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Clarksville, Texas

Everything Clarksville is known for

1 song mention this city 1 artist from here

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Music in Clarksville

Songs About Clarksville

Fifteen Miles to Clarksville
Hank Thompson
80%
"Fifteen Miles to Clarksville"

Artists From Clarksville

C
Chace Rains
country

Rivers & Roads in Song near Clarksville

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

Kickapoo Creek 4 songs Red River 88 songs Sulphur River 2 songs

History of Clarksville

Clarksville, TX RoadyGoat

Clarksville, nestled a bit higher than the surrounding Red River bottomlands, has always been a place where things take root. Like the hay that springs from these fields, or the football players who launch from Clarksville High onto college fields, folks here tend to make their mark. It was one of the first towns in Texas, you know, incorporated way back in the 1830s, when the Red River was a highway of trade. Even before that, the Caddo people knew this land. And while Clarksville might be a quiet spot these days, home to around the same number of people as it was a century ago, it’s nurtured some well-known names.

Clarksville, TX RoadyGoat

Clarksville, Texas, has a rich history that dates back to 1833 when James Clark moved to the area and laid out a town site. The city was chosen as the county seat of Red River County in 1835, beating out the community of La Grange. It became an educational and agricultural center in the following years. A significant part of its history is McKenzie College, established in 1841 by John W.P. McKenzie, which became the largest institution of higher education in Texas during the 1850s. The college trained almost all of the new Methodist ministers in the state. However, due to financial difficulties, the school was closed permanently in 1868. The city's economic recovery post-Civil War was stimulated by the arrival of the Texas and Pacific Railway in 1872, which brought new settlers and businesses.

Clarksville, TX RoadyGoat

James Clark moved to the area in 1833 and laid out a town site, which would later become Clarksville. When Red River County was organized in 1835, Clarksville was chosen as the county seat, beating out the community of La Grange. The town was incorporated by an act of the Texas Congress in 1837.

David G. Burnet

1836

[center front] David Gouverneur Burnet - [left front] Born April 14 - 1788 - in Newark - New Jersey - Died in Galveston - Texas - December - 5 - 1870 - Delegate to the Second Convention of Texas - 1833 - Judge of the Department of the Brazos - 1834 - Delegate to the Consultation 1835 - [right front] President - Ad Interim - Of the Republic of Texas - March 16 to October 22 - 1836 - Vice President - November 10 - 1838 to December 13 - 1841 - Participated in the battle with the Cherokees May 29 - 1839 - Secretary of State - 1846

Historical Marker →

Stevenson, William

1815

(October 4, 1768 - March 5, 1857) Frontier minister; friend of Stephen F. Austin, father of Texas. A circuit rider in Missouri Conference, Methodist Church, Mr. Stevenson in 1815 made a pastoral trip to Pecan Point, home of Claiborne Wright, member of newly-arrived Anglo-American colony on Texas side of the Red River. Records indicate that his preaching to Wright and friends in 1815 constituted the first Protestant sermons ever given in Texas, then part of Catholic "New Spain." He thus established a beachhead for religious freedom in Texas at this point of entry.

Historical Marker →

Clarksville Cemetery

1830

This burial site was first used in the 1830s for the family of James Clark, the founder of Clarksville, who is interred here. The earliest grave is that of his father Benjamin Clark, a veteran of the American Revolution. Other graves include those of Albert Hamilton Latimer, a signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence, the noted Texas journalist Col. Charles DeMorse and the Rev. John Anderson, a pioneer area preacher and educator. Known for many years as the Baptist Cemetery, the Clarksville Cemetery serves as a reminder of the town's early settlers and civic leaders.

Historical Marker →

Clarksville, TX (Travis County)

1871

Clarksville is just northeast of the intersection of the Missouri Pacific Railroad and West Tenth Street in west Austin, Travis County. The land, containing streams and steep hills, had previously been part of a plantation owned by Governor Elisha M. Pease . It is said that Pease gave the land to his emancipated slaves with the vain hope that they would remain near his mansion and be available for further service. Clarksville was founded in 1871 by Charles Clark, a freedman who changed his name from Charles Griffin after emancipation. Clark bought two acres of land from Confederate general Nathan G. Shelley and built a house on what is now West Tenth Street. He subdivided his land among other freedmen to start a community outside of Austin. Despite its isolation Clarksville came within the jurisdiction of Austin early in its history. Early Clarksville has been described by its older residents as a wilderness broken by an occasional dirt road and train tracks laid by the International-Great Northern Railroad in the 1870s. The Sweet Home Baptist Church served as the community meeting center. The church was organized in the home of Mary Smith on the Haskell homestead sometime before 1882, when the congregation purchased land on which to build a church. Rev. Jacob Fontaine served as the first minister. Elias Mayes , a black state legislator from Grimes and Brazos counties in the Sixteenth and Twenty-first legislatures, lived in Clarksville as early as 1875. He built a home on land purchased from Charles Clark in 1884. Many Clarksville residents worked in the cotton industry or farmed; others held jobs in surrounding communities. Leroy Robertson owned and operated a community store. In 1896 a school at Clarksville had an enrollment of forty-seven. In 1917 a new one-room schoolhouse was built and named Clarksville Colored School. It offered six grades. Early in the twentieth century developers began to realize the land value of Clarksville, which lay near growing downtown Austin. Austin city policy aimed to concentrate the local black population in the east, and pressured black communities in west Austin, such as Clarksville and Wheatsville, to move. In 1918 the Austin school board closed the Clarksville school. Clarksville residents were later forced to use city services in east Austin or none at all. The 1928 master plan of the city of Austin recommended "that all the facilities and conveniences be provided the Negroes in this district, as an incentive to draw the Negro population to this area." Most Clarksville residents endured the lack of services, however, and refused to move. The community did experience two small emigrations to California, the first during World War I and the second in 1943. Clarksville maintained its school, which enrolled sixty-nine students in 1924, sixty-six in 1934, and seventy in 1940. Sometime in the 1960s the school building was moved to O. Henry Junior High School. The Sweet Home Baptist Church was rebuilt for a third time in 1935. Until 1930 Clarksville residents used kerosene lamps, and the community remained surrounded by woods. In later years Clarksville began to feel the pressure of Austin's expanding White community, which filled the surrounding area with spacious, middle-class homes. In 1968 Clarksville residents unsuccessfully protested a state and local plan to build a highway along the Missouri Pacific Railroad, which extended along the western boundary of Clarksville. The completed MoPac Expressway cut through the community, causing twenty-six families to be relocated. Twenty-three families left of their own accord. The number of homes in Clarksville decreased from 162 in 1970 to less than 100 in 1976. Residents of Clarksville began requesting Austin city funds for the improvement and preservation of their community in 1964, but dirt streets crossed the area until 1975, and a creek carrying sewage periodically flooded homes. In 1975 the Texas Historical Commission designated a two-block-w

