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Corsicana, Texas

Everything Corsicana is known for

26 songs mention this city 15 artists from here

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Corsicana, Texas, located about 50 miles southeast of Dallas, has a notable connection to the world of music, particularly country and jazz. While known for being the "Birthplace of the Texas Oil Industry" and home to the famous Collin Street Bakery fruitcakes, the city has also fostered musical talent.

Among the artists who call Corsicana home are country music legend Billy Joe Shaver and jazz musician David "Fathead" Newman. The city is also mentioned in songs like "Probably Corsicana" by Max Stalling and "Corsicana Lemonade" by White Denim. The Corsicana Opry, housed in a historic building, hosts live country music shows.

Music in Corsicana

Songs About Corsicana

K.A.N.D., Corsicana, Texas
Billy Joe Shaver
82%
"K.A.N.D., Corsicana, Texas"
Probably Corsicana
Max Stalling
81%
"Probably Corsicana"
Corsicana Lemonade
White Denim
80%
"Corsicana Lemonade"
Probably Corsicana Intro
Max Stalling
77%
"Corsicana, Texas, let's go down to Corsicana"
Baccstreet
Yung Hood
75%
"ARTIST_ORIGIN"
The Mountain of Corsicana
Kublai Khan TX
75%
"TITLE"
K.A.N.D.; Corsicana; Texas
Billy Joe Shaver
70%
Corsicana Daily Sun
Billy Joe Shaver
60%
"The Corsicana Daily Sun shining on my new straw hat"
Big Sky
Parker McCollum
53%
"I stole a car in Corsicana again"
Wacko From Waco
Billy Joe Shaver
51%
"I was born in Corsicana"
Goodbye Lefty
Merle Haggard
50%
"Goodbye Lefty"
56 Fury
Rodney Crowell
50%
wacko for waco
billy joe shaver
45%
Rivertown
Hayes Carll
23%
"Yeah I am from Corsican', wayward on the storm"
If You've Got The Money I've Got The Time
Willie Nelson
5%
"If you've got the money I've got the time"
Always Late (With Your Kisses)
Willie Nelson
5%
"Always late with your kisses"
I Never Go Around Mirrors
Cody Jinks
5%
"I never go around mirrors"
This Ain't My Town
Randy Rogers & Wade Bowen
5%
"Ain't no room left for Lefty"
Won't Find Me Anymore
The Lowdown Drifters
5%
"Like Billie Joe says, "We'll live forever, but these song we leave for you""
Lefty’s Gone
George Strait
4%
"It's not right, but Lefty's gone"

Showing top 20 of 26 songs · Hear more in the free iPhone app

Artists From Corsicana

Y
Yung Hood
hip-hop
B
Billy Joe Shaver
country
L
Lefty Frizzell
country
B
Bobby Sparks II
jazz
H
Hot Lips Page
jazz
M
Marquis of Vaudeville
rock
M
Mack Stevens
rock
A
Aaron Copeland
country
T
Tyree Glenn
jazz
J
John Hardee
jazz
D
David "Fathead" Newman
jazz
T
Tony Taylor
country
B
Buck Griffin
rock
C
Chaser Crouch
country
A
Awkward AF
rock

Rivers & Roads in Song near Corsicana

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

Interstate 45 8 songs Trinity River 11 songs Interstate 35 45 songs Interstate 20 13 songs

Musical Heritage

The Corsicana Kid Who Taught a Computer to Sing RoadyGoat

John Kelly Junior was born in Corsicana in December of nineteen twenty three, and he ended up at Bell Labs, one of the great research labs of the century. In nineteen fifty six he published a formula for how much to bet when you have an edge, now called the Kelly criterion, and gamblers and investors still argue about it. Then, with colleagues Carol Lochbaum and Max Mathews, he made a computer sing. Their recording of a computer voice singing Daisy Bell, the old song about a bicycle built for two, is the earliest known recording of a computer-synthesized voice singing a song. And years later, in the movie Two Thousand and One, A Space Odyssey, as the astronaut shuts down the computer HAL, HAL sings Daisy. The story goes that Arthur C. Clarke, who wrote the story, had heard that demonstration at Bell Labs.

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Born in Corsicana, Raised by Birdie RoadyGoat

Billy Joe Shaver, the songwriter behind Waylon Jennings' album Honky Tonk Heroes, was born in Corsicana on the sixteenth of August, nineteen thirty nine. In his autobiography, he says that when there was talk of putting him in a home, his grandmother, Birdie Lee Collins Watson, wouldn't let them, and she raised him herself. The chapter about those years borrows the title of one of his songs: Jesus Was Our Savior and Cotton Was Our King. Shaver went on to write nine of the ten songs on Honky Tonk Heroes, and he spent the rest of his life as one of the most admired songwriters in country music.

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Fathead RoadyGoat

The saxophonist David Newman was born in Corsicana, and he got his nickname from a band teacher. He had the music on his stand upside down, the teacher knew he could barely read it right side up, and he thumped him on the head and called him Fathead. The name stuck for life. In nineteen fifty two, he was driving for Ray Charles in Houston when police stopped them, for no reason they'd give, and, as Charles put it, because they didn't like David's hair. Newman went to jail, Charles bailed him out, and Charles said that night made them soul brothers for life. Fathead Newman became a mainstay of Ray Charles's band, and later a session player for Atlantic Records, including on Aretha Franklin's hit Respect.

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Duke Ellington's Trombone From Corsicana RoadyGoat

The jazz trombonist Tyree Glenn was born in Corsicana in nineteen twelve and took his first lessons from a local musician, Snub Mosley. In nineteen forty seven he joined Duke Ellington's orchestra, playing trombone and vibraphone, and later he played in Louis Armstrong's All Stars, from the middle of the nineteen sixties until Armstrong's last years.

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History of Corsicana

Drilling for Water, Striking Black Gold RoadyGoat

The greatest moment in Corsicana’s history was, at first, a colossal engineering failure. In 1894, the city was growing, but it had a serious infrastructure problem: no reliable water source. City leaders hired the American Well and Prospecting Company to drill a deep water well. The crew drilled past 1,000 feet, but instead of clean water, the drill bit hit a layer of oil-soaked sand from the Woodbine geological formation. A thick, smelly, black goo seeped into the borehole, ruining the potential water supply. It was a disaster. But local entrepreneurs saw an opportunity. They formed a company, drilled more wells, and soon, Corsicana was producing thousands of barrels a day. This accidental discovery forced rapid innovation. To handle the crude, the city built the first modern oil refinery west of the Mississippi in 1898. This wasn't just a discovery; it was the birth of the Texas oil industry, all because an engineering project went wonderfully wrong.

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The World's Most Famous Fruitcake RoadyGoat

You might not expect to find a global food empire in a town this size, but Corsicana is home to the Collin Street Bakery, the undisputed king of fruitcake. The story starts in 1896, when a German immigrant named August Weidmann opened a bakery. He was joined by a partner, Tom McElwee, and they created a fruitcake recipe so rich and delicious it became a local favorite. The real genius, though, was in their business model. As traveling salesmen and celebrities passed through town, they tasted the cake and wanted to send it home. This sparked the idea for a mail-order business. Using customer lists from luxury hotels, they started shipping their DeLuxe Fruitcake across the country and then around the world. Today, the bakery is still family-owned and ships to nearly 200 countries, all from this small Texas town.

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The Rope Walker RoadyGoat

In Corsicana's Hebrew Cemetery there's a gravestone that just says Rope Walker. The story goes that a one-legged tightrope walker came to town and strung a rope across Beaton Street, and tried to cross it carrying an iron cookstove on his back. He fell, and was badly hurt, and before he died he said he was Jewish, and a Jewish merchant was called to hear him recite a Hebrew prayer. No one could get him to say his name, so Corsicana's Jewish community buried him under that one word. For more than a century he was a mystery. Then a genealogist digging through old newspapers found a one-legged tightrope walker who had toured the country until eighteen eighty three under two names, Professor De Houne and Professor Moses Berg, a performer said to have lost his leg in the Civil War. He had even bragged that he'd cook pancakes on the stove while walking the rope. Not everyone in Corsicana accepts that he's the man in the grave, but the rope walker may finally have a name.

