Everything Cross Plains is known for
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On December 27, 2005, a devastating grass/range wildfire destroyed 116 homes in and around Cross Plains. The fire started 5 miles west of the city along Highway 36 and spread into town, fueled by westerly winds of up to 30 miles per hour, burning a total of 7,665 acres of land. Tragically, two people died after being trapped in their houses.
The nearly century-old house of Robert E. Howard, author of the Conan the Barbarian books, is a notable landmark in Cross Plains. Howard lived in the house from the age of 13 in 1919 until his death in 1936. The house, which was spared from a devastating wildfire in 2005, is now a museum.
Cross Plains sits where it does for a simple reason: water. In a land that can feel awfully dry, the early settlers found springs and creeks, enough to make a go of ranching and farming. It’s not on a major river or anything, but that dependable water source was enough to give it an edge over some of the surrounding areas, and folks started congregating. The railroad helped, of course, tying the community to the wider world and making it easier to ship goods. What really put Cross Plains on the map, though, was Robert E. Howard. The creator of Conan the Barbarian lived here, and his legacy is still a huge draw. People come from all over to visit his house, now a museum, and to soak up the atmosphere that fueled his writing. But if you ask the locals why people stay, they'll tell you it's more than just Howard. There's a sense of community here, a genuine friendliness that's hard to find in bigger cities. It's a place where folks still wave as you drive by, where Friday night football is a big deal, and where you can still see the stars at night. It’s a quiet corner of Texas, a bit off the beaten path, and maybe that's exactly what makes it special.
Adventure and fantasy writer (and creator of Conan) Robert Ervin Howard (1906-1936) moved in 1919 to this homesite with his parents, Dr. Isaac and Hester (Ervin) Howard. Robert E. Howard wrote hundreds of stories, spanning several genres, and more than 700 poems in his bedroom at this site.

Robert began writing at an early age, when he was about eight or nine years old. Robert's mother enjoyed reciting poetry to him and encouraged his writing. He started working to get his stories published when he was fifteen. At the age of eighteen, Robert sold his first story, "Spear and Fang," to pulp magazine Weird Tales for its July 1925 issue. Shortly after the Howards arrived in Cross Plains, so did an oil boom. Robert observed the negative effects an oil boom can have on the townspeople, which contributed to his philosophies and many of his stories. Often his stories told about the corruption of civilization and the rise from and plummet into barbarism, with one moral man against a multitude of immortal adversaries. In his last few years, Robert left clues of his suicidal mood through his poetry, as well as making plans in the event of his demise. He had become primary caretaker for his mother, who had contracted tuberculosis. Just three days after his mother slipped into a coma, Robert committed suicide on June 11, 1936. His mother died the next day, and on June 14 there was a double funeral.
An internationally-known author and father of the sword and sorcery sub-genre, Howard's stories have influenced several generations. His works have been translated into 23 languages. Decades after his death, Robert E. Howard and his characters are still being studied, published, filmed, role-played, and enjoyed.
Robert E. Howard, creator of Conan the Barbarian, lived and wrote in Cross Plains, Texas. His home is now a museum. He died by suicide at age 30 in 1936.
The small frame house in Cross Plains, Texas, where Robert E. Howard wrote all of his Conan the Barbarian stories and other pulp fiction before his suicide at age 30.
Jesse Wallace Williams, historian of southwestern trails, was born on June 3, 1891, in Cross Plains, Texas, the son of Robert H. and Mary L. (Ely) Williams. His father was a Baptist minister, and one of his ten siblings, Robert W. Williams, was a journalist, author, inventor, and rancher. Jesse Williams received his B.A. from Simmons College and his M.A. from Hardin-Simmons University. He taught mathematics at schools near Merkle and in Midland, Big Spring, Wichita Falls, and Burkburnett from 1913 to 1923. From 1923 to 1960 he taught at Wichita Falls Senior High School. He was a visiting professor of history at Midwestern University and at Howard Payne College. Williams was the author of numerous articles and four books: Great Moments With the Coyotes (1953), The Big Ranch Country (1954), Sizzling Southwest Football (1956), and Old Texas Trails (1979). He was the recipient of a Rockefeller grant in 1942. Williams was a Democrat and a member of the Baptist Church. He was active in various social and civic organizations, such as the Southwest Rotary Club and the Wichita County Historical Commission. He was also president of the West Texas Historical Association . Williams married Ruth Elizabeth Veazey on August 11, 1915. After her death, he was married a second time, on November 22, 1964, to Mrs. Agnes McCarty. No children were born to either marriage. On February 22, 1977, Williams died in Wichita Falls, Texas, and was buried there in Crestview Memorial Park.
