brazos River…

  • Lott, TX (Falls County) · 5.7 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Lott, Texas, a town born from the rails. In 1890, the San Antonio and Aransas Pass Railway pushed through this area, and with it, Lott was founded. It was named for Uriah Lott, the very president…

  • Rupee, TX · 5.7 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Falls County, not far from Lott. Right here, you might have passed through the community once known as Rupee. It started in the early 1870s as Live Oak, named for the trees where the first Baptist…

  • Cottonwood Baptist Church · 6.0 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of Cottonwood Baptist Church, a testament to faith and community for over a century. <break time="400ms"/> This congregation began in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1884</say-as>…

  • A City Divided · 6.5 mi

    Here's a fascinating fact about Golinda: it's a city with a split personality. The town is physically sliced in two by the border between McLennan County and Falls County. This isn't just a line on a map; it has…

  • Governing Golinda: The Engineering of a Two-County City · 6.5 mi

    Take a look at a map of Golinda and you will see a line slicing it in half. That is not just a political boundary, it is the border between McLennan and Falls Counties, and it makes running this little city a genuine…

  • The Shadow of the Broomstick Killer · 6.5 mi

    The quiet country roads around Lott hold a dark secret. This area is connected to the story of one of Texas's most infamous serial killers, Kenneth McDuff — and he wasn't a stranger passing through. He was raised in…

  • Golinda, TX · 6.5 mi

    Golinda, Texas, has a history marked by a tragic event. In 1905, Sank Majors, a Black man from Golinda, was lynched by a white mob in Waco. This dark chapter in the city's past is a stark reminder of the racial tensions…

  • Lott, TX · 6.5 mi

    Lott was founded in 1890 when the San Antonio and Aransas Pass Railway was built through the area. The city was named after Uriah Lott, the president of the railroad. A post office was established in the same year, with…

  • The Railroad's Calculated Design · 6.5 mi

    The town of Lott is a fascinating piece of 19th-century industrial engineering. When the San Antonio and Aransas Pass Railway decided to build here, it wasn't a random choice. It was a calculation. Their surveyors and…

  • Bull Hill Cemetery · 7.5 mi · Historical Marker

    This graveyard, one of the oldest in Falls County, was used for the interment of African Americans for more than a century. James Coryell, an Anglo frontiersman killed in 1837, may be on of the earliest burials. Bull…

  • McLennan's Bluff · 7.8 mi · Tsha Handbook

    McLennan's Bluff, a steep bank on the northwest shore of Rosebud Lake a mile west of Rosebud near Pond Creek in southwest Falls County (at 31&deg;04' N, 97&deg;00' W), is on land of the original league granted to Neil…

  • Westphalia, TX · 7.8 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Westphalia is dissected by State Highway 320 in southwestern Falls County. In the summer of 1879 several immigrants from the Westphalia province in Germany moved from Frelsburg, Texas, into the area. Early settlers…

  • Chandler, Eli · 7.8 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through what is now Falls County, and right here, back in 1839, was the site of 'Bryant's Defeat.' This was a fierce clash between Texas settlers, led by Captain Benjamin Franklin Bryant, and a band of…

  • Pool, Jonathan Cochran · 7.8 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Falls County, Texas, and right here is where Jonathan Cochran Pool made his home. Pool was a veteran of the Texas Revolution, fighting at the Siege of Bexar and taking part in the famous Grass…

  • Alto Springs, TX · 7.8 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Alto Springs is on Farm Road 2745 thirteen miles east of Marlin in eastern Falls County. The settlement began as a relay point for an early Central Texas stage route and a supply station for area settlers. Local…

  • Durango, TX · 7.8 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Durango is on Farm Road 935 fifteen miles southwest of Marlin in western Falls County. The site was settled under the name West Falls by members of Robertson's colony , and a post office called West Falls operated there…

  • Stranger, TX · 7.8 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Stranger, also known as Upper or North Blue Ridge, is north of State Highway 7 and ten miles east of Marlin in eastern Falls County. The area was settled in the late 1840s. The community was linked to the Blue Ridge…

  • Fort Milam · 7.8 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Falls County, near the modern town of Marlin. Right here, in 1834, stood Fort Viesca, built to protect settlers at Sarahville de Viesca. Just a year later, it was renamed Fort Milam, in honor of…

  • Eleven feet high, 150 feet square · 7.8 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Falls County, not far from the town that now bears the name Marlin. But back in 1839, this area was home to a different kind of fortification: Fort Milam, later renamed Fort Burleson. Built in…

  • Bucksnort, TX · 7.8 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Bucksnort, originally Jarrett Menefee's Supply Station, was located on a 320-acre prairie owned by Thomas J. Chambers in what is now east central Falls County. The settlement, about five miles northeast of the falls on…

  • Marlin, William N. P. · 7.8 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Falls County, and right here is the area where William N. P. Marlin settled, an early Texas pioneer. Back in 1835, he received land title near the falls of the Brazos River, not far from where the…

  • Reagan, William Reason · 7.8 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Falls County, and right here is the town of Reagan. It owes its existence to William Reagan, a lawyer who arrived in Texas in 1849. He settled in Falls County, taught school, and practiced law. In…