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Jose Antonio Navarro

1821

Lover of liberty. Foe of despotism. Born in San Antonio, Texas, February 27, 1795. Died January 13, 1871 and buried there. Member of the Legislature of Coahuila and Texas, 1821; land commissioner of De Witt's colony 1831 and of Bexar District, 1834-1835; signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence, 1836; member of the Congress of the Republic of Texas, 1838-1839; a commissioner of the Santa Fe Expedition, 1841; member of the Constitutional Convention of 1845; senator in the Legislature of Texas, 1846-1849. Navarro County gratefully bears his name. Corsicana was named by him for the isle of his father's birth - Corsica. Erected by the State of Texas 1936 with funds appropriated by the federal government to commemorate one hundred years of Texas Independence.

Historical Marker →

Corsicana Oilfield

1894

Corsicana field is an elliptical-shaped oil and gas producing area located in and around Corsicana in central Navarro County. It is significant because it was the first Texas field to produce oil and gas in important quantities. American Well and Prospecting Company, a water-well contractor, discovered it accidentally on June 9, 1894, while seeking a new water source for the city of Corsicana. The field produces from a pinch-out trap in an Upper Cretaceous sandstone reservoir at an average depth of 1,050 feet. The source of its primary recovery was a combined gas-cap and water drive. Its secondary recovery is the result of a number of saltwater flood projects initiated in the 1950s. Between 1896 and January 1, 1993, the field produced nearly 44 million barrels of oil. From 1900 through 1909 gas from the early field supplied fuel for domestic and industrial uses in Corsicana and other Texas cities. In 1893 civic leaders of Corsicana needed a dependable water supply to promote commercial development. They contracted with American Well and Prospecting Company, operated by H. G. Johnston, Elmer Akins, and Charles Rittersbacher, to drill three water wells for the city. On June 9, 1894, the drillers took the first well to a depth of 1,027 feet, where they encountered oil. Although the producing formation was cased off, oil continued to rise to the surface outside the casing. When residents learned of the oil in the water well, interest in prospecting for oil in the area grew. On September 6, Ralph Beaton and H. G. Damon, local citizens, joined with an experienced Pennsylvania oilman, John Davidson, to organize the Corsicana Oil Development Company. The company took a twelve-year mineral lease from A. and Bertha Bunert and entered an agreement with John H. Galey of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, on September 14, 1894. Galey agreed to drill five wells for the company at his own expense in exchange for an undivided one-half interest in all oil and gas leases owned by Corsicana Oil Development. The first well was staked 200 feet south of the water well drilled by American Well and Prospecting and was completed on October 15, 1895. It had an initial flow of 2½ barrels of oil a day. The second well was a dry hole. The third well was staked at Fourth and Collins streets in town and was completed in May 1896 with an initial yield of twenty-two barrels of oil a day. Three additional wells were producing by the end of 1896, when annual production of 1,450 barrels of oil was reported. By 1897 it was evident that commercial quantities of oil could be produced in the area, and development of the field moved to the east, northeast, and southeast of the original site. Although the early wells were small producers, prospectors sank so many wells that Corsicana oil flooded an already-limited Texas market, where the demand was only for use in local field development and for shipment to Austin and Dallas for making gas. With the only refinery in Texas located at Sour Lake, Corsicana operators at times found no market for their crude. At those times, they poured surplus oil on the ground. Waste in the field resulted in the passage on March 29, 1899, of the first Texas statutory regulation of the drilling, casing, plugging, and abandoning of oil and gas wells to end irresponsible producing and dumping. By the time dumping of crude was outlawed in Texas, Corsicana had found a dependable outlet for its oil. In 1897 Mayor James E. Whitesell and town leaders invited Joseph S. Cullinan , a successful Pennsylvania oilman, to come to Corsicana to advise in the development of the field. Cullinan was so interested in the oil potential of the area that he became a participant in its development. He contracted with several operators to buy 150,000 barrels of oil for fifty cents a barrel. He agreed to lay gathering lines, construct storage tanks, build a refinery, and find a market for Corsicana oil. He began the process of fulfilling his agreement, but those who

Tsha Handbook →

Corsicana - Fruitcakes and First Oil

1894

Home of Collin Street Bakery, shipping DeLuxe Fruitcakes worldwide since 1896. Also the site of the first significant oil discovery in Texas in 1894.

Smith, Thomas Ingles

1812

(1800-1848) Thomas Ingles Smith was born in 1800 in Virginia and was a soldier in the War of 1812 in a company commanded by his father, General Bird B. Smith. Smith arrived in Texas late in 1836, and soon enlisted in the Republic of Texas army under Gen Felix Huston. He was wounded in the Battle of the Salado in September 1842. In December of that year President Sam Houston sent a small group of Rangers under the command of Smith and Eli Chandler to move the archives of the Republic to Washington-on-the-Brazos. The citizens of Austin, in a show of force, prevented the move in what became known as the Archive War. By 1843 Smith was living along Chambers Creek in present Ellis County, and in 1844 was a Texas Ranger and Indian Scout. He commanded the Robertson County Rangers along the frontier in 1845. As commissioner to negotiate with the Indians, he signed the last treaty made by the Republic of Texas. Fort Smith, one of a line of fortifications from the Colorado to Red River, was established in 1846 and named for Thomas I. Smith. Along with two partners, he gave land for the townsite of Corsicana, and was a member of the commission to locate the Navarro County seat in 1848. He died in Austin in March 1848. Texas Sesquicentennial 1836-1986

Historical Marker →

American Well and Prospecting Company

1894

In Kansas in 1890 Charles Rittersbacher and Horace Greeley Johnston organized a water-well-drilling business that they named the American Well and Prospecting Company. In 1894 they contracted with the Corsicana Water Development Company for three water wells in Corsicana, Texas. Work began on the first well in June at a site on South Twelfth Street, a few blocks from the business district. At a depth of 1,035 feet they struck oil and thus opened the state's first commercial oilfield. By 1900 the Corsicana oilfield was producing more than 800,000 barrels of crude annually and had the first refinery west of the Mississippi River. Although they continued drilling some wells, Rittersbacher and Johnston soon concentrated primarily on repairing drilling rigs and other equipment. They had opened a small shop in Corsicana to repair their own equipment, but meeting demands for repairs from other drillers became a full-time endeavor. About 1900 Rittersbacher and Johnston purchased patent rights for hydraulic rotary drilling equipment from M. C. and C. E. Baker, brothers who had pioneered in that field. From that time the American Well and Prospecting Company began manufacturing and distributing oilfield equipment under the trade name Gumbo Buster. A rig manufactured by American Well and Prospecting and operated by the Hamill brothers of Corsicana was used to drill the A. F. Lucas well at Spindletop in 1901, thus ushering in the petroleum industry on the Texas Gulf Coast ( see SPINDLETOP OILFIELD ). Eventually Gumbo Buster equipment was used in every major oilfield in the world. With the outbreak of World War II , American Well and Prospecting, like many other industries, converted its operations to the production of war-related materials. Among the items manufactured by the company were 1,000-pound semi-armor-piercing bombs and 240-millimeter shells. The plant operated around the clock and employed 1,000 people during peak wartime production. American Well and Prospecting was a family-controlled operation for the first several decades of its existence. Johnston served as president until his death in 1930. Rittersbacher died in 1919, but his sons, Elmer and Edgar, held management positions in the company, as did Eliot Johnston and Lowell Estes, son and son-in-law of Johnston. On June 30, 1944, Bethlehem Steel of Pennsylvania purchased all the outstanding stock and assets of American Well and Prospecting Company. At the conclusion of the war Bethlehem resumed production of oilfield equipment at the Corsicana plant. Increased competition in the business of manufacturing oilfield equipment and hard times in the petroleum industry forced Bethlehem to close the plant in 1959.

