Dodd City, TX RoadyGoat
Dodd City High School Hornets made history in 2021 by becoming the Texas State Class 1A champions in both Girls Basketball and Softball, a significant achievement for the town.
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Music in Dodd City
Songs About Dodd City
Caddo Song, Pt. 1
Brian Stoner
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History of Dodd City
One Town Absorbed the Other RoadyGoat
The very existence of Dodd City in its current spot is a story of nineteenth-century engineering. In the early 1870s, surveyors for the Texas and Pacific Railway pushed across this landscape with transits and chains, hunting the flattest, straightest, cheapest line they could find between the cotton country of North Texas and the markets east. They weren't guided by existing towns; they were guided by topography and profit. Maj. Edmund Hall Dodd had already been here since 1839 — his log house served as a trading post and stage stop, and for twenty years the place carried the post office name Lick. Then in 1873 the tracks arrived, but not quite at Dodd. They reached a community called Quincy, a mile west. For six years the two settlements sat there side by side, and when Dodd incorporated in 1879 it simply swallowed Quincy whole. That's what a railroad does. It doesn't only decide where a town grows — it decides which of two neighbors is still on the map.
Dodd City, TX RoadyGoat
Established in 1839, Dodd City has a rich history that has shaped its identity. The town has seen little change in population over the past decade, remaining at 369 residents according to the 2020 census, the same as in 2010. This stability is a testament to the enduring nature of the community.
Rayburn, Sam, The Homesite
1882Samuel Taliaferro Rayburn (1882-1961), son of William Marion and Martha (Waller) Rayburn, was born in Tennessee; moved to Texas, 1887. Educated at East Texas State University and the University of Texas Law School, became lawmaker: Texas House of Representatives, 1906-13 (House Speaker, 1911-13), United States Congress, 1913-61. World famous as Speaker, United States House of Representatives, 17 years, in terms of Presidents F. D. Roosevelt, Harry S Truman, Dwight Eisenhower, J. F. Kennedy. His homesite (1887-1912) was half a mile south of this marker. Incise on base: Marker Sponsors: Jack Kreck, Robert West, John Barrett, Fannin National Bank.
Historical Marker →
· 4.6 mi away
Banta, William
1850William Banta, Indian fighter, Civil War soldier, and autobiographer, was born in Warrick County, Indiana, on June 23, 1827, the son of Isaac and Elizabeth (Barker) Banta. The family immigrated to Texas in 1839 and settled briefly at Clarksville in Red River County. The following year they moved to Lamar County; they finally settled on Bullard Creek, not far from Bonham in Fannin County, where Isaac Banta was the county's first justice of the peace. In 1843 he sold his headright and moved to South Sulphur, where he assisted in organizing Hunt County. William Banta moved to Austin in 1849, then to Burnet, where he married Lucinda Hairston on March 4, 1850. They had fourteen children. Banta organized and commanded the first company of minutemen in Burnet County and participated in nearly every engagement against Indians in the region throughout the 1850s. He saw service on the Texas frontier during the Civil War as lieutenant, then captain, of Company A of the Frontier Regiment . In the spring of 1862 he was stationed at Camp Davis in Gillespie County, where he attempted to enforce the law when a series of murders, robberies, and outrages perpetrated by bushwhackers, state troops of the Third Frontier District, and men of the Frontier Regiment, excited the populace of Gillespie and Kendall counties into a frenzy. Banta's participation in the arrest and execution of an outlaw in Gillespie County led to his arrest on May 19, 1862.. He and six other men were incarcerated in Fredericksburg. Maj. James Hunter, commander of state troops of the Third Frontier District, wrote to Governor Pendleton Murrah and requested that he be allowed to send the men to prison in Austin or San Antonio. On May 25, 1862, an armed group of more than 200 men rode into Fredericksburg and overcame the twelve-man guard stationed at the jail. They pushed their way into the stone jail and opened fire upon the prisoners, who were located in two small rooms separated by a hallway. They killed one of the prisoners instantly and critically wounded four others, two of whom died the next day. Banta survived the episode but was badly wounded in both legs. During the 1870s Banta lived in Fayette County between Halletville Road and Buckners Creek, where he and his son worked as farm hands. In 1880 Banta and his family lived in Hamilton, where they worked as a farmers. J. W. Caldwell Jr. and Banta wrote an account of their lives in Texas, Twenty-Seven Years on the Texas Frontier , published in 1893. On August 24, 1893, Banta married Alethia Ann Jeffers Caldwell in Bell County. William Banta passed away on March 9, 1897 and was buried next to his wife at Nix Cemetery in Lampasas. His headstone indicates his death occurred in 1890, but this date does not appear to be accurate.