  • Ritter, Van Buren · 7.8 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Falls County, Texas, and right here in McClanahan, Van Buren Ritter served in the Texas Legislature. He was a Populist who introduced a bill in 1895 to amend school laws, allowing for the election…

  • Barclay, TX · 7.8 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Barclay, on State Highway 53 nineteen miles southwest of Marlin in southwestern Falls County, was named for William Anderson Barclay , a pioneer resident of Central Texas who, in partnership with his brother-in-law, W.…

  • Highbank, TX · 7.8 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Highbank, on Farm Road 413 ten miles south of Marlin and two miles east of the Brazos River in southern Falls County, formed as a farming community in the 1880s. It was presumably named for the nearby bank of the…

  • Mooreville, TX · 7.8 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Mooreville is on Farm Road 107 four miles northwest of Chilton in northwestern Falls County. It was named for Robert Moore, who opened the first store in the area in the 1850s. In the 1860s Ed McCullough gave land for a…

  • Otto, TX · 7.8 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Otto is near the intersection of Farm roads 1240 and 2603, eight miles northeast of Perry in northern Falls County. Settlement of the area began in the 1850s and centered around two communities known as Needmore and…

  • Perry, TX (Falls County) · 7.8 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Perry is on State Highway 6 eight miles north of Marlin in northern Falls County. Settlement of the area began as early as 1852, but no townsite was laid out until 1872, when the Waco and Northwestern division of the…

  • Reagan, TX · 7.8 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Reagan is at the intersection of State Highway 6 and Farm Road 413, nine miles southeast of Marlin in southeastern Falls County. It was established in 1873, shortly after the Waco and Northwestern Railroad completed the…

  • Satin, TX · 7.8 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Satin is on Farm Road 434 four miles from Chilton in northern Falls County. In 1834 Fielden Ruble settled in the locality at the Rocky Dam crossing on the Brazos River. The town was established in 1872 when J. H.…

  • Travis, TX (Falls County) · 7.8 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Travis, on U.S. Highway 77 five miles southeast of Lott in southwestern Falls County, was named for Travis Fleming Jones, who surveyed the site for the San Antonio and Aransas Pass Railway in the 1880s. When the…

  • Westbrook, Charles A., Plantation · 8.3 mi · Historical Marker

    Charles Alexander Westbrook (1838-1895) came to Texas from Mississippi in 1859. He settled first at Washington-on-the-Brazos, where he married Mary Virginia Whitsitt. They eventually were the parents of thirteen…

  • Pool, Jonathan Cochran · 8.3 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the final resting place of Jonathan Cochran Pool. Born in Georgia in 1806, he moved to Texas with his family when he was just nine years old. Pool answered the call to defend Texas, enlisting in the…

  • Site of the Home of George Morgan · 8.4 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Perry, Texas, near the site of a brutal frontier tragedy. Just 400 yards northeast of here, the home of George Morgan stood. But on the night of January 1st, 1839, tragedy struck. Indians attacked…

  • Falls of the Brazos River · 8.7 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of the Falls of the Brazos River, a landmark that shaped early Texas history. Imagine a 10-foot waterfall over a rocky ledge, a crucial meeting point and trail marker for both Native…

  • Site of the Home of John Marlin · 8.8 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of the John Marlin home, built way back in 1835. Just four years later, on January 10th, 1839, this place became a fortress. About seventy Native Americans attacked, but the four defenders…

  • Site of St. Paul School · 8.8 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Falls County, not far from Marlin, where German immigrants settled this land. Back in 1896, they founded St. Paul School, starting with a simple schoolhouse near their church. By 1906, they'd…

  • Live Oak Cemetery · 8.8 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of the old Live Oak community, a place that began shortly after the Civil War. Originally known as Camden, then Rupee, it had stores, a cotton gin, and even a Masonic lodge. The earliest…

  • Blevins Cemetery · 9.6 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Blevins Cemetery, a final resting place that tells a story of Texas grit. It began in 1875 with the burial of Amanda Ruble Taylor, who arrived here in 1855, born back when Texas was its own republic.…

  • The Settler, Not the Fish · 9.7 mi

    Marlin, Texas, was named for a person, not an ocean fish. John Marlin came to Mexican Texas in the early eighteen thirties, settled in Robertson's Colony, received a land grant east of the Brazos, and served in local…

  • The Females Become Giants · 9.7 mi

    Blue marlin have one of the most dramatic size differences between sexes among large game fish. Females can grow several times heavier than males and account for the true giants celebrated in fishing lore. Both hunt…

  • Hemingway's Marlin · 9.7 mi

    The giant fish in Ernest Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea is a marlin. Santiago's struggle with it made the animal a literary symbol of strength, pride, endurance, and respect between hunter and quarry. The story…

  • A Fast Fish Caught by Slow Lines · 9.7 mi

    Marlin conservation is tied to fisheries aimed at other species. Commercial longlines set vast numbers of baited hooks for tuna and swordfish and can catch marlin as bycatch. Scientists use catch records and electronic…