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Corsicana, TX

1894

Corsicana, county seat and largest city of Navarro County, is in the central portion of the county fifty-eight miles southeast of Dallas at the junction of Interstate 45, U.S. highways 75 and 287, and State highways 22 and 31. It was established in 1848 to serve as the county seat of newly-established Navarro County. José Antonio Navarro , a hero of the Texas Revolution after whom the county was named, was given the honor of naming the new town; he suggested Corsicana after the island of Corsica, the birthplace of his parents. David R. Mitchell, an early area settler, donated 100 acres for a townsite, and with the assistance of Thomas I. Smith, platted the land and began selling lots. The new town was centered near a log tavern built in 1847 and owned and operated by Rev. Hampton McKinney. The first courthouse, a two-room log structure, was constructed in 1849, and served as a church, meeting hall and civic center until a new frame building was constructed in 1853. The first school, taught by Mack Elliot and a man named Lafoon, opened in the old courthouse in 1847, and a short time later the Corsicana Female Literary Institute began operating. Within a few years of the town's founding, a large number of mercantile establishments opened on and around the courthouse square, and new brick courthouse-a symbol of the town's growing prosperity-was erected in 1858. The first newspaper, the Prairie Blade , was founded in 1855; it was replaced by the Express in 1857, which in turn was replaced by the Observer on the eve of the Civil War . By 1850 Corsicana's population had already grown to some 1,200, 300 of whom were reportedly Black enslaved people. Not surprisingly given the town's large number of slaveholders, Corsicanans supported Breckinridge over the Fusionist slate of candidates in the presidential election of 1860; and in February 1861, when had the election was held on the secession issue, the vote was almost unanimous, 213 in favor and only three opposed. At outbreak of the war in April 1861 townspeople held a mass demonstration on the courthouse square in favor of the Confederacy, and appeals were made for volunteers to serve in the Confederate Army in Virginia. The first company, the "Navarro Rifles" commanded by Capt. Clinton M. Winkler , was organized in August 1861; four additional companies were organized in the town by 1863. After the war Union soldiers, commanded by Capt. R. A. Chaffee, occupied the town. Corsicana, however, witnessed little of the bitter strife experienced by many Texas towns during Reconstruction : Chaffee enlisted a number of former slaves as policeman, but avoided provoking the townspeople, and at one juncture even came out in support of former Confederate officer C. M. Winkler who had caned a Union soldier after the man had insulted him. The town's economy suffered a serious setback during the war and the early Reconstruction years, but by the beginning of 1870s business had begun to recover. In 1871 the town's first bank opened, operated by two men named Adams and Leonard, and in 1874 Union troops finally were withdrawn. The greatest spur to the town's development, however, came in November 1871 with the completion of the Houston and Texas Central Railroad. The coming of the railroad brought numerous settlers and new merchants, among them the Sanger Brothers , the Padgitts and others, who established stores near the new depot on East Collin Street. The construction of the Texas and St. Louis Railway (later the Cotton Belt) in 1880 prompted further commercial development, and by the mid-eighties Corsicana had become the leading trading and shipping center for a large area of the northern blacklands. In 1872 the town was incorporated with a mayoral form of government, and in 1880 a public school system was organized. The decade of the eighties also saw the establishment of a city fire department, a municipal water works, the installation of the first telephone system, and the construction of the

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Things to Do in Corsicana

food 0.4 mi away
Collin Street Bakery

August Weidmann arrived in Corsicana from Bavaria in 1896 and opened a little bakery on Collin Street. His DeLuxe Fruitcake packed with pecans cherries and…
food 0.3 mi away
Wolf Brand Chili Origin Corner

Lyman T. Davis parked his lunch wagon at this corner of Beaton Street and 5th Avenue in 1895, ladling out five-cent bowls of chili in front of the Blue Front…
day trip
Day Trip to Corsicana 📣 (FULL EPISODE) S13 E4

Featured on The Daytripper — a full-episode local travel guide.

Everything Near Corsicana

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

  • Drilling for Water, Striking Black Gold

    The greatest moment in Corsicana’s history was, at first, a colossal engineering failure. In 1894, the city was growing, but it had a serious infrastructure problem: no reliable water source. City leaders hired the…

  • The World's Most Famous Fruitcake

    You might not expect to find a global food empire in a town this size, but Corsicana is home to the Collin Street Bakery, the undisputed king of fruitcake. The story starts in 1896, when a German immigrant named August…

  • The Rope Walker

    In Corsicana's Hebrew Cemetery there's a gravestone that just says Rope Walker. The story goes that a one-legged tightrope walker came to town and strung a rope across Beaton Street, and tried to cross it carrying an…

  • The Elephant on First Avenue

    On Saturday, October twelfth, nineteen twenty nine, the Al G. Barnes Circus rolled into Corsicana, and a big crowd turned out to watch the elephants come off the train. The tallest was Black Diamond, a nine ton bull…

  • Corsicana, TX

    Corsicana's history is marked by pivotal moments that shaped its destiny. Founded in 1848 by José Antonio Navarro, the city was named after the Mediterranean island of Corsica, the birthplace of Navarro's father. A…

  • The Chili King of Corsicana

    Back in 1895, if you were hungry in downtown Corsicana, you’d look for Lyman T. Davis and his lunch wagon. For five cents, he’d sell you a bowl of his rich, greasy, and spicy chili. It was a huge hit with the locals.…

  • Corsicana, TX

    Corsicana is considered an important agribusiness center. Additionally, the city's history with oil is significant; oil was accidentally discovered in 1894, leading to the first commercial oil well in Texas in 1895.…

  • The Corsicana Kid Who Taught a Computer to Sing

    John Kelly Junior was born in Corsicana in December of nineteen twenty three, and he ended up at Bell Labs, one of the great research labs of the century. In nineteen fifty six he published a formula for how much to bet…

  • Born in Corsicana, Raised by Birdie

    Billy Joe Shaver, the songwriter behind Waylon Jennings' album Honky Tonk Heroes, was born in Corsicana on the sixteenth of August, nineteen thirty nine. In his autobiography, he says that when there was talk of putting…

  • The Corsicana Soldier Who Chose China

    Howard Adams of Corsicana was a decorated veteran of the Second World War who was studying at the University of Houston when he went back into the service in nineteen fifty. In Korea he was taken prisoner, and when the…

  • The Medal That Came Too Late

    Candelario Garcia Junior grew up in Corsicana and joined the Army in nineteen sixty three. By December nineteen sixty eight he was a sergeant with the First Infantry Division, the Big Red One. On December eighth that…

  • Fourteen and Oh

    In nineteen sixty three, the Corsicana Tigers put together a perfect season. Coach Jim Acree's team won all fourteen of its games. Their closest playoff game came against Graham. Teammate Mark Dawson remembered that in…

Show all 200 nearby places
  • Christmas Day at the Refinery

    On South Fifteenth Street in Corsicana, a state marker remembers the refinery that gave Corsicana's oil a market. In eighteen ninety seven, the mayor invited a Pennsylvania oilman named Joseph Cullinan to look at the…

  • Spider Garcia's Bronze

    On the northwest corner of the Navarro County Courthouse lawn in Corsicana, a bronze soldier in full battle gear stands beside the county veterans memorial. He is Sergeant Candelario Garcia Junior, born in Corsicana in…

  • The Judge on the Courthouse Stairs

    People in Corsicana tell a story about the Navarro County Courthouse on West Third Avenue, and it begins with something that really happened. On March nineteenth, nineteen twenty six, Justice of the Peace George…

  • The Willingham Fire

    Two days before Christmas, nineteen ninety one, fire swept through a one story frame house in Corsicana, and Cameron Todd Willingham's three little girls, a two year old and one year old twins, died. Investigators said…

  • Corsicana - Fruitcakes and First Oil · Historical Marker

    Home of Collin Street Bakery, shipping DeLuxe Fruitcakes worldwide since 1896. Also the site of the first significant oil discovery in Texas in 1894.

  • Fathead

    The saxophonist David Newman was born in Corsicana, and he got his nickname from a band teacher. He had the music on his stand upside down, the teacher knew he could barely read it right side up, and he thumped him on…

  • The Seer of Corsicana

    In the oil boom days, one of the best known people in Corsicana was Annie Buchanan, a Black clairvoyant and faith healer people called the Seer of Corsicana. Folklorists who interviewed her in the nineteen fifties for a…

  • When Corsicana Taught the Army to Fly

    Six miles southeast of downtown Corsicana, out where the municipal airport sits, the Army once trained pilots by the thousands. In December nineteen forty, before America entered World War Two, the government signed up…

  • The Second Boom

    In nineteen twenty three, Corsicana struck it rich for the second time. A gusher came in at the Powell field, about eight miles east of town, and the rush was on. Some estimates put Corsicana's population as high as…

  • The Navarro Rifles and the Cane

    After Abraham Lincoln won the presidency in eighteen sixty, people in Corsicana lowered the Stars and Stripes on the courthouse and raised the Texas flag. In February eighteen sixty one the local vote on secession was…

  • The Prisoner Mexico Would Not Release

    On the south lawn of the Navarro County Courthouse in Corsicana stands a statue of José Antonio Navarro, cast in bronze and set on pink granite for the Texas Centennial. The words on its base call him a lover of liberty…