Rising Star, at the intersection of U.S. Highway 183 and State Highway 36, fifty-six miles southeast of Abilene in southwestern Eastland County, had its beginnings in 1876 when six families moved west from Gregg County and settled on the site. When the post office opened in 1878 with Hendrick H. Osburn as postmaster, the settlement was called Copperas Creek. In 1879 Tom Anderson bought a tract of land from one of the original settlers, and in 1880, after the old post office had been closed, he opened a post office and general store in his home. D. D. McConnell of Eastland suggested a new name for the town when he said that the area must be a "rising star country" because it produced crops when other areas were barren. In 1889 Rising Star had five businesses and three doctors and by 1904 had added a bank, a hotel, a school, five churches, two newspapers, and dry goods and drug stores. The economy of the area was based on agriculture, primarily the cultivation of corn, cotton, oats, and fruit. The town's prospects were enhanced in 1911 when the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railroad built through from Cross Plains to De Leon. The town's first newspaper was the Rising Star Record , later renamed the Rising Star News and still later the Rising Star X-Ray . The Rising Star Signal was another early newspaper. Although the first oil found in Eastland County was discovered near Rising Star in 1909, it was not until 1920, close to the end of the Eastland County boom, that a major strike attracted attention to Rising Star. In an attempt to prevent the town from becoming a tent and shanty town, officials issued strict building regulations, but speculators and oilfield workers circumvented them by hastily building a town five miles to the west. In just over a year that town was gone and the boom finished. By the 1960s some oil was still being produced near Rising Star, and pecans and peanuts had replaced cotton as the main crops. The 1980 census found 1,204 people living in Rising Star. The town was incorporated and had a bank, a post office, and twenty-seven businesses. In 1990 the population was 859. The population was 835 in 2000.
85 stories, landmarks & places within ~20 miles — the same local lore RoadyGoat plays as you drive through.
On December 27, 2005, a devastating grass/range wildfire destroyed 116 homes in and around Cross Plains. The fire started 5 miles west of the city along Highway 36 and spread into town, fueled by westerly winds of up to…
You're driving through Cross Plains, a town that became famous not for oil or cotton, but for the words written here. This is where Robert E. Howard, the father of sword and sorcery, lived and worked during his most…
Jesse Wallace Williams, historian of southwestern trails, was born on June 3, 1891, in Cross Plains, Texas, the son of Robert H. and Mary L. (Ely) Williams. His father was a Baptist minister, and one of his ten…
Robert E. Howard, creator of Conan the Barbarian, lived and wrote in Cross Plains, Texas. His home is now a museum. He died by suicide at age 30 in 1936.
The small frame house in Cross Plains, Texas, where Robert E. Howard wrote all of his Conan the Barbarian stories and other pulp fiction before his suicide at age 30.
You're driving past the site of a Higginbotham Brothers and Company store, opened right here in Cross Plains on November 20th, 1914. Look closely, and you might still see original glass counters, cabinets, mirrors,…
You're driving past the Cross Plains Cemetery, the final resting place for the town's key leaders and families. The land was originally granted to a veteran of the Mexican-American War, with the first burial happening…
Adventure and fantasy writer (and creator of Conan) Robert Ervin Howard (1906-1936) moved in 1919 to this homesite with his parents, Dr. Isaac and Hester (Ervin) Howard. Robert E. Howard wrote hundreds of stories,…
You're driving past the site of the Cross Plains Review, the oldest business in town. It was founded in April 1909 by Belmont L. Shields, who wanted it established before the railroad arrived. The paper has chronicled…
You're driving through Callahan County, on a route that was once a vital military road. Between 1851 and 1861, this path connected the forts of Mason and Cooper, serving as a supply line for the U.S. 2nd Cavalry. They…
The most powerful force to ever come out of Cross Plains wasn't from an oil well, but from a typewriter. In a small white house on the edge of town, a young man named Robert E. Howard created worlds. Between 1919 and…
Imagine the quiet streets of Cross Plains today suddenly filled with thousands of newcomers. That’s what happened after oil was struck in 1925. The Pioneer field and the Cross Plains Townsite field turned this small…
Every June, something strange and wonderful happens in Cross Plains. The town, normally quiet, welcomes visitors from around the world for a very specific reason: to celebrate Robert E. Howard. The event, called Robert…