Tsha Handbook →

Jones, Frank Albert

1900

Frank Albert Jones, black artist, son of Edward Jones and Sarah Clark, was born at Clarksville, Texas, around 1900. He never attended school or learned to read or write, and was completely self-taught. He spent his early years in the Red River County area, where he supported himself working at odd jobs. When he was a small child his mother told him that he had been born with a veil over his left eye, and that this veil would enable him to see spirits. According to a widespread African-American folk belief, people born with the veil or caul (part of the fetal membrane) over their eyes have the power to see spirits and communicate with them. Those who have this power are sometimes referred to as "double-sighted." When Jones was about nine years old, he began to see spirits. He compared his double-sightedness to looking through a hole into the spirit world. Throughout his life he continued to see spirits, which he called "haints" or devils, in many disguises, including dogs, birds, clocks, and men and women of all nationalities. Though Jones's only generally known art is drawings done in prison during the last eight years of his life, he said he made his first "devil" drawing at the age of ten. Early drawings (circa 1930) have been found. Jones spent some twenty years of his life in Texas prisons, beginning in 1941, when he was imprisoned on a rape charge that resulted from his having taken in an abandoned baby girl seven years earlier. Apparently, when the child's mother returned to claim her, Jones refused to surrender the child and was arrested for rape. After his release from the Red River County Jail, he married Audrey Culberson, a woman with two grown sons, and the couple lived in Clarksville. In 1949 an elderly Clarksville woman was found murdered, with robbery as the apparent motive. One of Frank Jones's stepsons was arrested, and he implicated Jones in the crime. Jones was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison. He served nine years of the sentence before being paroled. After two years of freedom he was accused of another rape, and in 1960 he was sent back to prison to complete his life sentence. He steadfastly maintained his innocence of the crimes for which he had been convicted. In prison in Huntsville, sometime between 1960 and 1964, Jones began to salvage discarded paper and pencils and to draw pictures of the haints he saw as a result of his veil. He called his drawings "devil houses." Using the stubs of red and blue lead pencils thrown away by inmate bookkeepers, he sketched horizontal and vertical lines that formed architectural structures viewed in cross-section. The houses were divided into cell-like rooms surrounded by barbed-wire shapes that Jones called "devil's horns." The jagged horn shapes, in alternating red and blue colors, set up the internal rhythm of each drawing. The haint figures were confined and received protection inside the rooms of the houses. Jones depicted the grinning haints frontally and in profile, with fluttering wings. Fire spewed out of the mouths of some. Others had lightning bolts emanating from their bodies. Additional elements of Jones's drawings included dice, pinwheels, and starbursts. Often large clocks appear in the houses. As a young man in Clarksville Jones had feared the supposedly haunted clock tower. Years later, while he was in jail in Clarksville, his work duty required him to wind the four large clocks in that tower. During his last prison term (1961-69) a large clock faced the courtyard where he drew most of the work that he is known for today; more than half of these 500 drawings prominently feature clocks. After Jones was "discovered" in the Prison Art Show in 1964, the first thing he bought with his new wealth was a fine gold watch. Ironically, he could not tell time. Jones's work belongs to a category of self-taught art known as visionary art, which represents the expression of a vision seen only by the artist. Jones named his drawings after the haints they c