  • Five Days on the Job

    In August of nineteen oh four, a special policeman named Charles Maddux had been on the Corsicana force for five days when he arrested a man at the Union Depot, a man other officers wanted and witnesses said was…

  • Duke Ellington's Trombone From Corsicana

    The jazz trombonist Tyree Glenn was born in Corsicana in nineteen twelve and took his first lessons from a local musician, Snub Mosley. In nineteen forty seven he joined Duke Ellington's orchestra, playing trombone and…

  • Hollycana

    Corsicana has a police chief with a second career in the movies. Chief Robert Johnson is also an actor and producer, and he's brought film crews to town, so much so that people started calling it Hollycana. The thriller…

  • Thirty Five Saloons and a Dry Vote

    By nineteen hundred, oil-boom Corsicana had three banks, a dozen newspapers, eight hotels and thirty five saloons, with oil wells drilled right on city lots. Then the temperance movement won, and in nineteen oh four the…

  • The Fruitcake at the Bottom of the World

    Corsicana is famous for fruitcake, so here's the most famous fruitcake find of all. In twenty seventeen, conservators from New Zealand's Antarctic Heritage Trust were working through nearly fifteen hundred artifacts…

  • The Two Years George the Third Was King of Corsica

    Corsicana was named for the island of Corsica, and Corsica has a history nobody expects. In seventeen fifty five, the Corsicans made a man named Pasquale Paoli their general in chief, broke away from the Republic of…

  • A Children's Town on Second Avenue

    On West Second Avenue, on the western edge of Corsicana, the Odd Fellows of Texas keep their state headquarters on land that was once a children's town. In eighteen eighty five, the Odd Fellows went looking for a place…

  • Two Days Before Christmas

    On the twenty third of December, nineteen sixty two, Corsicana police sergeant Robert Robinson pulled over a man he'd written up for traffic violations several times over the years, a man who had threatened to kill him.…

  • The Back Door

    In January of nineteen twenty four, during the Powell oil boom, two Corsicana officers went to the house of a man accused of a holdup in which a few dollars and a pistol had been taken. Officer Vess Arp covered the back…

  • They Poured It on the Ground

    Corsicana's first oil boom had a strange problem: too much oil and nowhere to sell it. Wells multiplied so fast that operators poured surplus crude on the ground. That waste is what led, in eighteen ninety nine, to the…

  • Oil in Every Backyard

    Corsicana's oil kept giving. By the early nineteen fifties the town was said to have twenty one millionaires, and its income per person was claimed to be the highest of any city in Texas. Then, in nineteen fifty six, a…

  • A Town of Children

    In July of eighteen eighty nine, the State Orphans' Home opened in Corsicana with fifty four children, and at its peak in nineteen thirty two it was home to eight hundred ninety. It was almost a town of its own, with…

  • The Chili Queens of San Antonio

    Corsicana gave the world Wolf Brand Chili, named for the founder's pet wolf. So here's where Texas chili got its fame. For decades, starting in the late eighteen hundreds, women in San Antonio known as the Chili Queens…

  • The Match in the Dark

    On a June night in nineteen twelve, Deputy Constable Elbert Hanks went after a boy who had escaped from the Navarro County prison farm. According to the Officer Down Memorial Page, the boy ran into a restaurant, grabbed…

  • The Case That Never Closed

    In September nineteen ninety three, Shelley Watkins, a young mother, was last seen at her home in the Beaton Lake Estates area in Corsicana. A week later, fishermen found her body in the Trinity River west of Seven…

  • Jose Antonio Navarro · 0.1 mi · Historical Marker

    Lover of liberty. Foe of despotism. Born in San Antonio, Texas, February 27, 1795. Died January 13, 1871 and buried there. Member of the Legislature of Coahuila and Texas, 1821; land commissioner of De Witt's colony…

  • Smith, Thomas Ingles · 0.1 mi · Historical Marker

    (1800-1848) Thomas Ingles Smith was born in 1800 in Virginia and was a soldier in the War of 1812 in a company commanded by his father, General Bird B. Smith. Smith arrived in Texas late in 1836, and soon enlisted in…

  • Navarro County Courthouse · 0.1 mi · Scraped Hmdb

    Feast your eyes on the Navarro County Courthouse! It's more than just a pretty building; it's a symbol of Corsicana's boom years. In 1905, this Beaux Arts beauty was completed for a whopping $128,000. Architect James E.…

  • Corsicana in 1860-1872 · 0.1 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Corsicana, a town deeply committed to the Confederacy during the Civil War. Back in 1860, citizens tore down the U.S. flag and raised the Texas flag. By 1864, even women and children helped stock…

  • Judge E. J. Simkins House · 0.1 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the former home of Judge E. J. Simkins, a man with deep ties to Texas and the Confederacy. Simkins himself served four years in the Confederate army. His brother, William, is credited with firing the…

  • First Methodist Church · 0.1 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Corsicana, where the First Methodist Church was founded way back in 1851. The sanctuary, built in 1871, was where Texas Democrats met in 1872 to plan their exit from Reconstruction rule. And get…

  • Corsicana · 0.1 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Corsicana, a city born from a legislative decision in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1846</say-as> to choose a county seat. Named for the homeland of Jose Antonio Navarro's parents, this…

  • Senator James H. Woods Home · 0.1 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Senator James H. Woods Home. Built 1900 of long leaf pine lumber. Entry paneled in beveled, leaded plate glass. Children had skating rink and gym in attic. Occupied by Senator Woods and family,…

  • From log cabin to clock dome · 0.1 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Corsicana, the county seat of Navarro County, established in 1848 and named for Jose Antonio Navarro, a signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence. The first county offices were humble,…

  • Navarro County Courthouse · 0.1 mi · Historical Marker

    Navarro County was created in 1846 by an act of the first Texas Legislature. It was named for early statesman Jose Antonio Navarro (1795-1871), a signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence. The first county seat…

  • Scales-Fortson House · 0.1 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the Scales-Fortson House, built in the 1890s by H. L. Scales, who owned a local mill. It was later home to banker Joe B. Fortson and his family for decades. Notice the Victorian and Classical Revival…

  • Westminster Presbyterian Church · 0.1 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Corsicana, where the first organized church, a Cumberland Presbyterian congregation, was formed back on May 16, 1853. Over the years, other Presbyterian groups organized and eventually merged,…

  • The Man Who Saved the Building · 0.2 mi

    On West Fifth Avenue near Main Street in downtown Corsicana, a bronze man is repairing a boot. That's Wesley Green, who with his wife Lucille ran Green's Western Wear, a downtown fixture for more than half a century.…

  • Johnson, Samuel Wistar, M. D. · 0.2 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the Corsicana home of Dr. Samuel W. Johnson, a respected physician who also served as mayor in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1900</say-as>. During his term, the city library was established.…

  • The Sower · 0.2 mi

    On North Beaton Street in Corsicana, in front of the Beaton Meat Market, a bronze farmer in wooden shoes is caught in mid-throw, scattering seed. He is Lutzen Veldman, born in the Netherlands, a farmer and dairyman all…

  • Beaton, Alexander · 0.2 mi · Historical Marker

    You're cruising through Corsicana, and just ahead is a marker for Alexander Beaton. A Scottish immigrant who arrived in Texas in 1848, Beaton was a lawyer by trade. But his real impact? He championed the Houston & Texas…

  • Corsicana City Jail of 1908 · 0.2 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Corsicana's first brick jail, built in 1908. Imagine this place heated by gas in the winter, sometimes holding up to 80 prisoners! The top floor even housed the office of Will S. Knight, the city's…

  • Site of the First Courthouse · 0.2 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of Corsicana's very first courthouse, right here in Navarro County. The county seat was named by the Texas Legislature, but it took until 1848 for this spot to be secured, thanks to…

  • White, R.N. · 0.2 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of Corsicana's very first log cabin home. This was the residence of Robert Newton White, a man who wore many hats in this young Texas town. White arrived here in 1845, and just a year later,…

  • Corsicana Public Library · 0.2 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Corsicana Public Library. The women's clubs of Corsicana were instrumental in opening the city's first public library in 1901 at W. 6th and Main St. The city created a library board in 1904 and…

  • They Were Drilling for Water and Hit the Future of Texas · 0.3 mi

    On June 9, 1894, a drilling crew on what is now South 12th Street was doing something completely ordinary. Corsicana had outgrown its water supply, so the city hired the American Well and Prospecting Company to bore…

  • Wolf Brand Chili: A Nickel Bowl, a Pet Wolf, and the Birth of a Texas Icon · 0.3 mi