Bug Tussle, TX
1890Bug Tussle is at the junction of Farm Road 1550 and State Highway 34, ten miles south of Honey Grove and five miles north of Ladonia in southeastern Fannin County. The community was initially called Truss, after John Truss, who settled there. It was founded in the 1890s and had a post office in 1893–94. Later the town's name was changed to Bug Tussle. At least three explanations exist for this unusual name. The most popular is that the name commemorated an invasion of bugs that spoiled a church ice cream social. A variation on this anecdote suggests that the relatively isolated spot, long popular as a site of Sunday school picnics, offered little else for picnickers to do after they ate than watch the bugs tussle. A third story tells of an argument between two old-time residents who wanted to change the name of the town. Their attention was diverted by the spectacle of two tumblebugs fighting. "Look at those bugs tussle," one reportedly remarked, thus settling the argument and rechristening the town. More than seventy Bug Tussle highway signs have been stolen over the years, and for a time it was fashionable for couples to come there to be married, just so that they could say they had been wed in Bug Tussle. Bug Tussle reported only six residents by 1962, but experienced a brief renaissance when the David Graham Hall foundation took a fifteen-year lease on the downtown area in order to restore it. From 1966 to the mid-1980s the renovated town, sometimes called West Bug Tussle, had a population of thirty and capitalized on its unusual name by producing a number of souvenir items under the "Made in Bug Tussle, Texas" logo. In 1990 its population was reported as fifteen.
Evans, Lemuel Dale
1860Lemuel Dale Evans, attorney, congressman, Unionist leader, and presiding judge of the Texas Supreme Court, was born in Tennessee on January 8, 1810. He was apparently educated in his native state, where he was admitted to the bar in 1840. In 1843, however, he moved to Fannin County, Texas, by way of Arkansas. He was an ardent supporter of annexation and represented Fannin County at the Convention of 1845 , where he advocated the adoption of a system of citizens' tribunals rather than traditional courts to settle disputes between citizens. His suggestion apparently received very little support. Sometime after 1845 Evans moved to Harrison County, where he practiced law and served as a district judge for a number of years. During the War with Mexico he served as Captain of the 3 rd Texas Mounted Volunteers. In 1852 he resigned from the bench to become a Democratic presidential elector. He sought the Democratic gubernatorial nomination the following year and campaigned strictly as an East Texas candidate. He emphasized intrastate sectional issues throughout the campaign, suggesting that East Texas provided the lion's share of the tax money collected by the state while West Texas unfairly managed to accrue the majority of the state's elective officials. He even went so far as to suggest that if a West Texas candidate won the election as governor, East Texas might renew agitation for division of the state. He finished in fourth place. In 1855 Evans won election to the United States House of Representatives from the Eastern District of Texas as a member of the American (Know-Nothing) party . In 1857 he lost to John H. Reagan , a states'-rights Democrat. Evans became the leading Unionist in East Texas and a staunch supporter of Governor Sam Houston 's antisecessionist views; he served as one of the four Texas delegates to the national convention of the Constitutional Union party , which met at Baltimore in 1860. His efforts to secure the party's presidential nomination for Houston failed, but he returned to Texas and campaigned for its nominee, John Bell. During October 1860 he delivered fifteen speeches in fifteen days in the Dallas area. Unwilling to support the Confederate cause in the Civil War , Evans left the state. He apparently made his way to the national capital, where he wrote Secretary of State William Seward, suggesting means of isolating Texas so that it could not effectively contribute to the Confederate war effort. While these suggestions were largely ignored, Seward did award Evans a commission as a special agent and assigned him to monitor the movement of munitions and supplies into Texas from Mexico, an assignment necessitating Evans's relocation to the Mexican border. Evans's notoriety, combined with heavy Confederate activity along the routes into Texas, however, made it impossible for him to return safely to the state and engage in his undercover activities. His suggestion that he sail for Tampico, Tamaulipas, on a federal ship and return to Texas by way of Mexico was vetoed by Union commander George B. McClellan. Return to Texas thereby made an impossibility, Evans resigned his commission on March 3, 1862. He remained in Washington D.C. for the remainder of the war. There was speculation that he would be considered for Military Governor of Texas in 1865. Evans returned to his home in Marshall County by early February 1866 and addressed citizens in Jefferson on political issues on April 20. Evans was chosen as a delegate for the state at large at the Navasota Convention on July 27, 1866. He was confirmed as Collector of Internal Revenue for the Fourth District of Texas on April 3, 1868, but the appointment was rejected by the U.S. Senate. Evans attended the Constitutional Convention of 1868–69 , where he generally voted as a moderate. In 1870 Maj. Gen. Philip H. Sheridan , Reconstruction commander of the district that included Texas and Louisiana, appointed Evans presiding judge (previously chief justice) of the
Baldwin Home, Old
1890Mid-Victorian architecture; built 1890s by John Baldwin. His cotton gin patrons -- 70 or 80 per day -- were guests at meals in the home. During early 1940s many legislators, two governors -- Coke Stevenson, W. L. O'Daniel -- were entertained here. RTHL - 1967
Historical Marker →
· 4.3 mi away
Bank of Windom
1900Recognizing a need for banking services, a group of local businessmen opened the Private Bank of Windom in 1900. Originally, the bank operated out of F.C. Council's store but relocated to a new brick structure on the corner of Main and 2nd streets in 1902. Although the name and organization of the bank changed over time, the building continued to house the only bank in Windom. In 1964, it changed its name to Fannin National Bank and in 1976 moved to a modern facility. By providing sources of capital for construction and agricultural projects, businesses, and homes, the Bank of Windom has contributed to the community's growth and prosperity for generations. (2018)
Historical Marker →
· 4.1 mi away
Everything Near Dodd City
310 stories, landmarks & places within ~20 miles — the nearest 200 are listed here — the same local lore RoadyGoat plays as you drive through.