Tsha Handbook →

Munchus, George Murray

1921

George Murry (Murray, Murrey) Munchus, physician, the son of Murry and Lou (Beatty or Betay) Munchus was born on August 6, 1887, on a farm in Ellis County, Texas. His parents were former slaves who traveled from a plantation near Greenville, Alabama, to Texas by horse and wagon soon after the Emancipation Proclamation. Murry Munchus was one of the first black men to own farmland in Ellis and Hill counties. To be near public schools, the family moved to Waxahachie, where George and his two brothers graduated from Oaklawn High School. Munchus received a bachelor's degree from Samuel Huston College (now Huston-Tillotson College) in Austin and earned a medical degree in 1909 from Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tennessee. After completing his internship at Hubbard Hospital in Nashville, Munchus opened a medical practice in 1911 in Clarksville, Texas, and served black patients throughout Red River County. He married Jesselle Sims, a teacher and member of a prominent black Fort Worth family; they had four children, one of whom died in infancy. Munchus attracted countywide attention when he had George Powell, a black contractor, build the county's first black hospital, a two-story brick structure with space on the lower floor for a drugstore, cleaning and pressing shop, barbershop, meeting hall, and business offices. The hospital and family living quarters were located on the second floor. In 1921 a fire that Munchus believed was started by the Ku Klux Klan destroyed his hospital and home. Munchus moved his practice and his family to Fort Worth, where in 1922 Powell built a home for him on Terrell Avenue. Munchus established and administered the Negro Community Hospital (1928-45). He was active with the Masonic Lodge, the Knights of Pythias, the American Woodmen, the board of trustees of Samuel Houston College, and the National Medical Association. He served a term as president of the Lone Star State Medical, Dental, and Pharmaceutical Association and was medical examiner for the local Atlanta Life and Universal Life insurance companies. Munchus was the first black physician on the staff of the now defunct Pennsylvania Avenue Hospital. He died on May 30, 1952, at his Terrell Avenue home, which was designated a Texas historic landmark in 1985.

Tsha Handbook →

Things to Do in Clarksville

quirky 22.9 mi away
Museum of the Red River

World-class pre-Columbian and Native art in a town of 7000. Nobody expects this.
historical 24.7 mi away
Military Road Choctaw Trail of Tears

The route 21000 Choctaw walked during removal in 1831-1833. Hundreds died along this road.
historical 23.5 mi away
Acrocanthosaurus Discovery Site

A 40-foot predatory dinosaur skeleton was excavated in McCurtain County. Now at the Museum of the Red River.
historical 23.6 mi away
Idabel Frisco Station

The Frisco Railroad created this town in 1902. Named for Ida and Belle the daughters of a Choctaw leader.
historical 23.7 mi away
Wheelock Academy

Choctaw girls boarding school founded 1832. One of the oldest schools west of the Mississippi.

Everything Near Clarksville

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

  • Clarksville, TX

    Clarksville, nestled a bit higher than the surrounding Red River bottomlands, has always been a place where things take root. Like the hay that springs from these fields, or the football players who launch from…

  • First Presbyterian Church of Clarksville · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of Clarksville's First Presbyterian Church. Organized way out at Old Shiloh in 1833, the congregation moved to this location in 1858. The current church building you see was constructed in…

  • Stevenson, William · 0.1 mi · Historical Marker

    (October 4, 1768 - March 5, 1857) Frontier minister; friend of Stephen F. Austin, father of Texas. A circuit rider in Missouri Conference, Methodist Church, Mr. Stevenson in 1815 made a pastoral trip to Pecan Point,…

  • Clarksville Cemetery · 0.1 mi · Historical Marker

    This burial site was first used in the 1830s for the family of James Clark, the founder of Clarksville, who is interred here. The earliest grave is that of his father Benjamin Clark, a veteran of the American…

  • Stagecoach Stand, C. S. A. · 0.1 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of a bustling Civil War-era stagecoach stop, right across from where the Red River County Courthouse once stood. Imagine the Donoho Hotel here, a hub of activity from <say-as…

  • James Clark · 0.1 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Clarksville, founded by James Clark himself. He was born way back in Tennessee in 1789 and eventually settled here, dying in Clarksville in 1838. He's the reason this town bears his name.

  • Clarksville, TX (Travis County) · 0.2 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Clarksville is just northeast of the intersection of the Missouri Pacific Railroad and West Tenth Street in west Austin, Travis County. The land, containing streams and steep hills, had previously been part of a…

  • Jones, Frank Albert · 0.2 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Frank Albert Jones, black artist, son of Edward Jones and Sarah Clark, was born at Clarksville, Texas, around 1900. He never attended school or learned to read or write, and was completely self-taught. He spent his…

  • Munchus, George Murray · 0.2 mi · Tsha Handbook

    George Murry (Murray, Murrey) Munchus, physician, the son of Murry and Lou (Beatty or Betay) Munchus was born on August 6, 1887, on a farm in Ellis County, Texas. His parents were former slaves who traveled from a…

  • Five Signers of the Texas Declaration of Independence from Red River County · 0.2 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Clarksville, and right here is a marker for five signers of the Texas Declaration of Independence. That's five men, more than from any other county, who put their names on the line in 1836. You…

  • Rainey, Homer Price · 0.2 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Homer Price Rainey, university president and gubernatorial candidate, was born on January 19, 1896, in Clarksville, Texas, son of Edward L. and Jenny (Price) Rainey. Though reared in a poor farm family, he was…

  • Burks, John C. · 0.2 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Clarksville, Texas, a town that was home to John C. Burks, a man who saw immense personal tragedy before heading off to fight in the Civil War. In 1859, Burks faced devastating losses: his father…

Show all 132 nearby places
  • Clarksville Standard · 0.2 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Clarksville, the heart of Red River County, and you're passing the birthplace of Northeast Texas journalism. Right here, back on August 20, 1842, the first issue of the Clarksville Standard rolled…