  • The 1922 Brazos Bridge Collapse · 9.7 mi

    West of Marlin, where the road once crossed the Brazos toward Belton, a crowd gathered on May 16, 1922 to watch repair work while the river ran high at flood stage. By some accounts roughly 1,000 people had come out to…

  • A Bill Is Not a Sword · 9.7 mi

    A marlin and a swordfish both carry long bills, but they are not the same design. Marlin have a more cylindrical, streamlined body and a dorsal fin that can be conspicuous, while swordfish have a flatter, sword-like…

  • Built to Cross an Ocean · 9.7 mi

    Marlin are open-ocean predators built for sustained fast travel. A tapered body reduces drag, a narrow tail base drives a stiff crescent-shaped tail, and fins can fold close to the body. They follow warm water,…

  • Blue, Black, and Striped · 9.7 mi

    Blue, black, and striped marlin share the billfish plan but differ in range and form. Blue marlin roam tropical and subtropical Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian waters and include the largest females. Black marlin are an…

  • Stripes That Switch On · 9.7 mi

    A marlin's color is active, not painted on. Dark blue above and silvery sides create countershading, helping the fish blend with deep water from above and bright surface light from below. Blue or striped patterns can…

  • The Fish That Fights Back · 9.7 mi

    Marlin became icons of sport fishing because a hooked fish can run hard, leap repeatedly, and fight for a long time. That fame also created pressure on slow-replacing populations. Many tournaments now encourage…

  • Marlin, TX · 9.7 mi · Local history

    Marlin has been a birthplace for a remarkable array of talent. From the gridiron, we have LaDainian Tomlinson, a celebrated running back for the San Diego Chargers and New York Jets, and Danario Alexander, a wide…

  • Denson, Rev. Nelson T. and Marlin Missionary Baptist Church · 9.7 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site where a true Texas pioneer once walked. Nelson Taylor Denson was born into slavery in Arkansas in 1845. Brought to Falls County as a boy, he served in the Confederate Army before returning…

  • Phillips Cemetery · 9.7 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Phillips Cemetery. Ezekial Thomas Phillips (1830-1905), a Civil War veteran, moved his family to Falls County in 1869. His son Robert M. Phillips (b. 1857) died in a shooting accident on March 18,…

  • The Art Moderne Courthouse of Falls County · 9.7 mi

    At the center of Marlin sits the Falls County Courthouse, a limestone Art Moderne building dating from 1937 to 1939, when streamlined, geometric public architecture was the height of civic ambition. It got a major…

  • Blevins Community and School · 9.7 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of Blevins, a community that started around 1860 with the Barron family. By the 1870s, Reverend Isaac Taylor was already teaching local kids. The Blevins School opened in 1885, and by 1916,…

  • Marlin · 9.7 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Marlin, a Texas town that hit its stride thanks to a bit of natural luck. Back in 1851, it became the county seat, and things started to grow. But the real boom came in 1892 when they discovered…

  • Falls County Courthouse · 9.7 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the Falls County Courthouse in Marlin, a building that's seen a lot of history. Falls County itself was created way back in 1850. The very first courthouse? Just a log cabin, maybe right here. Fast…

  • Allen House · 9.7 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the Allen House in Marlin, built in 1911 for Dr. Walter and Netti Allen. Check out those massive Ionic columns supporting the giant entablature – a classic Greek Revival look! The family lived here…

  • Hilton Hotel, Early · 9.8 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of the eighth hotel ever built by Conrad Hilton, right here in Marlin. After starting his legendary hotel empire in Cisco, Hilton dreamed of a Texas covered in his hotels. This place was a…

  • When 80000 Pilgrims Sought the Healing Waters · 9.9 mi · Things to Do

    By the 1930s word had spread so far that 80000 visitors a year were pouring into Marlin to soak in the hot mineral springs. Bathhouses lined the downtown…

  • Hot Mineral Water · 9.9 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Marlin, and right here, history bubbled up! In 1892, folks drilled this site looking for water, but they found something much hotter: 48,000 gallons of hot mineral water every single day. At…

  • The Ghost Colony of Sarahville de Viesca · 9.9 mi · Things to Do

    In 1834 Sterling Robertson founded a grand colonial settlement at the falls of the Brazos and named it Sarahville de Viesca. It was meant to be the capital of…

  • The Vanishing Waterfalls That Named a County · 9.9 mi · Things to Do

    Falls County got its name from a set of 10-foot waterfalls on the Brazos River — the only hard-bottom crossing within 200 miles. Native tribes had used them…

  • The Haunted Hilton That No One Checks Into · 9.9 mi · Things to Do

    The 1929 Falls Hotel rises eight stories above downtown Marlin and every single room is empty. No guests have checked in for decades but visitors swear the…

  • The Only City Crowned by the Texas Legislature for Its Water · 9.9 mi · Things to Do

    In 1999 the Texas Legislature did something it had never done before — it officially crowned Marlin the Hot Mineral Water City of Texas. No other town in the…

  • Bucksnort · 9.9 mi · Historical Marker

    You're passing through the area where Bucksnort once stood. Settled in 1837 by the Marlin and Menefee families, it quickly became Jarett Menefee's Supply Station. By the 1840s, this village was booming with a school,…