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Dodd City, TX
· Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Fannin County, on the road to Dodd City. This community began way back in 1839, when Major Edmund Hall Dodd and his wife Elizabeth arrived from Kentucky. They built a log house that quickly became…
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Dodd City, TX
· 1.1 mi
Dodd City High School Hornets made history in 2021 by becoming the Texas State Class 1A champions in both Girls Basketball and Softball, a significant achievement for the town.
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One Town Absorbed the Other
· 1.1 mi
The very existence of Dodd City in its current spot is a story of nineteenth-century engineering. In the early 1870s, surveyors for the Texas and Pacific Railway pushed across this landscape with transits and chains,…
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Banta, William
· 2.0 mi · Tsha Handbook
William Banta, Indian fighter, Civil War soldier, and autobiographer, was born in Warrick County, Indiana, on June 23, 1827, the son of Isaac and Elizabeth (Barker) Banta. The family immigrated to Texas in 1839 and…
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Bug Tussle, TX
· 2.0 mi · Tsha Handbook
Bug Tussle is at the junction of Farm Road 1550 and State Highway 34, ten miles south of Honey Grove and five miles north of Ladonia in southeastern Fannin County. The community was initially called Truss, after John…
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Evans, Lemuel Dale
· 2.0 mi · Tsha Handbook
Lemuel Dale Evans, attorney, congressman, Unionist leader, and presiding judge of the Texas Supreme Court, was born in Tennessee on January 8, 1810. He was apparently educated in his native state, where he was admitted…
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Military Road
· 2.0 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Texas, and right here, you're tracing the path of a vital frontier artery. Back in 1838, the Republic of Texas ordered a military road to be cut, connecting Austin to Fort Inglish, which is now…
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Morgan, Abel
· 2.0 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through what is now Fannin County, Texas, but back in 1836, this was the site of unimaginable horror. Abel Morgan, a man who'd already lost a fortune and fled marital troubles, enlisted in the Texas army…
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Snively Expedition
· 2.0 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through what was once claimed as Texas territory, but back in 1843, it was a wild frontier. This is the story of the Snively Expedition, also known as the Battalion of Invincibles. Authorized by the Texas…
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Grove Hill, TX (Fannin County)
· 2.0 mi · Tsha Handbook
Grove Hill, also known as Oak Hill, is on Farm Road 1553 twelve miles south of Bonham and four miles northeast of Leonard in southwestern Fannin County. Grove Hill is reportedly the oldest settlement in that part of the…
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Old Warren, TX
· 2.0 mi · Tsha Handbook
Old Warren (Fort Warren or Fort Kitchen), on the Fannin-Grayson county line, was named for Abel Warren , a trader from Fort Smith, Arkansas, who established a trading post on the Red River one mile below the mouth of…
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Telephone, TX
· 2.0 mi · Tsha Handbook
Telephone is at the intersection of Farm roads 273 and 2029, twelve miles northeast of Bonham in northeastern Fannin County. While settlers had moved into the vicinity as early as the 1870s, the community was not…
Show all 200 nearby places Show fewer
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Howell’s Company Light Artillery
· 2.0 mi
You're driving through Fannin County, Texas, where Captain Sylvanus Howell organized his light artillery company in April of 1862. Known as Howell's Battery, most of the men hailed from right here. They fought in…
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Harling Site
· 2.0 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Fannin County, not far from Honey Grove, and right here used to stand a remarkable piece of Texas history. This was the Harling Site, a prehistoric Caddo Indian ceremonial center, dating back to…
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Merrick, George Washington
· 2.0 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Fannin County, Texas, where George Washington Merrick served as a Confederate cavalry officer during the Civil War. Born in Tennessee, Merrick came to Texas as a boy and farmed before heading to…
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Barrett, Alva Pearl
· 2.0 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Fannin County, and right here in Gober, Alva Pearl Barrett got his start. It was 1902, and he was principal of the local school. But Barrett had bigger ambitions. He ran for the Texas House of…
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Dial, TX (Fannin County)
· 2.0 mi · Tsha Handbook
Dial is on Farm Road 824 twenty-five miles southeast of Bonham in southeastern Fannin County. The settlement was first called Bethel, when in 1837 the one-room Bethel school was established a mile from Fort Lyday . This…
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Tulip, TX
· 2.0 mi · Tsha Handbook