  • Clarksville, TX (Red River County) · 0.2 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Clarksville, the county seat of Red River County. This town got its start way back in 1833 when James Clark laid out a townsite here. Just a few years later, in 1837, Clarksville was incorporated…

  • Gibbons, Euell Theophilus · 0.2 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Northeast Texas, maybe near Clarksville, where Euell Gibbons was born in 1911. He learned about wild foods from his mom, and that skill would define his life. After leaving home young, he survived…

  • Gordon, Isabella Haddon Hopkins · 0.2 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Red River County, and right here is the area where Clarksville was founded. In 1834, Isabella Gordon, known as 'Aunt Ibbie,' and her husband James Clark moved to Sulphur Fork Prairie. They…

  • Harper, Henry Winston · 0.2 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Red River County, Texas, and right here is where Henry Winston Harper, a pioneering chemist and pharmacy professor, began his career. From 1881 to 1884, he worked in Clarksville, honing his skills…

  • Wright, William Crow · 0.2 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Denton County, not far from where William Crow Wright built his Chain Seven Ranch. After fighting in the Civil War, Wright and his brother returned to North Texas to find a land plagued by…

  • Young, Hugh Franklin · 0.2 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through North Texas right now, heading towards Clarksville, a town that Hugh Franklin Young chose as his home back in 1840. Young lived a life of action, starting in Virginia and Mississippi, where he…

  • Culberson, Sally Harrison · 0.2 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving past Clarksville, Texas, the birthplace of Sally Harrison Culberson. She became Texas's first native-born First Lady when her husband, Charles, was elected governor in 1895. Sally wasn't just a hostess;…

  • Northern Standard Homesite · 0.2 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Clarksville, and right here, you're passing the site of The Northern Standard, a newspaper that was a true pioneer in Texas journalism. For over 45 years, from 1842 to 1887, this paper was edited…

  • Red River County Jail · 0.2 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the Red River County Jail, a grand Victorian Italianate structure completed in 1889. Designed by architects Haggart and Sanguinet, it was built as a companion to the courthouse finished just five…

  • Clark, James · 0.2 mi · Tsha Handbook

    James Clark, founder of Clarksville, Red River County, the son of Benjamin and Mary (McLendon) Clark, was born in 1799 in Sumner County, Tennessee. About 1814 he moved with his family from Tennessee to what is now…

  • Carter, John Calvin · 0.2 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Red River County, Texas, where John Calvin Carter made his home. Carter wasn't just a farmer and merchant; he was a Confederate officer during the Civil War. In 1861, he enlisted as a first…

  • Corley, John Austin · 0.2 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Red River County, maybe near Clarksville. Right here is the story of John Austin Corley, a lawyer who traded his courtroom for the Civil War battlefield. He joined the Twenty-third Texas Cavalry…

  • Fowler, Andrew Jackson · 0.2 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Red River County, and right here, in what's now Clarksville, a remarkable figure named Andrew Jackson Fowler made his mark. Arriving in Texas in 1837, Fowler quickly became a key player. He was…

  • Gaines, Reuben Reid · 0.2 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through North Texas, and right here, in what was once the Sixth Judicial District, you're passing through the territory of Reuben Reid Gaines. He arrived in Clarksville back in 1866, after serving in the…

  • Gould, Nicholas C. · 0.2 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through what is now Titus County, Texas, near Clarksville. Right here, Nicholas C. Gould, a lawyer from Rhode Island, raised the "Clarksville Light Infantry" when the Civil War broke out. He went on to…

  • Harrison, William McClanahan · 0.2 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Red River County, Texas, and right here, in 1836, a young man named William McClanahan Harrison set up his first mercantile business. He'd come from Missouri, working his way up from a store clerk…

  • Miller County, Arkansas · 0.2 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through what used to be a huge chunk of Arkansas territory, right here in Texas! Back in 1820, Miller County, Arkansas, stretched all the way across Northeast Texas, swallowing up counties like Bowie,…

  • Morgan, Simpson Harris · 0.2 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Red River County, and right here in Clarksville, Simpson Harris Morgan built his life. He arrived from Tennessee in 1844, a lawyer who quickly became a prominent citizen and a railroad promoter.…

  • Red River County · 0.2 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Red River County, a place with a history stretching back to indigenous peoples and early European explorers. By 1816, settlers like Claiborne Wright were arriving by keelboat, establishing…

  • Scurlock, William [?–1849] · 0.2 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Red River County, Texas, where William Scurlock made his mark. He arrived in Texas in 1837 and quickly got involved, even serving on the commission to choose a permanent capital site. By 1839, he…

  • Sims, William B. · 0.2 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Red River County, near Clarksville, where William B. Sims was once a prosperous merchant. When the Civil War broke out, Sims didn't just enlist; he raised his own regiment, the Ninth Texas…

  • Swain, William Jesse · 0.2 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Clarksville, Texas, a town that was home to William Jesse Swain. Swain was a Confederate soldier who experienced a dramatic escape during the Civil War. After being captured and held prisoner, he…

  • Twenty-Ninth Texas Cavalry · 0.2 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through North Texas, near Clarksville, where in 1862 Colonel Charles DeMorse raised the Twenty-ninth Texas Cavalry. These men, from counties like Collin, Denton, and Red River, were initially tasked with…