  • First Baptist Church of Marlin · 9.9 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Marlin, and right here is the site of the First Baptist Church. Back in 1852, this congregation started with just ten members, meeting in borrowed spaces like the log courthouse and a schoolhouse.…

  • First Presbyterian Church of Marlin · 9.9 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of the First Presbyterian Church of Marlin, but its story starts way back in 1852. Imagine this: services were held in the Falls County Courthouse, with a pulpit that literally got pulled up…

  • When the New York Giants Called Marlin Home · 10.0 mi · Things to Do

    From 1908 to 1918 manager John McGraw brought the New York Giants all the way down to tiny Marlin Texas for spring training. It was the first permanent spring…

  • Johnson, "Blind Willie" · 10.0 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through North Texas, and right here is the region where a true blues legend got his start. Blind Willie Johnson, known as the 'Sightless Visionary,' was born near Brenham in 1897. Legend says his…

  • The 147-Degree Gusher That Built a City · 10.0 mi · Things to Do

    In 1892 the folks in Marlin drilled a well hoping for drinking water. What they got was a 75-foot geyser of scalding 147-degree sulfur water shooting out of…

  • Conrad Hiltons Eighth Hotel and Its Secret Tunnel · 10.0 mi · Things to Do

    In 1929 Conrad Hilton was still building his hotel empire one town at a time. He chose tiny Marlin for his eighth property — an eight-story tower with 110…

  • The Morgan Massacre of 1839 · 10.0 mi · Things to Do

    On New Years Day 1839 a band of Anadarko raiders descended on the Morgan cabin near present-day Marlin. Young Isaac Marlin arrived to find his mother and the…

  • Coryell, James · 10.0 mi · Tsha Handbook

    James Coryell, for whom Coryell County was named, was born near West Union, Ohio, in 1803, the son of Lewis and Sarah (Voshall) Coryell. He left home at the age of eighteen and made his way to Texas. He was in San…

  • Falls County · 10.0 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Falls County, and right here, the Brazos River was once a deadly frontier. In early 1839, this area was a hunting ground for various Native American tribes, but tensions were high with settlers.…

  • Slater, Stephen Thomas · 10.0 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Milam County, maybe not far from Marlin, where Stephen Thomas Slater once brought the Comanche people in to sign a treaty. Arriving in Texas in 1837, Slater served with Captain Jack Hays and…

  • Marlin, TX · 10.0 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Marlin, Texas, a town with roots stretching back to 1834. It started as Sarahville de Viesca, established by Sterling Clack Robertson. But the real boom came when they discovered something special…

  • Lang, Willis L. · 10.0 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Willis L. Lang, planter, Texas Ranger, and Confederate Army officer, the youngest of five children of William A. and Temperance (Thurman) Lang, was born on November 29, 1830, in Wayne County, Mississippi. He and his…

  • Billingsley, Virginia Catherine Shaw · 10.0 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Falls County, not far from Marlin, where V. C. Billingsley took over a family plantation after her husband died in 1882. She wasn't just managing the land; she was a shrewd businesswoman. In 1889,…

  • Doughty, Walter Francis · 10.0 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Falls County, and right here in Marlin, a significant figure in Texas education once served. Walter Francis Doughty, a Mississippi native who arrived in Texas in 1895, rose through the ranks from…

  • Greater Providence Missionary Baptist Church · 10.0 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of Greater Providence Missionary Baptist Church in Marlin. Imagine this: back in 1893, a group of twelve people, led by Reverend N.T. Denson, founded Providence Baptist Church. They started…

  • Brown, William M. · 10.0 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving past Marlin, Texas, a town that became home to William M. Brown after the Civil War. Brown served as a Confederate lieutenant, fighting at Gettysburg before being captured. After the war, he came to…

  • Hunnicutt, Walter Scott · 10.0 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Marlin, Texas, the hometown of Walter Scott Hunnicutt. While he served as a city attorney and later a county judge, and even fought in World War II, Hunnicutt is best remembered for his music.…

  • Scoggins, Lewis Grissom · 10.0 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Falls County, Texas, and right here in Marlin, Lewis Grissom Scoggins lived out his final years. Scoggins, a planter from Louisiana, arrived in Texas sometime before 1863 and joined the Third…

  • Stuart, Elias Charles · 10.0 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Falls County, the heart of Texas politics for Elias Charles Stuart. Born in Mississippi in 1820, Stuart eventually settled here along the Brazos River around 1857. He became a prominent farmer and…

  • A Voice From Marlin Now Traveling Between the Stars · 10.1 mi

    A sound that once rang out on Marlin's streets is now drifting through interstellar space. Blind Willie Johnson was probably born near Brenham, but his family moved to Marlin when he was a small child. Here he learned…

  • The Drinking-Water Well That Erupted at 147 Degrees · 10.1 mi

    You're rolling into a town that got rich by accident. In 1892, the city of Marlin was drilling for an ordinary water supply when, at a depth of 3,350 feet, the well struck intensely hot, mineralized water that…