    On Beaton Street in downtown Corsicana, near Fifth Avenue, a bronze wolf marks the birthplace of Wolf Brand Chili. In eighteen ninety five Lyman T. Davis parked a chili lunch wagon there, in front of the old Blue Front…

  • The Drilling Rig That Was Born Here and Blew the Lid Off Spindletop · 0.3 mi

    Corsicana's biggest contribution to the oil world was not just the crude under it. It was the machine that got the crude out. When oil turned up in 1894, the American Well and Prospecting Company set up a repair and…

  • The Masked Doctor · 0.3 mi

    Near the corner of Fifth Avenue and Beaton Street in downtown Corsicana stands a bronze of Dr. Kent Rogers. He arrived in Corsicana as a young doctor in nineteen seventy six. For thirty years he also volunteered as team…

  • Sixteen Million Dollars of Fruitcake Money · 0.3 mi

    Behind the wholesome fruitcake is one of the strangest white-collar crimes in Texas. Sandy Jenkins came on as corporate controller at Collin Street Bakery in 1998, the man trusted with the company's books. Starting…

  • Lefty Frizzell Statue · 0.3 mi · Historical Marker

    In Jester Park, near West Park Avenue and North Sixteenth Street in Corsicana, stands a bronze of country singer Lefty Frizzell with his guitar. Frizzell was born in nineteen twenty eight in Tucker Town, an oil boomtown…

  • Wolf Brand Chili Origin Corner · 0.3 mi · Things to Do

    Lyman T. Davis parked his lunch wagon at this corner of Beaton Street and 5th Avenue in 1895, ladling out five-cent bowls of chili in front of the Blue Front…

  • Navarro the Corsican · 0.3 mi

    You are sitting in a town whose name is a quiet tribute hidden in plain sight. When the Texas Legislature carved out Navarro County in 1846, it honored Jose Antonio Navarro, the Tejano statesman who signed the Texas…

  • The Merchant Behind Beaton Street · 0.3 mi

    Drive Corsicana and you keep crossing Beaton Street, the spine of the old downtown, and there is a real man behind that name. Alexander Beaton was a Scottish-born merchant who threw his weight behind the single most…

  • The 1921 Vaudeville House That Refused to Die · 0.3 mi

    At 112 West 6th Avenue stands the Palace Theatre, a red-brick survivor from 1921. It opened as a vaudeville house in the era when live acts toured small Texas cities, drawing crowds downtown to see performers in the…

  • The Radio Station Named After a Can · 0.3 mi

    Near Collin and Beaton Streets in downtown Corsicana stands a bronze radio man holding a microphone, in a straw hat and a striped vest. He is Dick Aldama, and the statue also honors the station he worked for, KAND. KAND…

  • Collin Street Bakery · 0.3 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Corsicana, Texas, where a sweet success story began! In 1896, two blocks north of here, August Weidmann, a German baker, and local cotton buyer W. T. McElwee opened a bakery. Weidmann's secret? An…

  • Site of Tuckertown · 0.3 mi · Historical Marker

    Oil was discovered in Corsicana on June 19, 1894, during the drilling of a water well, setting off the oil boom in Texas. In the ensuing years, oil developers, lease hounds, rough-necks, businessmen, bootleggers,…

  • The Bandleader on Beaton Street · 0.3 mi

    On the northeast corner of Beaton and Collin Streets in downtown Corsicana stands a bronze bandleader. He is Herbert Hill, better known as Hub. Hill was born and raised in Corsicana, and in nineteen thirty seven he came…

  • Mister Corsicana · 0.3 mi

    On the southwest corner of Fifth Avenue and Beaton Street in downtown Corsicana stands a bronze of Brad Haynie, the man people called Mister Corsicana. Some called him Mister Derrick Days, for his work on the town's…

  • Damon, Henry G. · 0.3 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past where Henry Damon, a Confederate veteran and lawyer, set up shop in Corsicana back in 1873. He partnered with W. R. Bright to form the Texas Loan Agency, right here in this building from 1890 to…

  • Temple Beth-El · 0.3 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Corsicana, and you might notice a unique building with twin octagonal towers topped by onion domes. That's Temple Beth-El. The first Jewish settlers arrived here in 1871, the same year the…

  • Lemon-Edens House · 0.3 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the Lemon-Edens House, built in 1895 by Corsicana resident A. L. Lemon. He used Louisiana cypress for its construction. In 1902, John Wesley Edens bought the home. Edens was a prominent local figure,…

  • Merchants Opera House · 0.3 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of Corsicana's grand Merchants Opera House. Back in 1891, local businessmen pooled their resources to build this impressive three-story venue, replacing an older, smaller theater. Imagine…

  • Molloy Hotel · 0.3 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Corsicana, and right here is the Molloy Hotel. It started in 1874 as a one-story building, built by lawyer Henry Molloy to house folks coming through on the new railroad line. Molloy added a…

  • First Baptist Church of Corsicana · 0.3 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of the First Baptist Church of Corsicana. This fellowship started way back in 1848, originally as the United Baptist Church, led by the pioneer preacher Noah Turner Byars. Early Texas…

  • Saint John's Episcopal Church · 0.3 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Saint John's Episcopal Church in Corsicana. Its roots go way back to the 1850s, with early missionary work in the area. The church itself was officially established in 1871, organized by Reverend…

  • Tatum Home · 0.3 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the Tatum Home, built before 1900 by William M. Tatum. This colonial revival mansion boasts first-floor palladian windows and massive Ionic columns. His son Clifford and his bride raised their family…

  • A Bronze for Brent · 0.4 mi

    On the corner of Sixth Avenue and Beaton Street in downtown Corsicana, a bronze police officer is writing a pretend ticket to two small children. That's Brent Thompson, and the scene comes from a favorite photo of him.…

  • Collin Street Bakery · 0.4 mi · Things to Do

    August Weidmann arrived in Corsicana from Bavaria in 1896 and opened a little bakery on Collin Street. His DeLuxe Fruitcake packed with pecans cherries and…

  • The Fruitcake the Circus Made Famous · 0.4 mi

    At 401 West 7th Avenue sits Collin Street Bakery, which has been turning out its DeLuxe fruitcake here since 1896. A young German immigrant baker named August Weidmann opened it with backing from Tom McElwee, a local…

  • Lefty Frizzell, Born in the Oil Patch · 0.4 mi

    Corsicana gave country music one of its most imitated voices. William Orville Frizzell, known to the world as Lefty, was born on March 31, 1928, in Tucker Town, an oil boomtown a few miles southeast of Corsicana. He…

  • Eight Fingers, Arms Wide Open · 0.4 mi

    Across West Sixth Avenue from the Palace Theatre in downtown Corsicana stands a bronze of Billy Joe Shaver, the outlaw country songwriter who was born in Corsicana in nineteen thirty nine. Big hat, big grin, guitar…

  • Natural Gas Pipelines · 0.4 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the birthplace of the Texas natural gas industry! Back in 1902, Corsicana saw the very first public use of natural gas in Texas, with transmission lines right here on this street serving homes and…

  • Birthplace of Beauford H Jester · 0.4 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Corsicana, the birthplace of Beauford H. Jester, who served as Texas Governor from 1947 until his death in 1949. His administration saw major reforms in education, prison conditions, and…

  • Mills, Roger Q., Colonel · 0.4 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Mills, Roger Q., Colonel. (1832-1911) Born in Kentucky. Came to Texas 1849. Civic and political leader. Represented Navarro County in Legislature, 1859-60.