  • Confederate Congresses · 0.2 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Red River County, where Texas played a surprisingly big role in the Confederate government during the Civil War. Over four years, eighteen Texans served as lawmakers in the Confederate capitols.…

  • St. Paul Methodist Church · 0.2 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Clarksville, heading past a piece of local history. Look to your right for St. Paul Methodist Church. Its story begins in 1883, under the leadership of Rev. John Jackson. This wasn't just any…

  • Home of Col. Charles DeMorse · 0.2 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the Clarksville home of Colonel Charles DeMorse, a true Texas pioneer. He built this colonial house starting in 1833, around two log rooms, and lived here until his death in 1887. DeMorse was also a…

  • Red River Courthouse · 0.2 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Red River Courthouse. Records date from 1836. Fifth courthouse for county. Built 1885. Italian Renaissance design.

  • Shaw, William Augustus · 0.2 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Red River County, and right here is Clarksville, the community where William Augustus Shaw spent his final decades. Shaw, a lawyer and farmer, moved to Texas from Mississippi in 1863. He settled…

  • Stout, William B. · 0.2 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Red River County, and right here is where William B. Stout made his mark. Born around 1807, Stout settled in this area in the 1820s. He became a prominent farmer, land agent, and lawyer. While…

  • Weatherred, William Wallace · 0.2 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Northeast Texas, and right here, in Clarksville, William Wallace Weatherred was born way back in 1841. He wore a lot of hats in his life: lawyer, judge, state senator, even served in the…

  • Burks, Doric Ball · 0.2 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Red River County, Texas, and right here in Clarksville, a young doctor named Doric Ball Burks was getting ready for war. He'd moved to town in 1860, setting up his practice. But when the Civil War…

  • David G. Burnet · 0.3 mi · Historical Marker

    [center front] David Gouverneur Burnet - [left front] Born April 14 - 1788 - in Newark - New Jersey - Died in Galveston - Texas - December - 5 - 1870 - Delegate to the Second Convention of Texas - 1833 - Judge of the…

  • Nunnely, W. L. · 0.3 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the W. L. Nunnely house in Clarksville, built way back in 1868. Take a look at those hand-hewn oak logs, joined with wooden pegs and square nails. Inside, you'd find spacious rooms with oak floors…

  • Thompson, Andrew · 0.3 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Clarksville, and look to your right for a truly unique home. This is the Andrew Thompson house, built in 1874. What makes it stand out? It's a rare example of Gothic Revival architecture in Texas,…

  • Becknell, William · 0.7 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through what was once Red River County, Texas, and right here, you're passing through the stomping grounds of William Becknell, the man they called the 'Father of the Santa Fe Trade.' Motivated by…

  • Hamilton, Robert · 0.7 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through what is now Red River County, Texas, a place that was once a frontier claimed by both Arkansas and Texas. Right here, in December of <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1834</say-as>, arrived…

  • Smith, George Washington · 0.7 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through what was once Red River County, Texas, a place where George Washington Smith made his home. Born in Tennessee around 1796, Smith was a veteran of battles in Tennessee, the War of 1812, and even…

  • Varner, Martin · 0.7 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through what is now Red River County, Texas, a place that was once the frontier for Anglo-American settlers. Back in 1818, Martin Varner, a pioneer who came to Texas with Stephen F. Austin's Old Three…

  • Moore, Samuel Howard · 0.7 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through East Texas, near where Samuel Howard Moore grew up. This decorated Navy admiral, born in rural Red River County, played a crucial role in averting nuclear war. During the tense Cuban Missile…

  • Jonesborough, TX · 0.7 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Jonesborough and Pecan Point share the distinction of being the first Anglo-American settlements in Texas. Located just above the mouth of Lower Pine Creek upon the site of later Davenport in what is now Red River…

  • Burkham, Charles · 0.7 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving near the border of Red River and Bowie counties, not far from where Charles Burkham founded a settlement in 1820. He was a pioneer who’d already lived in Kentucky and Arkansas Territory before crossing…

  • Kiomatia Mounds · 0.7 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Red River County, near the Oklahoma border, and you're passing by a place that was once the heart of Caddoan civilization: the Kiomatia Mounds. For nearly a thousand years, these ceremonial…

  • Methodist Church · 0.7 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through what is now Red River County, and you're passing through the very cradle of Protestant faith in Texas. Back in the fall of 1815, a Methodist minister named William Stevenson preached right here,…

  • Montgomery, Andrew · 0.7 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through what is now Red River County, near the Texas-Oklahoma border. Back in the 1820s, this was Pecan Point, a settlement where folks like Andrew Montgomery and his family tried to make a life. They…

  • Stevenson, William · 0.7 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Northeast Texas, and right here, in what is now Red River County, William Stevenson held the very first Protestant service ever recorded in Texas. This was back in 1815, at a place called Pecan…

  • Wright, Travis George · 0.7 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through what is now Red River County, Texas, a region that saw a lot of action back in the 1830s. Right here, Travis George Wright was a key player. In 1834, he led a dangerous expedition into Indian…

  • Young, William Hugh · 0.7 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through North Texas, and right here is the land that shaped William Hugh Young, a Confederate officer who became one of the war's most wounded heroes. Born in Missouri, he moved to Red River County as a…