  • When the New York Giants Trained in Marlin · 10.1 mi

    For a stretch of the early 1900s, this small Central Texas town was a Major League laboratory. Beginning in 1904, Marlin hosted all or part of spring training for five big-league clubs, and the New York Giants made it…

  • Conrad Hilton's Spa Hotel and Its Long Decay · 10.1 mi

    The big, brooding building ahead is Marlin's most dramatic reminder of its spa years. Conrad Hilton opened his eighth hotel here in 1929 to serve the mineral-water trade, a 110-room landmark later known as the Falls…

  • The Accidental Geothermal Engineering of Marlin · 10.1 mi

    Marlin's hot well is one of the best place-specific science stories in Central Texas. An artesian well taps groundwater confined under pressure, so when drilling punctures the pressurized formation, water can rise on…

  • The Pioneer Who Never Saw His Town · 10.1 mi · Things to Do

    John Marlin packed up his family and headed to Mexican Texas in 1832 with nothing but grit and a plan. He built a frontier fort on the Brazos and held his…

  • The Hot Water Pavilion on Coleman Street · 10.1 mi

    On Coleman Street near the Falls Hotel stands the Hot Water Pavilion, built in 1916 at the height of Marlin's spa fever. In its prime it sheltered a continuously flowing mineral-water fountain, benches, and a soda or…

  • The Museum That Came Back After the Storm · 10.1 mi

    At 145 Heritage Row, the Falls County Historical Museum has a survival story of its own. It reopened in December 2024 after sitting closed for nearly four years, shut down when tornado and hail damage compromised its…

  • The Palace Theatre on Heritage Row · 10.1 mi

    At about 133 Heritage Row stands the Palace Theatre, a survivor from the 1920s, the same boom decade that gave Marlin its grand hotels and its hot-water crowds. Over its long life the Palace has worn several hats: movie…

  • Marlin's Decades-Old Juneteenth Tradition · 10.1 mi

    Marlin has marked Juneteenth as a citywide tradition for decades, long before it became a national holiday. Juneteenth commemorates June 19, 1865, the day Union General Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston and announced…

  • Captain Henry Gray Carter · 10.1 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of a house built by Captain Henry Gray Carter, a man who saw action on both the frontier and the battlefield. Born in Vermont, Carter moved to Texas in 1852 and soon after, enlisted in the…

  • Fort Milam · 10.1 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of Fort Milam, built way back in 1835. It started as a protection for settlers against hostile Indians. The fort was constructed by a ranging company right here in what was then Sarahville…

  • First United Methodist Church of Marlin · 10.1 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the First United Methodist Church of Marlin, a place with roots stretching way back. Methodist preachers were serving folks in this area as early as 1842, long before Marlin was even a city! The…

  • Sent Maggie Rogers to China · 10.1 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the First United Methodist Church of Marlin, a place with roots stretching way back. Missionary preachers were serving Methodists in this area even before Falls County was officially established. The…

  • The Accidental Spa · 10.2 mi

    Imagine the scene in 1892. The city of Marlin is drilling a new well, hoping for fresh drinking water. Instead, at over three thousand feet, they hit a gusher of foul-smelling, scalding hot water. It seemed like a total…

  • The Voice of Marlin, Heard in Deep Space · 10.2 mi

    As you pass through Marlin, picture a man on a street corner, a tin cup tied around his neck, playing a slide guitar with a pocketknife. That man was Blind Willie Johnson, a gospel blues master who lived here for part…

  • The Journey of the Water · 10.2 mi

    The hot water that defined Marlin isn't just hot; it's ancient, and how it reaches you is a fascinating piece of hydro-geology. The story starts with rain falling on Central Texas, seeping deep into the ground and…

  • Marlin, TX · 10.2 mi

    Marlin, Texas, has a rich history that dates back to 1851 when it became the county seat of Falls County. The town was named in honor of John Marlin, a former alcalde of Robertson County. The first courthouse was a log…

  • The Man from Marlin Who Shaped the World · 10.2 mi

    The Falls County Courthouse marks the start of a career that reached the whole world. Tom Connally was born on a farm in McLennan County in 1877, took a law degree at the University of Texas in 1898, and practiced law…

  • Falconer Home · 10.2 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the Falconer Home, built way back in 1880. Now, this wasn't always a private residence. For a few years, it was Stafford Military Academy, a school for boys. But financial troubles shut the doors in…

  • Morgan Family Cemetery · 10.2 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Perry, Texas. To your right is the Morgan Family Cemetery, established around 1868. It was recognized as a Historic Texas Cemetery in 2003.