  • The Coach His Players Brought Downtown · 0.4 mi

    On the corner of Sixth Avenue and Beaton Street in Corsicana stands a bronze of football coach Jim Acree. He coached the Corsicana Tigers for only six seasons in the nineteen sixties, but one of them was nineteen sixty…

  • Sixty-Seven Years at the Bakery · 0.4 mi

    In downtown Corsicana, a bronze baker in a tall chef's hat stands on a red fruitcake tin, holding out a five-pound Deluxe Fruitcake. When Collin Street Bakery's Bill McNutt commissioned the statue in two thousand…

  • Temple Beth-El (Corsicana, Texas) · 0.4 mi · Scraped Hmdb

    Pull over! You're about to discover a hidden gem of Texas history: Temple Beth-El, a beautiful former synagogue that tells the story of a vibrant Jewish community. Imagine Corsicana in the late 1800s. Jewish families,…

  • Drane, Frank Neal · 0.4 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Corsicana, past the legacy of Frank Neal Drane. He started in hardware, then led the City National Bank. In 1901, Drane founded the Corsicana Power and Light company, bringing energy to the…

  • The Statue That Started It All · 0.4 mi

    On the corner of Sixth Avenue and Beaton Street in downtown Corsicana, a bronze oil field worker heads home after a long day on the rigs. He was the first of downtown Corsicana's bronze statues. Workers set him in place…

  • Pace, Stephen Augustus · 0.4 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the Corsicana home of Stephen Augustus Pace, a man who helped build this town from the ground up. Pace arrived in Texas in 1868, settling in Corsicana with his wife Achsah in 1871. He founded a…

  • George Taylor Jester · 0.4 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the birthplace of George Taylor Jester, a man who wore many hats in Texas. Born in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1846</say-as>, Jester came to Corsicana as a boy in a two-horse wagon. He…

  • Taylor, Alva · 0.4 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the Corsicana area, home of Alva Taylor, a dedicated grassroots writer and preservationist. Born in 1891, Taylor's lifelong passion for history led him to research and write several books. He was…

  • State National Bank of Corsicana · 0.4 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of the State National Bank of Corsicana. Organized in 1917 by local businessmen, this bank started just a block away from here. Its first president was B. B. Munsey, who was later succeeded…

  • Petroleum Industry · 0.5 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the birthplace of Texas oil! In 1894, a crew drilling a water well for the city of Corsicana hit pay dirt. At 1035 feet deep, they discovered the first oil in commercial quantities in the entire…

  • Coleman, Dr. Will, Sr. · 0.5 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site where Dr. Will Coleman, Sr. lived and raised his family right here in Corsicana. Born in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1882</say-as>, Coleman grew up working with livestock before…

  • Cullinan, Joseph S. · 0.5 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the former homesite of Joseph S. Cullinan, a true titan of Texas oil. He started his career as a laborer in the Pennsylvania oilfields at just 14 years old. But after the big Corsicana oil discovery…

  • First National Bank of Corsicana · 0.5 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of the First National Bank of Corsicana, a place that saw the rise of a landmark Texas city. Founded around 1850, Corsicana got its big break in 1871 when the railroad connected it to…

  • Nicol, H. C., Old Welding Shop · 0.5 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of H.C. Nicol's old welding shop in Corsicana. Nicol was a true innovator, remembered as the first welder to work in the Navarro County oil fields, which boomed starting in <say-as…

  • Allyn, Charles Henry · 0.5 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Corsicana, and right here is where Charles Henry Allyn made his mark. A Union Army captain from New York, Allyn arrived in Texas after the Civil War, settling in Corsicana in 1871. He wasn't just a…

  • American Well & Prospecting Company · 0.5 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of a Texas success story that started with water, but found oil! The American Well & Prospecting Company organized back in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1890</say-as>, drilling…

  • Mills, Roger Q. · 0.5 mi · Historical Marker

    You're cruising past the Corsicana home of Roger Quarles Mills, a man who served Texas for nearly three decades in Washington. Born in Kentucky, Mills arrived in Corsicana in 1852 and quickly became a figure of…

  • Corsicana Newspapers · 0.5 mi · Historical Marker

    You're cruising through Corsicana, and right here, history was made... on paper! This is the birthplace of Navarro County's very first newspaper, the 'Prairie Blade,' which started back in 1855. Imagine, just a few…

  • Fire Station No. 2 · 0.6 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of Corsicana's first Fire Station Number Two. Back in December of 1879, the Corsicana Volunteer Fire Department got its start. Initially, these brave souls relied on buckets and later, hand-…

  • The Principal Who Was Born Enslaved · 0.7 mi

    On the corner of Martin Luther King Junior Boulevard and Fifth Street in Corsicana stands a bronze of a man who was born into slavery. George Washington Jackson was born in Smith Station, Alabama, in eighteen fifty six.…

  • Callicut, Judge John S. · 0.7 mi · Historical Marker

    You're passing through Corsicana, where Judge John S. Callicutt made his mark. He arrived in 1886, opening a law practice that would anchor his life here. But Callicutt wasn't just a lawyer; he was a builder of…

  • Dunn-Ransom Home · 0.7 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the Dunn-Ransom Home in Corsicana, a house that's seen five generations of one family call it home. Ewing Eric Dunn, who arrived in Texas in 1850, built the first part of this house back in 1866. He…

  • Rosenberg Family · 0.7 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Corsicana, and right here is where Ben Rosenberg made his mark. He arrived from Poland around 1882, a young immigrant seeking opportunity. After a few years in Waco, he landed in Corsicana in the…

  • George Washington Shelton · 0.7 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the Navarro County home of George Washington Shelton, a veteran of the Texas War for Independence. Born in Virginia in 1814, Shelton came to Texas in late 1835 with fifteen other recruits, ready to…

  • Smith-McCrery Home · 0.7 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the Smith-McCrery Home in Corsicana. Built in 1880, this house was first home to Dr. John R. Smith, who served as mayor here from 1883 to 1885. During his time in office, he organized the town's…

  • Col. Clinton McKamey Winkler · 0.7 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Corsicana, and right here is the marker for Colonel Clinton McKamey Winkler. Born in North Carolina in 1821, Winkler settled in the Republic of Texas in 1840. He was a lawyer and served in the…

  • First Independent Baptist Church of Corsicana · 0.7 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the First Independent Baptist Church of Corsicana, a testament to resilience. It all started in 1868, when a group of former slaves, led by Simon Perry, organized what was then the second African…

  • Frost, Samuel R. · 0.7 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the birthplace of Samuel R. Frost, a Navarro County figure who lived a long life of service. Born in Huntsville in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1846</say-as>, Frost enlisted in the…

  • David Reed Mitchell · 0.7 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Corsicana, and right here is the story of David Reed Mitchell. Born in North Carolina in 1797, Mitchell arrived in Texas in 1845, already a seasoned surveyor. He'd scouted the Trinity and Brazos…

  • James Clinton Neill · 0.8 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site where James Clinton Neill, a key figure in the Texas Revolution, settled in Milam County. Born in North Carolina in 1790, Neill arrived in Texas in 1831 with Stephen F. Austin. He joined the…

  • Fred Douglass - G.W. Jackson School · 0.8 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of Corsicana's very first public school for Black students, built right here in 1881. It was first named for the famous abolitionist Frederick Douglass. But in 1925, it was renamed for its…

  • Rex Ingram · 0.8 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Corsicana, the hometown of a true Hollywood legend, Rex Ingram. A Corsicana native, Clifford Ingram became known as the Dean of American Black Actors. After graduating from Northwestern, Rex…

  • Corsicana Oilfield · 0.9 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Corsicana field is an elliptical-shaped oil and gas producing area located in and around Corsicana in central Navarro County. It is significant because it was the first Texas field to produce oil and gas in important…

  • The Blind Orator on Trial · 0.9 mi

    In eighteen ninety seven, the most famous blind man in Texas politics was put on trial here in Corsicana, and sixty-two years later his grandson turned the story into a television play. Thomas Gore had been blind since…

  • American Well and Prospecting Company · 0.9 mi · Tsha Handbook

    In Kansas in 1890 Charles Rittersbacher and Horace Greeley Johnston organized a water-well-drilling business that they named the American Well and Prospecting Company. In 1894 they contracted with the Corsicana Water…

  • Corsicana, TX · 0.9 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Corsicana, county seat and largest city of Navarro County, is in the central portion of the county fifty-eight miles southeast of Dallas at the junction of Interstate 45, U.S. highways 75 and 287, and State highways 22…

  • A Mother's Record for Christmas · 0.9 mi

    Christmas of nineteen fifty three was a hard one for one Corsicana family. Sergeant Howard Adams of Corsicana, twenty-eight years old, was one of a small group of American prisoners of war in Korea who were refusing to…

  • Jester, Beauford Halbert, Home · 0.9 mi · Historical Marker

    Right here in Corsicana, you're driving past the home of Beauford Jester, built in 1923. Jester’s family had dairy farmed this land for years. He became a Corsicana attorney, then headed the UT Board of Regents, and…

  • Cullinan, Joseph Stephen · 0.9 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving near Corsicana, and right here, Joseph Stephen Cullinan helped spark Texas's oil boom. He arrived in 1894, bringing big ideas from the Pennsylvania oilfields. Cullinan didn't just advise; he built. He…