Tulip is on Farm Road 2554 twelve miles north of Bonham in north central Fannin County. It was established in April 1836 by Daniel Rowlett , John and Edward Stephens, David Slack, Richard Locke, and other settlers, who…
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Landmark Movement
· 2.0 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Texas, maybe near Fannin County, and you're passing through the heart of a unique Baptist belief system called Landmarkism. It started way back in the 1850s, a way of seeing religious truth that…
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Pyle, Wynne Belle
· 2.0 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Fannin County, Texas, the birthplace of Wynne Belle Pyle, a remarkable pianist and recording artist. Born in 1881, she showed early talent and studied piano right here in North Texas. Her teachers…
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White Rock, TX (Fannin County)
· 2.0 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Fannin County, not far from Bonham, and you might be passing the site of White Rock. It got its name from a local limestone that shines brilliant white in the sun. In 1871, a wagon train led by…
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Allen's Point, TX
· 2.0 mi · Tsha Handbook
Allen's Point is on Farm Road 100 fifteen miles northeast of Bonham in eastern Fannin County. The settlement began in 1836, when its founder, Tennessean Wilson B. Allen, established a homestead near Honey Grove Creek…
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Hail, TX
· 2.0 mi · Tsha Handbook
Hail (Hale) is on Farm Road 1550 twelve miles southeast of Bonham in Fannin County. It was founded between 1845 and 1850 by Kentuckians Elijah Jackson and Nancy Triplett Clark, who came to Texas in a wagon train of…
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Randolph, TX (Fannin County)
· 2.0 mi · Tsha Handbook
Randolph is at the junction of State highways 121 and 11, eight miles southwest of Bonham in Fannin County. The area was first settled in the late 1830s. During the late 1840s Thomas Lindsey set aside four acres for a…
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Savage, TX (Fannin County)
· 2.0 mi · Tsha Handbook
Savage, also known as Antioch and Evans, was located at the crossroads five miles east of Leonard, six miles west of Wolfe City, five miles north of Celeste, and twelve miles south of Bonham in south central Fannin…
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Selfs, TX
· 2.0 mi · Tsha Handbook
Selfs is on Farm Road 100 sixteen miles northeast of Bonham in east central Fannin County. The first settlers in the area were John Western Jones and his family, who in the late 1830s or early 1840s built and operated a…
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Bank of Windom
· 4.1 mi · Historical Marker
Recognizing a need for banking services, a group of local businessmen opened the Private Bank of Windom in 1900. Originally, the bank operated out of F.C. Council's store but relocated to a new brick structure on the…
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The Cowboy with a Camera
· 4.3 mi
As you pass the fields and pastures of Fannin County, you're seeing the landscape that shaped Erwin E. Smith. Born near Honey Grove in 1886, Smith dedicated his life to an urgent mission: to photograph the American…
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The Iron Horse That Built Windom
· 4.3 mi
Look for the railroad tracks that still slice through Windom, often running parallel to the highway. They might seem like just a part of the scenery, but you're looking at the 19th-century engineering marvel that…
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Baldwin Home, Old
· 4.3 mi · Historical Marker
Mid-Victorian architecture; built 1890s by John Baldwin. His cotton gin patrons -- 70 or 80 per day -- were guests at meals in the home. During early 1940s many legislators, two governors -- Coke Stevenson, W. L.…
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Windom, TX
· 4.5 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Fannin County, heading east of Bonham on Highway 82, and you're passing through Windom. This community got its start around 1870, with early settlers like Nancy Fitzgerald and Major James…
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Rayburn, Sam, The Homesite
· 4.6 mi · Historical Marker
Samuel Taliaferro Rayburn (1882-1961), son of William Marion and Martha (Waller) Rayburn, was born in Tennessee; moved to Texas, 1887. Educated at East Texas State University and the University of Texas Law School,…
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Bug Tussle - Where Nothing Happened Except Bugs
· 4.6 mi · Historical Marker
Bug Tussle is a ghost community in Fannin County, in the blackland prairie of northeast Texas. There are two competing origin stories for the name, and locals enjoy arguing about which is the real one. The first version…
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Moore's Chapel Cemetery
· 4.8 mi · Historical Marker
Driving through Bonham, look for Moore's Chapel Cemetery. This place started in the mid-1870s when Alexander and Mary Jane Moore donated land for a graveyard. The first burial was Martha Cashion in 1876. Later, Baptists…
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Biggerstaff Cemetery
· 5.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Dodd City. The Jackson and Biggerstaff families settled here in 1854, coming from Missouri. The Biggerstaff farm became the site of this cemetery, established around 1864 and last used in 1935.