  • Irons, Martin · 10.3 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Bruceville, Texas, where a Scottish immigrant named Martin Irons spent his final years. Irons, a machinist by trade, became a powerful union leader in the late 1800s. He helped organize workers for…

  • Lakeview Drive-In, Serving Marlin Since 1946 · 10.3 mi

    If you want a meal with real Marlin history under it, Lakeview Drive-In at 1008 North Business Highway 6 is the pick. Its roadside sign advertises service to Marlin since 1946, which gives it the genuine character of a…

  • Fletcher Cemetery · 10.4 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of Fletcher Cemetery, a final resting place that started with a single, unmarked burial. Sample Carrigan, an early settler, was laid to rest here in 1868. The first *marked* grave belongs to…

  • Bruceville, TX · 10.6 mi

    Bruceville sits nestled in the Blackland Prairie, a stretch of fertile land carved out by ancient seas and the relentless work of the Brazos River and its tributaries. You can feel it in the rich, dark soil that clings…

  • A Sign in Rosebud for Corporal Warford · 10.7 mi

    Part of US Highway Seventy Seven carries the name of Army Corporal William T. Warford the Third. He was from Temple, and he served with the two hundred fifteenth Brigade Support Battalion of the First Cavalry Division,…

  • Bruceville Methodist Church · 10.7 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of Bruceville Methodist Church, a congregation with roots stretching back to the Civil War era. Local tradition says it began as Cedar Bridge Methodist, holding services near a cedar bridge…

  • Highlands Mansion · 10.8 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the Highlands Mansion, built around 1898 by B. C. Clark. This elegant home was a real showplace of Texas during the Gay Nineties, right at the turn of the century. Notice the sturdy cypress…

  • Bruceville Baptist Church · 10.8 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of Bruceville Baptist Church, a congregation with roots going back over 125 years. It started around 1870 as Salem Baptist Church in the town of Mastersville, holding services in homes and…

  • Cedar Springs Cemetery · 10.9 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Cedar Springs Cemetery, a quiet reminder of rural Falls County settlement. The earliest marked burial here is Thomas Roberts, who died in 1874, though at least twenty burials happened before the land…

  • Daniel, Charles Davis · 11.1 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Navarro County, Texas, and right here, in Lorena, is where Charles Davis Daniel spent his final years. Born in Alabama in 1856, Daniel’s life took him from Brazil, where his family moved after the…

  • Lorena Cemetery · 11.1 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Lorena Cemetery, a final resting place with roots stretching back to the railroad boom. In eighteen eighty-one, Daniel Aerl set aside two acres here for pioneer settlers. Just days later, financier…

  • Lorena, TX · 11.1 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving southwest of Waco on I-35, and you're passing through Lorena. This town owes its existence to the railroad. Right here, in 1881, the Missouri, Kansas and Texas line was being built, and the townsite was…

  • James Bayliss Buck Farmstead · 11.3 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the James Bayliss Buck Farmstead, a well-preserved example of early farming settlement in this area. Buck purchased the land in 1904 and, with his brother-in-law, completed the farmhouse and…

  • The Rivalry of Two Towns · 11.4 mi

    You’re driving through a place with a split personality, literally. Bruceville-Eddy wasn’t always one town. For 92 years, they were Bruceville and Eddy, two separate, competing towns founded about a mile apart on the…

  • The Interstate's Shadow · 11.4 mi

    As you cruise down Interstate 35, you're on the piece of engineering that redefined this place. Bruceville and Eddy started as two separate railroad stations in 1882 - Bruceville named for Lucien N. Bruce, who donated…

  • Bruceville-Eddy, TX · 11.4 mi

    Bruceville-Eddy might be a small place, but it’s got deep roots in the land. Drive around a bit, and you’ll quickly see it’s ranching country. Cattle graze in fields that stretch out toward the Brazos, and you can…

  • The Katy Comes to Town · 11.4 mi

    The reason you're passing a town here at all is a railroad nicknamed the Katy. In 1882 the Missouri, Kansas and Texas put stations on this stretch of prairie, and two communities formed around them. One took the name of…

  • Lorena United Methodist Church, The · 11.4 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Lorena, and right here is the Lorena United Methodist Church. Organized way back in 1881, this congregation first met in the local Baptist church building. By 1886, they’d built their own…

  • H. J. and Cora Hudson House · 11.4 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the H. J. and Cora Hudson House, built starting in 1881. Herbert Hudson, originally from England, came to Lorena in 1877 and married Cora Field here in 1880. He became a prominent businessman,…

  • Papa Joe's Texas Saloon · 11.5 mi

    There's a motorcycle bolted to the roof of Papa Joe's Texas Saloon, right off Interstate 35 in Lorena. Inside it's pool tables, neon, and paintings of the Coors cowboy wrapped in plastic to keep the cigarette smoke off…

  • Lorena, TX · 11.5 mi

    Lorena's always been a place where Friday night lights shine a little brighter, especially when the Leopards are facing McGregor. That rivalry's a constant, something you can set your watch by. But lately, there's been…

  • Roy Bedichek · 11.5 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the birthplace of Roy Bedichek, a giant of Texas education and culture. Born in Illinois in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1878</say-as>, he came to Falls County as a boy and was educated…

  • Bull Hide Creek Iron Bridge · 11.5 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of the Bull Hide Creek Iron Bridge, built in 1914 by the El Paso Bridge and Iron Company. This 69-foot Warren pony truss bridge, with its timber deck and concrete piers, served as a vital…

  • Downsville Baptist Church · 11.5 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of Downsville Baptist Church, organized way back on May 6, 1894. Elder A.J. Moore and nineteen members from the Robinson Baptist Church started this congregation. By the end of that year, 39…