  • Frizzell, William Orville R. C. [Lefty] · 0.9 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Corsicana, Texas, the birthplace of Lefty Frizzell. Born William Orville Frizzell in 1928, he became one of country music's most influential voices. His family chased oilfield work, moving between…

  • Gore, Thomas Pryor · 0.9 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Navarro County, and right here in Corsicana, a blind orator named Thomas Pryor Gore found his political footing. Born in Mississippi, Gore lost his sight by his early twenties, but his powerful…

  • Marsalis, Thomas Lafayette, Sr. · 0.9 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Dallas, maybe even right over the Trinity River, and you're passing through Oak Cliff. But did you know this whole community was once the dream of one man, Thomas Lafayette Marsalis? Arriving in…

  • Newman, David, Jr. [Fathead] · 0.9 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Corsicana, Texas, the birthplace of David "Fathead" Newman, Jr. He was born right here in 1933 and would go on to become a legendary saxophonist. You might know him best for his years in the…

  • Stackpole, Ellis Merrill · 0.9 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Anderson County, and right here is the story of Ellis Merrill Stackpole, a man who became a prominent merchant and a key figure in a secret society called the Order of the Lone Star of the West.…

  • Jester, Beauford Halbert · 0.9 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Beauford H. Jester, governor, was born in Corsicana, Texas, on January 12, 1893, to Frances (Gordon) and George Taylor Jester . His father was lieutenant governor of Texas for two terms (1894-98) under Governor Charles…

  • The Weight and the Rope · 0.9 mi

    In August eighteen eighty, Corsicana hanged a man privately, inside the jail yard, and the crowd that came to watch went home disappointed. On June first, eighteen seventy nine, a drifter named George Doren, who had…

  • Oil City Iron Works · 0.9 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of the Oil City Iron Works, a Corsicana institution that's been shaping Texas industry for over a century. It all started back in 1866 with John Winship's small machine shop, built to make…

  • Fondren, Ella Florence · 0.9 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through East Texas, maybe near Corsicana, where Ella Florence Cochrum grew up. She quit school to help her family and worked in a boardinghouse, where she met Walter Fondren, a young oil driller. They…

  • Magnolia Petroleum Company · 0.9 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Navarro County, and right here is where Texas oil history really started to bubble. Back on Christmas Day, 1898, the J. S. Cullinan Company fired up its refinery in Corsicana. That little…

  • Navarro County · 0.9 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Navarro County, a place with a history as rich as its blackland soil. Back in 1836, this area was the wild frontier. Just east of where Corsicana sits today, a Mexican land grant was issued to…

  • Prince, Robert Emmett · 0.9 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Corsicana, a town that owes much of its early growth to the railroad. But right here, one of its prominent citizens, Robert Emmett Prince, made history in a different way. In 1899, as a state…

  • Winkler, Clinton McKamy · 0.9 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Navarro County, not far from Corsicana, where Clinton Winkler made his mark. He wasn't just a lawyer and judge; he was a Confederate soldier. Winkler led the Navarro Rifles, Company I of the…

  • Dantzler, Louise Byrdie [Mary Brian] · 0.9 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Mary Brian, a silent movie star who made a successful transition to "talkies" and continued working in movies through 1947, was born Louise Byrdie Dantzler on February 17, 1906, in Corsicana, Texas. Some references give…

  • The Fire at the County Farm · 0.9 mi

    In March nineteen oh six, a fire at the Navarro County farm jail killed four prisoners, and it was set by one of the men trying to get out. Twelve Black prisoners were locked in the upper room of a two-story building,…

  • The Only Surviving Issue · 0.9 mi

    During Corsicana's first oil boom, the town had a Black weekly newspaper called the Oil City Afro-American, and only one issue of it is known to survive. The paper began in eighteen ninety eight. The Library of Congress…

  • Napoleon Wasn't Short · 0.9 mi

    Corsicana is named for the island of Corsica, the birthplace of Jose Antonio Navarro's parents, and Corsica's most famous son is Napoleon. Everyone knows Napoleon was tiny. Except he wasn't. At his autopsy he measured…

  • YMCA of Corsicana · 0.9 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of Corsicana's YMCA, a pioneer in youth development in Texas. Organized way back in 1884, it was one of only two YMCAs in the entire state! It started small, meeting in a room over a bank,…

  • Brown, Edwy Rolfe · 0.9 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Right here in Corsicana, you're driving through a town that was a major hub for Texas oil in the early 1900s. Edwy Rolfe Brown arrived in 1898, helping to establish a refinery. By 1901, he was managing multiple oil…

  • Carpenter, John William · 0.9 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through North Texas, near Corsicana. Right here is where John William Carpenter started his incredible career. He began as a day laborer for the Corsicana Gas and Electric Company back in 1900. Imagine…

  • Hardee, John · 0.9 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through North Texas, and right here near Corsicana, you're passing through the birthplace of John Hardee, a tenor saxophonist who carried the Texas tradition of big-toned jazzmen. Born in 1918, Hardee…

  • Henderson, William Fenner · 0.9 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through what is now Navarro County, and right here, William Fenner Henderson arrived in Texas way back in 1836. He became a citizen at Nacogdoches, served in the Texas army, and even participated in the…

  • Jester, George Taylor · 0.9 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Corsicana, Texas, a town with roots stretching back to a determined mother and her six children. In 1858, Levi Jester died, leaving his wife Diadema with a vast Illinois farm and a young family.…

  • Loughridge, James Rodgers · 0.9 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Navarro County, and right here is the territory of James Rodgers Loughridge, a lawyer who became a Confederate captain. He was elected to the Texas House of Representatives in 1863, but only after…

  • Mills, Roger Quarles · 0.9 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Navarro County, and right here in Corsicana, Roger Quarles Mills found his home and his fortune. But before that, he was a Confederate officer, rising to Colonel in the Tenth Texas Infantry. He…

  • Navarro College · 0.9 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving near Corsicana, and right here is Navarro College. It started in 1946, born from a vote by Navarro County citizens who wanted a local place for higher learning. They took over an old Air Activities of…

  • Simkins, Eldred James · 0.9 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Corsicana, the heart of Navarro County, where Eldred James Simkins arrived in 1871. He wasn't just any lawyer; he helped organize the Florida Ku Klux Klan before moving to Texas. Here in…

  • Jester-Butler House · 0.9 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the Jester-Butler House in Corsicana, a beautiful example of Colonial Revival architecture. Built in 1920 for rancher and banker Charles Jester and his wife Marion, this home was designed by Birch D.…

  • The Refinery Fire of 1915 · 0.9 mi

    On a Friday morning in April nineteen fifteen, an explosion set Corsicana's Magnolia oil refinery on fire. It happened about eleven o'clock, in an agitator, one of the big tanks where oil was treated during refining.…

  • Hardy, Rufus · 0.9 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Corsicana, Texas, the home of Rufus Hardy, a man who served eight consecutive terms in the U.S. Congress. Hardy was a lawyer and prosecutor here in Navarro County before heading to Washington D.C.…

  • Johnson, Luther Alexander · 0.9 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Corsicana, the hometown of Luther Alexander Johnson. Born here in 1875, Johnson spent nearly his entire life in this Navarro County community. He served as county attorney, district attorney, and…

  • Martin, Francis Marion · 0.9 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Navarro County, and right here is Corsicana, the final resting place of Francis Marion Martin. Born in Kentucky in 1830, Martin came to Texas in 1853, settling in Navarro County and becoming a…

  • Morse, Charles S. · 0.9 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Navarro County, maybe near Corsicana. Right here, Charles S. Morse arrived in Texas in 1871. He tried his hand at medicine and even managed the Navarro Banner newspaper. But Morse found his true…

  • Simkins, Martha E. · 0.9 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through North Texas, and right here in Corsicana, Martha Simkins started her journey as a painter. Born in Florida in 1869, her family moved to Corsicana in 1871. She went on to study with famous artists…

  • Holman Home · 1.2 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the Holman Home in Corsicana, built in 1914 by William Lee Holman. Holman came to town in 1908 to manage the Southland Cotton Oil Mill, a key player in Corsicana's rise as a cotton center. This…

  • Magnolia Oil Refinery · 1.3 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the birthplace of the Texas oil industry! In 1898, right here in Corsicana, Joseph S. Cullinan built Texas's first commercial oil refinery. This operation, a predecessor to Mobil Oil, fired its first…