  • La Branche, Alcée Louis · 0.7 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Alcée Louis La Branche, United States chargé d'affaires to the Republic of Texas , son of Alexandre La Branche, was born on his father's plantation on the Mississippi River near New Orleans in 1806. The family, earlier…

  • Pecan Point, TX · 0.7 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Pecan Point, in what is now northeastern Red River County, was successively a landmark, trading post, and focus of settlement on the Red River. Its first authenticated mention is found in the French archives at…

  • Caton, William Rodolphus · 0.7 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Red River County, Texas, where William Rodolphus Caton lived much of his life. Caton was a wealthy farmer and slaveholder before the Civil War. When war broke out, he enlisted as a private, but…

  • Davis, Daniel · 0.7 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through what is now Red River County, Texas, a place that was home to Daniel Davis, an early settler who made his mark on the Texas frontier. He arrived here in 1818 with his second wife, Nancy, settling…

  • Denton, Ashley Newton · 0.7 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through what was once a vast frontier, and right here in Red River County, the Denton family settled around 1837. The father, John Bunyan Denton, was a preacher and frontiersman, and he eventually gave…

  • Martin, Bennett H. · 0.7 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through what was once Red River County, Texas, and right here is the area where Bennett H. Martin, a judge with a reputation for being 'riproarious, rearing, tearing,' once promoted the town of Albion.…

  • Wright, Claiborne · 0.7 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through what was once the wild Texas frontier, and right near here, Claiborne Wright was carving out a life. In 1816, he sailed with his family and six slaves on a keelboat named the Pioneer, heading for…

  • Mabry, William L. · 0.7 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Red River County, near Clarksville. Right here is the community of Mabry, named for William L. Mabry. He arrived in Texas in 1848, eventually settling on a homestead that grew into this very town.…

  • Manchester, TX (Red River County) · 0.7 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Red River County, heading towards Manchester. This little community got its start after the Civil War, but it wasn't always called Manchester. In 1870, a post office opened here, but it was named…

  • Aikin Grove, TX · 0.7 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Aikin Grove is a small farming community located on Farm Road 910 about four miles south of Clarksville in south central Red River County. The settlement was established during the latter half of the 1800s and named for…

  • Bagwell, TX · 0.7 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Bagwell is at the intersection of Ranch roads 2120 and 2573, seven miles northwest of Clarksville and six miles east of Detroit in western Red River County. It was named for Milas (Miles) Bagwell, who operated a tannery…

  • Kiomatia, TX · 0.7 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Kiomatia, in a bend of the Red River in northwestern Red River County, was included in Arkansas Territory when Claiborne Wright settled at Pecan Point on the north side of the river in 1816. After Wright's death his…

  • City of Clarksville · 0.9 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Clarksville, the city officially chartered way back on December 29th, 1837. It's named for James Clark, who first settled in this area back in 1834. He's the reason this town exists today.

  • The Queen of Clarksville · 1.0 mi

    As you look at the historic buildings around the Clarksville square, know that you're standing in a town older than the State of Texas itself. James Clark laid out this townsite back in eighteen thirty-three, and when…

  • When the Iron Horse Arrived · 1.0 mi

    For its first forty years, Clarksville depended on the moody and often unnavigable Red River for trade. Steamboats hauled goods up from New Orleans, but they stopped at Rowland's Landing, fifteen miles north of town,…

  • First Baptist Church of Clarksville · 1.3 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of the First Baptist Church of Clarksville. It was organized in 1847 by seven charter members and a Kentucky minister. The congregation built its first sanctuary in 1850 and has constructed…

  • McKenzie College · 3.1 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Clarksville, and right here, you're passing the site of McKenzie College. <break time="400ms"/> Founded in 1841 by Reverend John W. P. McKenzie, this wasn't just any school; it was a major…

  • A House of the William Becknell Family · 3.6 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Clarksville, Red River County, near where William Becknell, the man who blazed the Santa Fe Trail in 1821, settled with his family in 1835. Imagine David Crockett stopping by on his way to the…

  • Shiloh Cumberland Presbyterian Church · 3.8 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Clarksville, Red River County. In this vicinity, the Shiloh Cumberland Presbyterian Church was organized in June of 1833 by Reverend Milton Estill. This early organization marks a significant…

  • New Shamrock Cemetery · 3.8 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past New Shamrock Cemetery, established in 1918. It was recognized as a Historic Texas Cemetery in 2001.

  • Stone's Chapel Cemetery · 4.1 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Clarksville, past the Stone's Chapel Cemetery. It's named for Parson Amos M. Stone, a Cumberland Presbyterian minister who moved here from Tennessee in 1857. He donated land for the church and…

  • Old Shamrock Cemetery · 5.4 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the Old Shamrock Cemetery, established back in 1860. This site was recognized as a Historic Texas Cemetery in 2001.