The Cross Plains oil boom of the 1920s wasn't just luck; it was a feat of geology and engineering. Oil came in in Callahan County in 1923, and the fields stacked up fast — the Cross Plains Townsite field right under the…
You're driving through Eastland County, near where the community of Liberty Hill once thrived. Land for Liberty Cemetery was deeded in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1899</say-as> by Samuel and Amanda Webb. The…
You're driving past the Pioneer Cemetery, a quiet resting place with a story that stretches back further than the town itself. While the Pioneer community was officially named in 1883, the first recorded burial here was…
You're driving through Callahan County, past the site of Old Cottonwood Cemetery. This burial ground tells the story of a frontier community that boomed and busted. It all started with George Washington Glasscock, Sr.,…
You're cruising through Callahan County, and just ahead is the site of Cottonwood Springs. After General MacKenzie subdued the Plains Indians in 1874, settlers rushed into this fertile land. Cottonwood Springs, founded…
You're driving through Cottonwood, and right here, this spot was the heart of the town for decades. Back in 1911, W. F. Griffin opened a bank in this very building, with Paul Ramsey pulling double, triple, quadruple…
State Highway Thirty Six and U S Highway One Ninety both carry the name Thirty Sixth Division Memorial Highway. The Thirty Sixth Infantry Division was called the Texas Division, because when it entered federal service…
You're driving through Brown County, heading past the Cross Cut Cemetery. This quiet resting place started in July of <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1879</say-as>, with the burial of Caroline Pentecost Elsberry.…
You're driving past the Atwell Cemetery, a final resting place established in 1917. It began as a community burial ground for early settlers, deeded by Gideon and Frances Howell to serve local churches. Look for the…
You're driving through the area once known as Hog Valley. By 1894, the community had a Baptist church and a school. The postmaster renamed the area Blake in honor of his son, and the first burial in the cemetery was in…
It's hard to imagine now, but in the early 1920s this quiet town got a hard shove from the oil business. The first oil in Eastland County was actually found near Rising Star back in 1909, but it was a major strike in…
The oil that transformed Rising Star wasn't luck, and it wasn't early. It was late, and it was hard-won. The first oil ever found in Eastland County was discovered right near this town back in 1909 — and then the…
The name 'Rising Star' was chosen for the town after a meeting where residents deliberated for many hours to find a suitable name for their post office. Little Andy Agnew proposed the name, saying, 'Since we are a…
You're driving past the Smith Cemetery, established way back in 1879. It was recognized as a Historic Texas Cemetery in 2010.
You're driving past Rising Star, a town born from hardship and named by the morning sky. The first settlers, families like the Agnews and Fields, rolled in by wagon train way back on January 6th, <say-as…
Rising Star, at the intersection of U.S. Highway 183 and State Highway 36, fifty-six miles southeast of Abilene in southwestern Eastland County, had its beginnings in 1876 when six families moved west from Gregg County…
You're driving near Rising Star, Texas, the birthplace of Veda Wells Hodge. Veda wasn't just a philanthropist; she was a trailblazer. In 1940, she was appointed to the board of trustees at Howard Payne University. She…
You're driving past the site of the First United Methodist Church of Rising Star. A congregation was organized here in 1879, with the first service held in a small log building. The current church structure was…
Here in Rising Star, Texas, the settlers who named the place were reaching for that bright morning star, and here's the twist they never knew. That morning star they may have named the town for almost certainly was not…
Here's a pop-culture thread almost nobody expects out here. About a dozen miles from Rising Star sits Cross Plains, and in the nineteen twenties and thirties that little town was home to Robert E. Howard, the pulp…
Here's a town whose name came straight out of a naming problem. Rising Star, in southwestern Eastland County, started life as Copperas Creek, named for the mineral-tinged water in the creek nearby. When the settlers…
So where did that name really come from? Rising Star tells more than one version, and both come out of the record. In the first, it's that crop remark, a rising star country, land on the way up. In the second, the town…
You're rolling through Rising Star, Texas, out on the Eastland County line, and a town name like that practically dares you to ask what a real star even is. So let's take that detour a moment, then roll right back into…