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Fort English, Vicinity of
· 5.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving near Bonham, where the town's story began with Fort English. <break time="400ms"/> In <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1837</say-as>, Bailey Inglish led a group of settlers here, building a log…
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Inglish Cemetery
· 5.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Fannin County's oldest cemetery, established around <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1838</say-as> on land donated by Bailey Inglish. This plot near the old Fort Inglish holds the remains of…
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Booker T. Washington School
· 5.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're passing the site of the Booker T. Washington School in Bonham. Local tradition says it started as a one-room schoolhouse way back in the early 1890s. By 1920, this school was called Booker T. Washington and…
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Rowlett, Dr. Daniel
· 5.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Fannin County, and the man who helped create it is Dr. Daniel Rowlett. Born in Virginia in 1786, Rowlett arrived in Texas in 1836. Just a year later, he was instrumental in the creation of Fannin…
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Tarleton, Col. James
· 5.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Bonham, and just off the road is the resting place of Colonel James Tarleton. Born in Virginia in 1789, Tarleton was a veteran of the War of 1812 before he ever heard the call of Texas…
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Carlton College
· 5.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Carlton College. Formally chartered in 1881, Carlton College began under the direction of Charles Carlton (1821-1902) as the Bonham Female Institute. Carlton, a native of England and a Disciples of…
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The Courier Who Rode Back In
· 5.9 mi
The Texas town of Bonham, up in Fannin County, is named for a man who never lived to see it, James Butler Bonham. So who was he? He was twenty-nine years old when he died, and he did not have to be there at all. Born in…
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A Message Meant For A Mammoth
· 5.9 mi
Roll through Bonham, Texas, in the fall and you will see softball-sized green fruits thudding down off the bois d'arc trees, the tree behind this town's original name. So why does that fruit exist if nothing eats it?…
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Mister Sam Ran Washington
· 5.9 mi
This North Texas town of Bonham gave the country one more towering figure, and he is not from the Alamo era. His name was Sam Rayburn, and for a long stretch of the twentieth century he was arguably the most powerful…
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The Beetle That Steers By The Galaxy
· 5.9 mi
The town of Bug Tussle, Texas takes its name from the tumblebug, and here is the part about that bug that sounds made up and is not. A dung beetle rolling its ball needs to travel in a dead straight line, because any…
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The Strongest Wrestler On Earth
· 5.9 mi
Back to the tussling, because the fighting hidden in the name Bug Tussle, Texas is real and it is ferocious. The dung beetle is, pound for pound, the strongest animal on the planet. One species, a horned beetle about…
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The Name The Legislature Chose
· 5.9 mi
Here is a town whose name was settled by a legislature, not by its own neighbors. Bonham, Texas, started life as Bois d'Arc, after the creek and the trees along it. When it became the seat of Fannin County in eighteen…
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Wood Of The Bow
· 5.9 mi
Before this Fannin County town was called Bonham, Texas, it went by another name, Bois d'Arc, and that name is not random. It is French, and it means, almost literally, wood of the bow. French traders in this country…
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Hard As Ceramic, Yellow As Gold
· 5.9 mi
The North Texas town of Bonham started out named Bois d'Arc, after a tree, and that tree is genuinely strange, so let us talk about it. Botanists call it Maclura pomifera, the Osage orange, and for a long time it was…
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Horse-High, Bull-Strong, Pig-Tight
· 5.9 mi
Around Bonham, Texas, and its home county of Fannin, the bois d'arc tree quietly shaped the whole American frontier. Before barbed wire, fencing the open prairie was a nightmare, because there was no cheap stone and no…
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The Spider Myth That Won't Die
· 5.9 mi
Here in Bonham, Texas, you are in bois d'arc country, and where those trees grow you will hear a certain myth, so it is worth clearing up. People swear that setting the green Osage orange fruits around the house keeps…
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The Oldest Name, The Newest Lake
· 5.9 mi
Just northeast of Bonham, Texas, the oldest name in the county has come roaring back. The creek that started all of this, Bois d'Arc Creek, now feeds the newest big lake in the state. Bois d'Arc Lake was finished in the…
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One Name, The Whole Thread
· 5.9 mi
So think about how much one small North Texas town name is holding. Bonham. Start with the word and it splits in every direction. It leads to a South Carolina lawyer riding back into a doomed fort at the Alamo, choosing…
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Three Stories, One Bug
· 5.9 mi
Here is a town that wears its whole personality on the road sign. Bug Tussle, Texas, out here in southeastern Fannin County, did not start with that name. It started as plain Truss, after a settler named John Truss, and…
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What A Tumblebug Really Is
· 5.9 mi
Out here in Bug Tussle, Texas, one of the naming legends says the town got its name when two old-timers looked down and saw a pair of tumblebugs fighting in the dirt. That third story has a real animal in it, and it is…
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The Bug That Egypt Made A God
· 5.9 mi
You are rolling through Bug Tussle, Texas, a Fannin County dot named after the lowly tumblebug. Before you write that humble bug off as a joke, know that another whole civilization, half a world away, once made it a…
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Dollar Weddings And Stolen Signs