  • J. D. Tippit · 6.1 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Red River County, not far from where J.D. Tippit grew up on his family's farm. Tippit, born in 1924, served with distinction in World War II, earning a Bronze Star. After returning home and…

  • The 'Father of the Santa Fe Trail' · 6.8 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Red River County, the very place William Becknell, known as the 'Father of the Santa Fe Trail,' called home later in life. He was more than just a trader; he was a frontier soldier who fought in…

  • William Becknell · 6.8 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Clarksville, Red River County, the final resting place of William Becknell. Born in Virginia in 1797, Becknell was a true pioneer, not just of Texas, but of the Santa Fe Trail. He also served in…

  • Becknell Cemetery · 6.8 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Becknell Cemetery, also known as Robbinsville Cemetery. This burial ground became known as Becknell Cemetery when Mary Becknell, wife of William Becknell, deeded this land to the Methodist Episcopal…

  • New Haven Cemetery · 7.3 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past New Haven Cemetery, a final resting place for many area pioneers. The story here starts in 1859 when George M. Sargeant donated land for a church, school, and graveyard. The very first person laid to…

  • Annona, TX · 8.3 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Annona, a town with a name that sounds like a gentle breeze, but it actually has a pretty straightforward origin story. It started in the early 1870s, right along the path of a new railroad. When…

  • Garland Cemetery · 9.5 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Annona, and just ahead is the Garland Cemetery. It began as a family burial ground for Joseph and Martha Wagley, who settled here in 1833. Though the earliest marked grave dates to 1874, this site…

  • The Engineering of the Iron Horse · 9.7 mi

    The Texas and Pacific Railway finished its line through eastern Red River County in 1876, and this town grew up on it fast. But it wasn't called Annona yet. From 1874 the stop here was Walker Station, named for G. W.…

  • Bluff Cemetery · 10.6 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Red River County, near Detroit. Look for Bluff Cemetery, a historic resting place that began with a veteran's donation. Benjamin Weatherly, who fought in both the U.S.-Mexico War and the Civil…

  • Warthan Cemetery · 10.9 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Annona, and right here is Warthan Cemetery. It’s a final resting place with roots stretching back before the Republic of Texas. The man who officially set aside this land, George Washington…

  • English Cemetery · 11.0 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through English, Texas, a community founded in 1852 by Oliver and Simeon English. They brought families and slaves from Missouri, establishing a 2,000-acre plantation and a store that became a vital…

  • A Town on the Move · 11.3 mi

    The town of Detroit, Texas, owes its name to a very pragmatic decision — and to one man's homesickness. This community grew up in the early 1870s along the route the Texas and Pacific Railway had surveyed, and when the…

  • Named for an Agent's Michigan Hometown · 11.3 mi

    The location of Detroit wasn't chosen for its beauty; it was determined by 19th-century engineering. When the railroad planned its route through Red River County, its surveyors weren't thinking about founding a town.…

  • From young lawyer to Vice President · 12.7 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the Detroit home where John Nance Garner lived as a young lawyer from 1889 to 1892. From these roots, he launched an incredible political career, serving in the Texas Legislature, the U.S. House of…

  • Garner, John Nance · 12.7 mi · Historical Marker

    (1868-1967) As a young lawyer lived, 1889-92, in this house owned by his parents. He rose from Uvalde County Judge (1893-96), to Texas Legislature (1898-1902), to U. S. Congress (1904-32), with a term as Speaker, House…

  • The Town That Moved for the Railroad · 12.7 mi

    The town of Bogata picked itself up and walked a quarter mile. It started in 1836, when William and Mary McGill Humphries settled by the springs on Little Mustang Creek and called the place Maple Springs. It got a…

  • Garner, John Nance · 12.8 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving near Detroit, Texas, the birthplace of John Nance Garner, better known as 'Cactus Jack.' Born in 1868, Garner would go on to become the 32nd Vice President of the United States under Franklin D.…

  • Detroit, TX · 12.8 mi

    Detroit, Texas, a small town in Red River County, has a rich history that includes a connection to a significant figure in American politics. John Nance Garner, the 32nd Vice President of the United States, was born…

  • Taylor, Hobart Jr. · 12.8 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Hobart Taylor, Jr., attorney and civil servant, was born in Texarkana, Texas, in 1920 to Hobart Taylor, Sr. , and wife Charlotte Taylor. His father, businessman and civil rights activist Hobart Taylor, Sr., was the son…

  • Detroit, TX · 12.8 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Detroit, Texas, a town that owes its existence to a railroad that never quite got there. Back in the early 1870s, settlers were banking on the Texas and Pacific Railway. When it finally arrived in…

  • Bogata Cemetery · 12.9 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of Bogata Cemetery, which started as a simple family burial ground. In 1840, William Humphries buried his 9-year-old daughter here, and neighbors soon followed. The families officially…

  • First Christian Church of Detroit · 12.9 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of the First Christian Church of Detroit. This congregation was organized in 1901 by the Rev. A. H. Darnell, who also served as its first pastor. He led the construction of this sanctuary…

  • Tuggle Springs Cemetery · 13.2 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Clarksville, near Tuggle Springs Cemetery. Established around 1850 by farmer Andrew Jackson Tuggle, it officially became a burial ground in 1864 when a mother and infant died. The cemetery, named…

  • Bogata, TX · 13.4 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Bogata, Texas, a town with a name that almost wasn't. It started in 1836 as Maple Springs, settled by William and Mary Humphries. By 1881, the community had grown and split, needing a new post…

  • Townes, Nathaniel William · 13.4 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Red River County, Texas, and right here is where Nathaniel William Townes made his mark, though not entirely on the battlefield. Townes, a lawyer and planter from Paris, Texas, joined the Ninth…

  • Higgins, Sophia File · 13.4 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Red River County, Texas, near Bogata. Right here, in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1861</say-as>, Sophia File Higgins arrived from Tennessee with her children. She was a widow who had…