For a town this size, Rising Star has thrown off a surprising number of names worth remembering, and the brightest may be a poet. Lexie Dean Robertson settled here in nineteen twenty with her husband, spent five years…
So think about how much one two-word town name can hold. Rising Star started as plain old Copperas Creek, reached for the name Star, lost it to another town, and turned the loss into something better. Pull on that name…
The name promised a place on the rise, and for a few wild years the ground delivered. Oil was discovered near Rising Star around nineteen oh nine, and a bigger strike hit about nineteen twenty, right in the middle of…
Circle back to that first origin story, the one about a rising star country where crops thrived. There's real agriculture behind the poetry. Rising Star started out growing corn, cotton, oats, and fruit, the standard…
A town of a few hundred people does not owe the world any famous names, but Rising Star kept producing them. Gene Alford, born here in nineteen oh five, went off to play in Texas Tech's very first football season in…
You're driving past the site of Scranton Academy, a private school that sprang up in this farming and ranching community back in 1903. Just 13 years after Scranton itself was founded, citizens pooled their resources to…
You're driving past the Scranton Cemetery, a final resting place for this community that settled in the 1870s. Joseph Jackson and Sarah Frances Ray donated land for the church and graveyard in 1896, though the earliest…
U.S. Highway One Eighty Three in Eastland County, between Farm to Market Road Twenty Five Twenty Six and Farm to Market Road Twenty Seven Thirty One, is the Deputy Sheriff David Bosecker Memorial Highway. David Bosecker…
You're driving past the Romney Lutheran Cemetery, established in 1901. It was recognized as a Historic Texas Cemetery in 2012.
You're driving near Baird, in the old Admiral community. This Baptist church was organized in 1881, serving early settlers. Services were held in log cabins and schoolhouses until a sanctuary was built. The congregation…
You're driving past Lost Creek Cemetery, but its story started a bit rocky... literally. The original Hog Creek Cemetery, established in the 1870s, was moved after only two burials because the soil was too tough. The…
You're driving past the Wolf Valley Cemetery, the final resting place for pioneers who settled this area starting around 1875. The earliest marked grave here belongs to S. T. Tollette, buried way back on May 11, 1882.…
You're driving past Windham Cemetery. Named for early settler and cattle rancher S. R. Windham, this cemetery dates to 1879. The earliest documented grave is that of J.
You're driving through Comanche County, and just ahead is Amity Cemetery. It started with a tragedy in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1878</say-as>. Fourteen-year-old Charles Farley died, and his parents buried…
John Hittson, rancher, son of Jesse and Polly (Beck) Hittson, was born at Nashville, Tennessee, on October 11, 1831. The Hittson family moved to Rusk County, Texas, in 1847. Four years later John married Selena Frances…
You're driving through Callahan County, and right here is the spot where a Texas legend was born. In the fall of 1900, two young brothers, Omar and Joe Burkett, found some unusual nuts in a squirrel's nest. They traced…
Belle Plain, six miles southeast of Baird in Callahan County, was established in 1876. Nelson M. Smith purchased state school land for the site in 1875 and laid out a town with wide streets and a designated business…
You're driving through what used to be Belle Plain, Texas, a town that sprang up in 1881 hoping to become a regional hub. It even started a college, Belle Plain College, known for its music department. They had fifteen…
You're driving through Callahan County, and right here is where Camp Pecan once stood. It was March of 1862, and the Texas frontier was on edge. Comanche and Kiowa raids were a constant threat, so the Frontier Regiment…
You're driving through what used to be the heart of Texas's Civil War frontier defense. Right here, in March of 1862, Camp Salmon was established. It was one of eighteen ranger stations set up a day's ride apart,…
You're driving through Callahan County, near the headwaters of a legendary Texas stream: Pecan Bayou. This slow-moving waterway, fed by over twenty creeks, was a vital spot for Native Americans like the Tonkawa and…
Rowden is on State Highway 36 sixteen miles northwest of Cross Plains in south central Callahan County. Walter V. Roberts opened a store and post office at the site on the northwest corner of the Miller place in 1906.…
You're driving past the site of the Long Branch Baptist Church, formally organized here on July 16, 1885. Thirteen charter members were served by the first minister until 1886, and missionary pastors held monthly…
You're driving past the Christ Lutheran Cemetery, established in 1904. It was designated a Historic Texas Cemetery in 2012.