· 5.9 mi
A name this good does not stay put, and Bug Tussle has had quite a second life. For a stretch it became downright fashionable for couples to drive out here just to get married, so their marriage license would forever…
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Two Words On A Road Sign
· 5.9 mi
So think about what one silly little name out here on the blackland can hold. Pull on the words Bug Tussle and the whole thread unspools. It leads back to a settler named Truss and a town that could not settle on its…
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Risser Hospital
· 5.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Bonham, and just ahead is the site of a place that made national headlines. This building, constructed around 1915, first served as a home before Dr. Joe Risser purchased it in 1956. He…
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Black Dirt And A Speaker Of The House
· 5.9 mi
Look down at the ground you are standing on out here, because it explains almost everything else. Bug Tussle sits on the Blackland Prairie, a belt of famously rich, black, waxy soil that runs about three hundred miles…
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Sam Rayburn House
· 5.9 mi · Historical Marker
Sam Rayburn served in the United States Congress for 48 years and was Speaker of the House for 17 of them, longer than anyone in American history. He helped pass the New Deal, steered the nation through World War II and…
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Steger Opera House, Site of
· 5.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Bonham, and right here stood the Steger Opera House. Built in 1890 by a local stock company, it quickly became the heart of the town's entertainment. Purchased just two years later by Ed D.…
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Bonham Daily Favorite
· 5.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of the Bonham Daily Favorite, Fannin County's oldest daily newspaper. It began in 1887 as the Weekly Fannin Favorite and grew into a daily publication, serving this community for decades.…
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Fannin County Courthouses
· 5.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Bonham, the site of a long history of Fannin County courthouses. The first meeting was in Jacob Black's cabin back in 1836. Over the years, the county seat moved, and courthouses were built from…
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Gober Cemetery
· 5.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Gober Cemetery, which has served the Bonham community for generations. The earliest grave here dates back to 1865, and a tabernacle was built on the site just ten years later. Today, it holds over…
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First Baptist Church
· 5.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Bonham's First Baptist Church. It was organized in November 1852 with just six members. The first log church here also served as the town's school. Over the years, the congregation built…
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Biard Home
· 6.0 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Biard Home in Bonham, a house with a history as rich as the industry that built it. <break time="400ms"/> It was constructed in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1857</say-as> by Z. K. Sims,…
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Bonham Cotton Mill
· 6.0 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Bonham's first major industrial plant: the Bonham Cotton Mill. Nine local businessmen banded together in 1900 to build it, right here, because this blackland prairie was prime cotton…
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Confederate Commissary
· 6.0 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Bonham, and right here stood the Confederate Commissary for the Northern Sub-district of Texas. Imagine this place bustling, dispensing uniforms, blankets, saddles, and food rations. It wasn't…
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Fannin County
· 6.0 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Fannin County, named for James W. Fannin, who was tragically massacred at Goliad in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1836</say-as> after surrendering. This area saw its first Anglo settlers…
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On Route of Early Texas Streetcars
· 6.0 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Bonham, and believe it or not, you're passing along the route of one of Texas's earliest streetcar lines! Built around 1890, this wasn't your modern subway. Bonham's streetcar was steam-powered,…
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Texas and Pacific Depot
· 6.0 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of the Bonham Texas and Pacific Depot. The railroad first rolled into town in 1873, replacing a small wooden station with this grander brick building in 1900. Imagine the hustle and bustle!…
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Bonham High School Auditorium and Gymnasium
· 6.0 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the historic Bonham High School Auditorium and Gymnasium. Built in the late 1930s with a mix of federal and local funds, this building was designed by architects Voelcker and Dixon. Notice the…
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Constantine Lodge No. 13, A. F. & A. M.
· 6.0 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Constantine Lodge No. 13, one of the earliest Masonic lodges in Texas, organized way back in 1840. It moved to Bonham in 1844, and by 1878, it joined forces with the Odd Fellows to…
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First National Bank
· 6.0 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past First National Bank. Oldest bank in Fannin County. Chartered December 12, 1883. At that time, county had 25,000 people; farming and industry prospered; a new railroad was being built; seven schools…
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First Christian Church of Bonham
· 6.0 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Bonham's First Christian Church. The congregation organized in 1868 with 27 members, led by Charles Carlton, who also founded Carlton College here. The first building went up in 1878,…
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First Presbyterian Church
· 6.0 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Bonham's First Presbyterian Church. The congregation was organized way back in 1872, and this building, erected in 1885, was the only one in the area featuring a spire and belfry.