  • John Nance Garner · 13.5 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the birthplace of a man who served as Vice President of the United States! John Nance Garner was born right here in Detroit, Texas, on November 22nd, 1869. Before becoming VP in 1933, he was a Texas…

  • Salem Baptist Church · 13.5 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of Salem Baptist Church, organized in 1856 by Reverend Thomas Wilson Anderson with twelve members. The congregation moved here by 1871, and by 1918, their two-story building hosted the…

  • Avery Methodist Church · 16.1 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of the Avery Methodist Church. Organized in 1896 as Douglas Methodist Episcopal Church, South, the congregation built a shared church and schoolhouse. The town was renamed Avery in 1902, and…

  • The Iron Compass: How the Railroad Built Avery · 16.2 mi

    The town of Avery exists because of a 19th-century engineering decision. When the Texas and Pacific Railway planned its route through Northeast Texas in the 1870s, every mile of track was a calculation of cost, terrain,…

  • Avery, TX · 16.2 mi

    From the 1920s through the early 1960s, Avery was one of the largest tomato producing and shipping cities in northeastern Texas. Cotton ginning was also an important local industry during the first decade of the…

  • Avery, TX · 16.2 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Avery, Texas, a town that's worn a few names. It started as Douglass in the 1870s, a planned stop for the railroad, but the area was so sparsely populated that in early 1881, visitors found…

  • Deport, TX · 16.2 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Deport, Texas, a town born from a simple need for water. Colonel Dee Thompson founded this spot on Mustang Creek in the late 1800s, aiming to give his horses a reliable watering hole. The…

  • Mt. Pleasant Cemetery · 17.3 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Mt. Pleasant Cemetery, a resting place with stories etched in stone. The earliest marked grave here belongs to four-year-old Sammie Bryan, who died way back in 1874. But this cemetery's history is…

  • Talco, TX · 17.4 mi

    In 1912, Talco made a strategic move to be closer to a railroad line, a decision that would significantly impact its future. The city's economy experienced a massive boom in 1936 with the discovery of oil, leading Talco…

  • Talco, TX · 17.4 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Titus County, and right here is Talco. This quiet town was once an oil boomtown, and it all started in February of <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1936</say-as>. That's when oil was…

  • A Star in the Window, a Marker by the Road · 18.2 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…

  • McCrury Cemetery · 18.6 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the McCrury Cemetery, a private family burial ground that became a community graveyard. John McCrury's burial in 1864 is the oldest documented grave here, though earlier burials likely exist. The…

  • Capt. Wm. E. Moore Home · 18.7 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the home of Captain William E. Moore, built in 1871. Moore was a Civil War soldier and later served as a state senator during Governor Richard Coke's administration, a period that marked the end of…

  • The Deported Town? · 19.0 mi

    As you drive into Deport, you have to wonder about the name. It sounds… unusual. And there's a good story behind it, though it's not the one you might guess. Despite how it sounds, no town ever got "deported" here. The…

  • A Tale of Two Counties · 19.0 mi

    As you drive through Deport, you're crossing an invisible but very important line. This town is one of the few in Texas that sits in two different counties: Lamar and Red River. The county line runs right through it,…

  • The Great Talco Oil Boom · 19.1 mi

    Imagine it's February 1936, and you're standing right where you are now. Instead of a quiet highway, you'd be in a sea of mud, noise, and excitement. This was the heart of the Talco oil boom, one of the last and wildest…

  • The Science of the Talco Boom · 19.1 mi

    The secret to Talco's explosive oil boom, which began with a discovery in February 1936, wasn't just that there was oil - it was the specific geology. The oil sits in fluvial sandstones of the Paluxy Formation, caught…

  • Talco, TX · 19.1 mi

    Oil discovery in 1936 had a significant impact on Talco's economy, leading to a boom and earning the city the title of 'asphalt capital of the world'. This discovery transformed the local industry, making Talco a…

  • Ringo Ferry and Ringo Cemetery · 19.1 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Bogata, and just a couple miles from here, the Ringo family carved out a vital lifeline for early Texas. Back in 1840, Peter and Edy Ringo arrived with their nine kids and set up a ferry on the…

  • First Baptist Church of Blossom · 19.2 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Blossom, where the First Baptist Church was organized back in 1873 by the Rev. Sam Anderson. Early services met in a log schoolhouse, and baptisms happened in local ponds. The church has seen…

  • Blossom, TX · 19.4 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Blossom is on the Missouri Pacific Railroad and at the intersection of Farm Road 196 and U.S. Highway 82, nine miles east of Paris in eastern Lamar County. The site was occupied by 1849, when the post office opened…

  • Blossom, TX · 19.5 mi

    Blossom, Texas, sits nestled in the rolling hills of Lamar County, not too far from the Red River, a place where the land feels old and stories run deep. For years, the town held onto its quiet charm, a place where…

  • Bartonville, TX · 19.7 mi · Local history

    The rolling Cross Timbers of North Texas, with their mix of open prairie and dense post oak forests, drew early settlers to what would become Bartonville. Farmers and ranchers, primarily from the Southern states,…

  • Cactus Jack's Childhood Home · 19.8 mi

    You might not expect a connection to the White House in a town this size, but a future Vice President of the United States went to school here. John Nance Garner was born in 1868 in a log cabin near Detroit, Texas, up…

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