  • Corsicana Hebrew Cemetery · 1.5 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the Corsicana Hebrew Cemetery, serving the Jewish residents since the late 1800s. The first Jewish settlers arrived in 1871, drawn by the railroad. This burial ground was officially purchased in…

  • Collins, James L. · 1.9 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of a major Texas oilman's legacy. James Lawrence Collins, born in West Virginia in 1883, started in the oil fields at just fourteen. He arrived in Corsicana around 1923, partnering with the…

  • Navarro Rifles · 1.9 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Corsicana, and right here is where the Navarro Rifles formed up in July of <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1861</say-as>. These weren't just any soldiers; this was an infantry company of…

  • A Horseman and a Birthday Letter · 2.1 mi

    Outside the Cook Education Center at Navarro College in Corsicana, a thirteen-foot bronze horseman lifts an animal skull toward the sky. The sculpture is called The Invocation, and it was made in nineteen ninety.…

  • 15th Texas Infantry Companies E and G · 2.2 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Corsicana, Texas, where two companies of the 15th Texas Infantry were formed to fight in the Civil War. Company E organized in April of <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1862</say-as>, led by…

  • Navarro County · 2.2 mi · Historical Marker

    Coming up on your left, you're passing through Navarro County. This area was formed from Robertson County back in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1846</say-as>. It's named for Jose Antonio Navarro, a true Texas…

  • How a Junior College in Corsicana Became Cheer's Center of the Universe · 2.3 mi

    For a few years the most famous thing in Corsicana was not the oil or the fruitcake. It was a cheerleading squad. Navarro College, the junior college on the west side of town, built one of the most dominant competitive…

  • Odd Fellow and Rebekah Children's Home · 2.5 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of a remarkable Texas institution: the Odd Fellow and Rebekah Children's Home. Back in 1885, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows established this as one of the state's very first fraternal…

  • Corsicana State Home · 2.6 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of the Corsicana State Home. Created by the 20th Legislature way back in 1887, this place originally cared for orphans under 14. Local folks donated over 200 acres for the institution, and…

  • Meritt Drane · 2.6 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Corsicana, where Meritt Drane made his mark. He came to Texas in 1858, seeking opportunity, and settled near Corsicana on land his father gave him. After the war, he excelled at farming and…

  • Petty's Chapel · 2.7 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Navarro County, near where the town of Corsicana was established back in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1848</say-as>. This area saw early settlers like Elizabeth Hamilton and Joseph…

  • Pleasant Grove United Methodist Church · 2.8 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of Pleasant Grove United Methodist Church, a congregation that's been here since before the Civil War. <break time="400ms"/> It started meeting in a schoolhouse thanks to William Harvey…

  • Oak Valley School · 2.8 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past where Oak Valley School once stood, a testament to the birth of public education in Texas. Back in 1867, Navarro County Judge John L. Miller and his committee established thirty school districts,…

  • J. A. Megarity Homestead · 3.0 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of the J. A. Megarity homestead. James Megarity served the Confederacy in the Civil War, fighting in major battles like Gettysburg and Petersburg. He was even present for General Robert E.…

  • Mr. Baseball and His Sheep · 3.2 mi

    Among the ball fields of the Stuart J. Beebe Athletic Complex on North Forty Fifth Street in Corsicana, a bronze Stuart Beebe watches a game from behind home plate. They called him Mr. Baseball. By day Beebe ran…

  • Jones, John B. · 3.3 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through what was once the wild Texas frontier, and right here, in what is now Navarro County, a legendary lawman took command. In 1874, Major John B. Jones was appointed to lead the Texas Rangers'…

  • Porter's Bluff, TX · 3.3 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Porter's Bluff, also known as Taos, was a ferry crossing and shipping point on the Trinity River during the second half of the nineteenth century. Located sixteen miles northeast of Corsicana just off Farm Road 85 in…

  • Spring Hill, TX (Navarro County) · 3.3 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Spring Hill is on Farm Road 709 near Navarro Mills Lake twenty miles west of Corsicana in southwest Navarro County. The townsite was first settled in 1837 when George Washington Hill , an Indian agent appointed by Sam…

  • Bazette, TX · 3.3 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Bazette, on Farm Road 636 near the Trinity River in northeast Navarro County, was established around 1845 on the river, but the settlers had to move to higher ground because of floods. A Baptist preacher named Bazette…

  • Chatfield, TX · 3.3 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Chatfield is eleven miles northeast of Corsicana in northeastern Navarro County. It is named for Champion Chatfield, a pioneer who in 1838 established a trading post in an oak grove six miles west of Porter's Bluff;…

  • Dresden, TX · 3.3 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Dresden is at the junction of Farm roads 744 and 55, fifteen miles west of Corsicana in west central Navarro County. Jacob Hartzell had a trading post as early as 1836 near the present townsite. He traded mainly with…

  • Retreat, TX (Grimes County) · 3.3 mi · Tsha Handbook

    You're driving through Grimes County, not far from Navasota, and you're passing through the tiny community of Retreat. It all started back in 1851, not with a town, but with a stagecoach stop. This stop was named after…

  • Cryer Creek, TX · 3.3 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Cryer Creek, at the intersection of Farm roads 2930 and 1126, four miles north of Barry in northwest Navarro County, took its name from that of a nearby creek. Settlers thought a fall in the stream sounded like a woman…

  • Purdon, TX · 3.3 mi · Tsha Handbook

    Purdon is on Farm Road 55 three miles south of State Highway 31, fourteen miles southwest of Corsicana in south central Navarro County. It was originally known as Belle Point and was little more than a school and a…

  • Hamilton-Beeman Cemetery · 3.5 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the Hamilton-Beeman Cemetery, a final resting place established by two early Navarro County settlers. In the 1840s, William Harvey Beeman and Samuel Hamilton arrived here, eventually donating land…

  • Corsicana's Medal of Honor Sergeant · 3.9 mi

    The State Highway Thirty One relief route around Corsicana is the Navarro County Vietnam Memorial Loop. The Legislature named it in two thousand seventeen, while it was still under construction, to honor Vietnam War…

  • Hamilton-Bragg Cemetery · 4.6 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Hamilton-Bragg Cemetery. The James Hamilton,Jr. family left Tennessee for Texas ca. 1841. Upon James' death in Arkansas, his wife Elizabeth and their children continuned the journey, arriving in…

  • Chambers Creek · 4.7 mi

    The creek Interstate 45 crosses north of Corsicana is named for one of early Texas's boldest land speculators. Thomas Jefferson Chambers worked for the Mexican government as a surveyor, a counselor, and finally a…

  • The Cadet at the Airport · 6.2 mi

    At Corsicana's airport, C. David Campbell Field, a bronze aviation cadet in a flight suit and parachute stands in a five-acre memorial park. During World War Two this was Corsicana Field, a civilian flight school that…

  • Corsicana Field, Air Activities of Texas · 6.2 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of the Corsicana Field, a crucial training ground for American pilots before and during World War II. Back in 1941, this 400-acre tract was transformed into a bustling flight school. By…

  • Angus Schoolhouse · 6.2 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of the old Angus Schoolhouse. This community got its start in 1871 when the railroad arrived. Just three years later, in 1874, Lila Blackburn started the first public school here. That first…

  • Texas HS Baseball Leaders 2026: Mildred (Corsicana) · 6.4 mi

    Mildred (Corsicana, TX) placed on the 2A Texas high school baseball stat leaderboards for the 2026 season: Charlie Judson (0.553 avg, 1 HR); Noah Garcia (0.548 avg); Luke Mckendree (0.526 avg).

  • Conner Cemetery · 6.7 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past Conner Cemetery, a final resting place for a family that put down roots in Texas back in 1856. Thomas Conner and his family left Illinois to settle here, and his son, Edward, bought up land in 1873.…

  • Site of Tuckertown · 6.8 mi · Historical Marker

    Along Farm to Market Road six thirty-seven, southeast of Corsicana, there was once a boomtown that went from one grocery store to three thousand people in two months. In nineteen twenty three, a Corsicana grocer named…

  • Love, Annie Carpenter · 7.5 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving through Corbet, Texas, where Annie Carpenter Love called home. Born in Tennessee, Annie came to Navarro County with her family in 1876. She taught school here before marrying William Love in 1901. But…

  • Roane Baptist Church · 7.7 mi · Historical Marker

    You're driving past the site of Roane Baptist Church.<break time="400ms"/> This congregation got its start in 1897 with 26 charter members.<break time="400ms"/> For a while, they met in the Roane School building, with…

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