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Charles Henry Christian
· 6.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're cruising through Bonham, Texas, and right here is the birthplace of a jazz legend. Charles 'Charlie' Christian was born in 1916, and by the time he was a teenager, he was already developing a revolutionary…
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Scarborough, A. B., Banker, Old Home of
· 6.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Bonham, and look to your right for a truly unique home, built in 1897. This massive place is a wild mix of architectural styles – think Gothic arches, Grecian balconies, a cupola, and turrets, all…
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McClellan-Cunningham House
· 6.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the McClellan-Cunningham House, a beautiful example of Queen Anne architecture right here in Bonham. Judge Eugene McClellan and his wife, a piano teacher, built this home in 1879. Notice the…
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Brownlee, W. W. (Old Home)
· 6.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the W.W. Brownlee home in Bonham, built way back in 1872. Imagine the effort it took to haul lumber all the way from Jefferson for this place! It started as a single story, but a second floor was…
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Trinity Episcopal Church
· 6.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Bonham, passing the site of Trinity Episcopal Church. Organized in 1877, this congregation worshipped in homes and other churches before completing their first building in 1883. Though a fire…
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First United Methodist Church of Bonham
· 6.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the First United Methodist Church of Bonham, founded way back in 1844 by a circuit rider. It started in a shared log cabin, but grew over the years, eventually sending lifelong member Lelia Roberts…
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Bethlehem Baptist Church
· 6.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Bethlehem Baptist Church in Bonham. Organized in 1871, the congregation first met in a log cabin before purchasing this lot in 1872. The church has been remodeled and rebuilt over the…
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Mr. Sam of Bonham
· 6.2 mi
Of all the stories in Bonham, none are bigger than that of Sam Rayburn. He served in the U.S. Congress from 1913 until his death in 1961, and for 17 years, he held the gavel as Speaker of the House. He was a political…
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Engineering a Landmark's Rebirth
· 6.2 mi
The Fannin County Courthouse you see today is an engineering marvel, not just for its original 1888 construction, but for its 21st-century rebirth. In 1965 the ornate Second Empire building was stripped and encased in a…
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The Jazz Pioneer Born in Bonham
· 6.2 mi
Bonham’s contribution to music history is a big one, even if it was brief. In 1916, the legendary jazz musician Charlie Christian was born here. Though his family moved to Oklahoma City when he was a toddler, his roots…
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The Frontier Days of Fort Inglish
· 6.2 mi
When Bonham was founded in 1837, it wasn’t a town; it was a fort. This area was the edge of the frontier, and settlers were in constant fear of raids. The founder, Bailey Inglish, knew his small group of families needed…
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When the Railroad Made Bonham King
· 6.2 mi
For its first few decades, Bonham was a remote country town. Getting goods in or out meant a long, slow journey by wagon. That all changed on October 15, 1873. On that day, the first Texas and Pacific Railway train…
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Clark Memorial United Methodist Church
· 6.3 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Clark Memorial United Methodist Church in Bonham. The congregation organized in 1893, meeting in homes before building a small sanctuary here in 1901. It was renamed Clark Memorial in the…
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Sam Rayburn Library and Museum
· 6.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Sam Rayburn Library and Museum in Bonham. Designed by the Speaker himself and architect Roscoe DeWitt, this building was constructed between 1955 and 1957. It's a striking example of Classical…
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Bailey Inglish
· 6.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Fannin County, near the site of the first settlement in this area, which grew into Bonham. Bailey Inglish moved his family here in 1837, becoming a key leader. He helped form Fannin County, served…
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Site of Bartley-Woods School
· 6.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Gober, Texas, where you might have passed the site of the Bartley-Woods School. This place wasn't just a school; it was a community hub. It was formed in 1932 by consolidating several smaller…
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Bonham, James Butler
· 6.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Texas, and right here, you're passing through the story of James Butler Bonham. He wasn't a colonel, despite what you might have heard, but a second lieutenant who fought and died at the Alamo.…
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Hardin, John Wesley
· 6.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through North Texas, and right here in Bonham, John Wesley Hardin, better known as Wes, got his start. Born in 1853, his violent life began at just fifteen, stabbing another youth in a schoolyard…
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Rayburn, Samuel Taliaferro
· 6.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Fannin County, Texas, the heart of Sam Rayburn's political domain. Born in Tennessee, Rayburn moved with his family to a farm near Windom in 1887, eventually making Bonham his home. He entered…
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Morgan, Joe Leonard
· 6.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through East Texas, and right here is Bonham, the birthplace of Joe Morgan, one of baseball's all-time greats. Born in 1943, Morgan stood just 5'7" and weighed 140 pounds, but scouts saw his potential. He…
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Christian, Charles Henry [Charlie]
· 6.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Bonham, Texas, the birthplace of a true jazz legend: Charlie Christian. Born right here in 1916, Christian wasn't just a guitarist; he revolutionized the instrument. Around 1939, a chance…
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Sam Rayburn Library and Museum