  • First Baptist Church of Eddy · 11.5 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of the First Baptist Church of Eddy. It started life way back in 1875 as Sage Chapel. The congregation packed up their little frame church and moved it two miles east to the new town of Eddy…

  • Eddy Methodist Church · 11.6 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the Eddy Methodist Church, a place that's been serving this community for over a century. It all started back in 1868, when Methodists in the area built a simple sanctuary near a cedar log toll…

  • Westphalia Little School · 11.7 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Westphalia, a community founded by German Catholics. Soon after arriving in 1879, settlers planned a school. The Westphalia Little School opened its doors in 1884, initially in a building that had…

  • Flowers House · 11.7 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the Flowers House, a reminder of the cotton boom that once fueled this area. Built in 1910, this home was designed by Roy E. Lane, a prominent architect who left his mark on Waco. Look for the…

  • Bruceville-Eddy, TX · 11.7 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Bruceville-Eddy, a town born from a rivalry between two railroad stops. <break time="400ms"/> Back in 1882, the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railroad laid tracks, creating two stations: Bruceville,…

  • St. Mary's Cemetery · 11.7 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past St. Mary's Cemetery, founded in 1883 by German immigrants who named their new Texas home Westphalia. Casper Hoelscher, Frank Wunsch, Theodore Rabroker, J.G. Bockholt, and Frank Glass donated 100…

  • Indian Battlefield · 11.8 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of a fierce battle that happened January 16, 1839. This skirmish took place near the pioneer home of George Morgan. Settlers in the area clashed with warriors led by Chief Jose Maria. The…

  • Perry, Albert G. (Judge) and Harriet Elizabeth Grimes · 11.8 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Falls County, passing the site of a life shaped by the Texas frontier. Albert G. Perry, born in Tennessee in 1807, studied law young and headed to Texas in 1831. He married Harriet Elizabeth…

  • Church of the Visitation · 11.8 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Westphalia, Texas, where German immigrants settled in 1879, seeking better land. They quickly bought land for a church and school, and by 1884, their first church building was ready. But disaster…

  • St. Paul United Church of Christ · 11.8 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of St. Paul United Church of Christ in Marlin. German settlers founded this congregation back in 1894 as the St. Paul Evangelical Lutheran Congregation. They built a school just two years…

  • Robinson, TX (McLennan County) · 12.0 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Robinson, Texas, a town that owes its existence to two brothers. In 1856, John and Levi Robinson surveyed 171 acres, dividing it into lots to encourage others to settle here. They even sponsored…

  • 2021 UIL 3A Division 1 Football State Champions · 12.1 mi

    Lorena High (Lorena, TX): Most recent: 35-18 over Brock · 2021 3A Division 1 final.

  • Frank and Julia Bockholt Home · 12.5 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the Frank and Julia Bockholt Home, a house that's seen over a century of Texas life. The Bockholts themselves took over this property in 1933, though the house was expanded in 1912. Frank was known…

  • The Town That Art Saved · 12.7 mi

    You’re driving through a town that literally owes its existence to art. By the 1960s, Edom was on the verge of becoming a ghost town. The railroad had passed it by, the school had closed, and young people were leaving.…

  • Bypassed by the Railroad · 12.7 mi

    One of the most important things that ever happened to Edom is something that *didn't* happen. In the 1870s, railroad companies were laying tracks across Texas, creating boomtowns wherever they went. The Texas and…

  • The Science of the Soil · 12.7 mi

    As you look out at the landscape around Edom, you're seeing the product of some very specific soil science - and of a town that got named out of the book of Genesis. This settlement started in 1849 a few miles from…

  • The Old Edom School · 12.7 mi

    As you pass through town, picture the old Edom school. For a full century it was the heart of this community. Edom's schools opened in 1866, in a settlement that had already been here since 1849 under the name Hamburg —…

  • Texas HS Baseball Playoff Leaders 2026: Robinson (Robinson) · 12.8 mi

    Robinson put a player on the statewide leaderboards of the 2026 Texas high school baseball playoffs. Bryce Vasquez had 19 hits (3rd in the state), and 8 stolen bases (14th in the state).

  • Texas HS Baseball Playoff Hits 2026: Robinson (Robinson) · 12.8 mi

    Robinson, TX placed on the Texas high school baseball PLAYOFF HITS leaderboard for the 2026 postseason: Bryce Vasquez (19 hits, #3 in TX).

  • Harrison, General Thomas · 12.8 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the Reagan area, home to General Thomas Harrison. He was one of only three Texas brothers to reach general rank in the Confederate Army. Before the Civil War, Harrison fought in the Mexican War and…

  • Sarahville de Viesca, Site of Colonial Capital · 12.8 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of Sarahville de Viesca, the capital of Sterling C. Robertson's vast colony. Founded in 1834 near the Brazos River's falls, this was the place where settlers came to claim their land titles.…

  • Falls County · 12.8 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Falls County, named for the very falls on the Brazos River that cut through its heart. White settlers were here even before the Texas Revolution, but they fled when Santa Anna was on the march in…

  • Mount Pleasant Missionary Baptist Church · 12.8 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Waco, and right here is the site of Mount Pleasant Missionary Baptist Church. Organized back in October of 1886, this congregation served the African-American community southeast of town. They…

  • Robinson, TX · 13.0 mi

    Robinson is a place where Friday night lights mean something. You can feel it in the air – the pride that swells up when the Rockets make a playoff push.