Imagine this quiet town as a wild, bustling hub of activity. That was Putnam in the 1920s. Oil came into Callahan County in 1923, on the heels of the Ranger strike one county east, and by the late twenties the business…
As you drive near Putnam, you're on the edge of the Callahan County oilfields. Oil was struck in this county in 1923, and by the late 1920s the business was in full bloom - fields at Cross Plains, Pioneer, Cross Cut and…
This town wasn't born as Putnam. Its first name was Cat Claw, after the tough, thorny mimosa that grows all over this country — a rugged name for a rugged place. The Texas and Pacific Railway laid its track through…
You're driving through Callahan County, near Baird. Back in 1877, this spot was Callahan City, a small village with two stores and a post office. It served as the temporary county seat for just a few months before the…
You're driving through Callahan County, and just ahead is the site of Belle Plain College. Founded in 1881 by the Methodist Church, this was one of West Texas's earliest institutions of higher learning. At its peak, 300…
You're driving through Callahan County, and right here is the site of Belle Plain. It was the very first official county seat for this whole area, serving from 1877 to 1883. Before Belle Plain, there was Callahan City,…
You're driving through Callahan County, near Baird. This cemetery was established before the county itself was organized in 1877. It served as the final resting place for many early pioneers who settled this frontier.
You're driving past the vicinity of Pleasant Hill, where this Baptist Church began in 1892. Eight charter members met in an old schoolhouse to organize the congregation. The church joined the Cisco Baptist Association…
You're driving past Fairview Cemetery, serving rural Brown County for over a century. James Jackson Martin and Daniel Hulse donated land for this burial ground before 1878. The first person interred here was Mrs. M. C.…
You're driving past Putnam, and right here, we're talking about a tree that changed the Texas economy. This is the Burkett Pecan Tree, bred in 1900 by J. H. Burkett. He was a real leader in the Texas pecan industry, and…
You're driving through May, a town with roots stretching back to a Mexican land grant in 1827. It really started growing in the 1870s, with pioneer families arriving and quickly setting up churches and the first school,…
You're driving past the site of Camp Colorado, a frontier fort established by the U.S. Army to protect settlers from Native American raids. <break time="400ms"/> The fort was originally on the Colorado River, but moved…
You're driving through Baird, Texas, and just passed the site of a true Texas frontiersman, William Jeff Maltby. Born in Illinois in 1829, Maltby came to Texas around 1850, building frontier forts for the U.S. Army. He…
You're driving past the Belle Plaine Cemetery, a final resting place for a town that barely existed. Folks were burying their dead here as early as 1878, with the oldest marked grave belonging to sixteen-year-old Virgil…
You're driving through Callahan County, not far from Battle Creek. This spot earned its name back in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1840</say-as>, when a group searching for hostile Indians found themselves in a…
You're driving past Redeemer Lutheran Cemetery, established in 1894. It was designated a Historic Texas Cemetery in 2012.
You're driving through country that was once the wild frontier for cattlemen like Hugh Martin Childress. Born in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="M y">May 1835</say-as> in Bastrop County, Childress became one of the…
Flat Top was on Elm Creek and Farm Road 2134 four miles southwest of Voss and twenty miles southwest of Coleman in southwestern Coleman County. It was founded about 1862 when Richard Coffey , one of the earliest White…
Trickham, the oldest community in Coleman County, is located on Mukewater Creek and Ranch Road 1176 in the southeastern part of the county, twelve miles southeast of Santa Anna. The settlement acquired a post office in…
Rockwood is on U.S. Highway 283 and Camp Creek, four miles north of the Colorado River and twenty-three miles south of Coleman in southern Coleman County. Although the area was reportedly known as the Camp Creek…
Rock Crusher was on the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway near the Bachelor Prong of Hords Creek, eight miles northwest of Coleman in northwestern Coleman County. The community began in 1909, when the Santa Fe…
Whon is at the junction of Farm Road 2633 and county road LR, in far southeastern Coleman County. Its name is an Anglicized version of Juan, the name of a Mexican cowboy who once lived on the McCain Ranch. Sam H. McCain…
You're driving past May United Methodist Church. Methodists in this area were initially served by circuit-riding preachers. First to come to the region in the 1860s was the Rev. Hugh M. Childress, and worship services…
You're driving through the area where the Texas and Pacific Railway built its Delmar Depot back in 1880. A new community called Dothan sprang up nearby, eventually gaining a post office in 1902. The Dunaway family,…
You're driving through Callahan County, and right here, you're crossing a vital piece of American history. This spot marks where the U.S. Military Telegraph Line ran, connecting Fort Griffin to Fort Concho. Established…
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