  • The Town That Moved for the Railroad · 13.0 mi

    The town you're in has answered to three names, but it has never moved. Brothers John and Levi Robinson claimed homesteads here in the early 1850s — John came up from Demopolis, Alabama in 1852 with his family and six…

  • Homesite of Theodore Rabroker · 13.1 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Westphalia, Texas, a community founded by a determined German immigrant. Look around – this was once the vision of Theodore Rabroker. He arrived here in 1877, seeing fertile land and dreaming of a…

  • Youngblood Memorial Presbyterian Church · 13.1 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of Youngblood Memorial Presbyterian Church, a testament to faith and community in Robinson. This congregation got its start way back in 1874 as Robinsonville Presbyterian Church, organized…

  • Saint John United Church of Christ · 13.2 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Robinson, a town with roots stretching back to German immigrants. It all started around 1882 when Herman Staas convinced fellow Germans to settle here. By 1884, they'd formed this congregation,…

  • Hewitt, TX · 13.8 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Hewitt, a town born from the expansion of the railroad. In 1882, the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railroad laid track through this area, and decided to name this new stop after George A. Hewitt, one…

  • First United Methodist Church of Hewitt · 13.9 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Hewitt, and right here, you're passing the site of the First United Methodist Church. It all started way back in 1875, eight miles west, with Methodist settlers gathering at Stanford Chapel.…

  • Hwy 77 Cafe · 14.0 mi · Things to Do

    A small-town local favorite on US Highway 77 in Rosebud, about 36 miles south of Waco. Texas country cooking — chicken fried steak, pork chops, liver and…

  • How the Purple Heart Trail Grew Across Texas · 14.2 mi

    This highway is part of the Purple Heart Trail, a symbolic trail that runs through all fifty states to honor those killed or wounded in combat while serving in the armed forces. In Texas it started with one road. In two…

  • A Star in the Window, a Marker by the Road · 14.2 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…

  • Moving a Town for the Train · 14.3 mi

    As you see the railroad tracks that cut through Rosebud, consider this: those tracks pulled an entire town off a creek bank and out onto the open prairie. The original settlement here was called Pool's Crossing, or…

  • The Hometown of LT · 14.3 mi

    In the world of Texas football, some towns are legendary. And while LaDainian Tomlinson made his high school name in Waco, his story begins right here in Rosebud, where he was born in 1979. For a small community like…

  • The Iron Horse Defines the Town · 14.3 mi

    The railroad tracks you see in Rosebud are a monument to nineteenth-century engineering and economics both. Laying a line like the San Antonio and Aransas Pass was a serious undertaking. Surveyors had to plot a route…

  • Rosebud, TX · 14.3 mi

    In the heart of Rosebud stands a towering symbol of the city's spirit - the 170-foot-tall 'Rosebud Christmas tree'. Erected in the early 1960s by Bell Falls Milam Electric Co-op at 128 W. Main St, this artificial tree…

  • Perry United Methodist Church · 14.3 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of Perry United Methodist Church, a century-old congregation with roots reaching back to 1872. It started west of here, in the home of Theodore Reusse, with just four members and a traveling…

  • The Concrete River: How I-35 Made Modern Hewitt · 14.4 mi

    The highway you may be driving on right now, Interstate 35, is the single most important piece of engineering in Hewitt's modern history. Think of it as a great concrete river. When it was built through here in the…

  • The Town That Moved to the Tracks · 14.4 mi

    The town of Hewitt owes its existence, its location and even its name to a railroad. In 1882 the Missouri, Kansas and Texas - the Katy - pushed a line south from Hillsboro toward Taylor, straight across this stretch of…

  • The Vote That Made a Suburb · 14.4 mi

    For nearly eighty years, Hewitt was barely a village. The Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railroad put it on the map in 1882 and named it for a railroad director, George A. Hewitt. From the early 1930s clear through the…

  • Hewitt, TX · 14.4 mi

    Hewitt's community flourished on farming and agriculture, especially during the days when 'cotton was king'. This agricultural heritage has been a significant part of the town's identity and economy.

  • Hewitt Baptist · 14.4 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Hewitt Baptist Church, a place that's been a cornerstone of this community for over a century. It all started on November 4th, 1894, when twenty members of a nearby church decided to form their own…

  • Zion United Church of Christ · 14.5 mi · Historical Marker

    You're cruising past Zion United Church of Christ in Waco. Imagine this: it's the 1870s, and German-speaking immigrants are looking for a spiritual home. Pastor Friederich Werning starts holding services in a…

  • Brazos River Transmission Electric Cooperative · 14.6 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Waco, and right here is the story of the Brazos River Transmission Electric Cooperative. Organized in February 1941 by eleven small electric co-ops, this was the very first generation and…

  • Riesel, TX · 14.7 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Riesel, Texas, a community with roots stretching back to the late 1800s. Right here, the Houston and Texas Central Railway laid down a sectionhouse called Roddy around 1880. Soon after, German…

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