· 6.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving past Bonham right now, and you might be passing the Sam Rayburn Library and Museum. This place was a dream of Sam Rayburn himself, the longest-serving Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives. He…
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Saunders, Bacon
· 6.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through North Texas, and right here, in what was then Bonham, Dr. Bacon Saunders performed a groundbreaking surgery in 1879. He's credited with what many consider the first recorded operation for acute…
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Fannin County
· 6.6 mi
You're driving through Fannin County, right on the Oklahoma border. This land was a frontier in the 1830s, a place of intense conflict between early Anglo settlers and Native American tribes, particularly the Cherokees.…
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Bois D'arc Creek (Grayson County)
· 6.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Fannin County, and right here, this creek you're crossing, Bois d'Arc Creek, was the heart of early settlement. In 1836, pioneers like Daniel Rowlett arrived, drawn by the rich lands along its…
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Carlton, Charles
· 6.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Bonham, Texas, a town that owes much of its educational history to Charles Carlton. After a life that took him from England to Canada and across the United States, Carlton arrived here in 1867. He…
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Crawford, Roberta Dodd
· 6.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through North Texas, near Bonham, the birthplace of Roberta Dodd Crawford. Born in 1897, she became a celebrated Black lyric soprano, even known as Princess Kojo Tovalou-Houenou later in life. Imagine…
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Inglish, Bailey
· 6.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Fannin County, and right here is the birthplace of Bonham. It all started in the late 1830s when Bailey Inglish, a settler from Arkansas, built a fortified blockhouse and stockade on his land to…
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Phillips, Bobbie Erskin
· 6.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Fannin County, and right here in Bonham, you're passing the neighborhood where Bobbie Phillips spent most of her life. She wasn't just any cook; for 24 years, she was the master of the Rayburn…
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Rowlett, Daniel
· 6.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Fannin County, and right here is where Daniel Rowlett, a pioneer and political leader, settled in Texas back in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1836</say-as>. He arrived near the mouth of…
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Stanley, Wright Augustus
· 6.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Fannin County, Texas, and right here is where Wright Augustus Stanley raised a company of men for the Confederacy. Born in Tennessee, Stanley moved to Fannin County and became a doctor. But when…
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Winkler, Rayburn Franklin
· 6.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through North Texas, maybe near Bonham, where Ray Winkler got his start. He was a songwriter, a radio man, and a businessman, but he co-wrote one song that became a massive hit: 'Welcome to My World.'…
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Bonham, TX
· 6.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Bonham, Texas, a town that started as a frontier fort. Right here, Bailey Inglish built Fort Inglish in 1837, a blockhouse and stockade to protect early settlers. The original townsite, then…
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Lee, Roswell Walter
· 6.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
Roswell Walter Lee, military officer of the United States, Republic of Texas , and Confederate States; public servant; and surveyor; was born on August 12, 1810, in Hamden, Connecticut, to Col. Roswell Lee and Phebe…
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Carlton College
· 6.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Fannin County, and right here in Bonham, you're passing the site of Carlton College. Founded in 1866 as one of the earliest Disciples of Christ schools in Texas, it moved to Bonham in 1867. It…
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Carreathers, Raymond Eugene
· 6.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Northeast Texas, maybe near Bonham, and right here is a story of a man who broke barriers. Raymond Eugene Carreathers, born in Clarksville back in 1921, grew up on farms in Red River and Lamar…
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Dorn, Andrew Jackson
· 6.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through North Texas, and right here in Bonham, you're passing through the hometown of Andrew Jackson Dorn. He wasn't exactly a household name, but he snagged the job of Texas State Treasurer in 1873,…
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Nold, Wendelin J.
· 6.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Bonham, Texas, the birthplace of Wendelin Nold. He wasn't just any Texan; he became the fifth bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Galveston-Houston. Nold was the first student from St. Mary's…
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Rayburn, Lucinda [Miss Lou]
· 6.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Fannin County, not far from Bonham, and you might be passing the Sam Rayburn House State Historic Site. Right here lived Lucinda Rayburn, known as Miss Lou, the sister and social hostess for…
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Roberts, Samuel Alexander
· 6.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Bonham, the hometown of Samuel Alexander Roberts, a key figure in the Republic of Texas. He arrived in Texas in 1837, encouraged by Mirabeau B. Lamar, who would later become president. Roberts…
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Taylor, Robert H.
· 6.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Fannin County, near Bonham, where Robert H. Taylor built a remarkable life. Arriving in Texas in 1844, he quickly became a lawyer, a soldier in the Mexican War, and a rising political star. He…
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Bonham Daily Favorite
· 6.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Fannin County, and right here in Bonham, a newspaper has been a constant voice for over a century. The Bonham Daily Favorite traces its roots back to the weekly Fannin County Favorite, started…
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Chenoweth, James Q.
· 6.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Fannin County, Texas, maybe past Bonham. Right here, James Q. Chenoweth, a Confederate colonel during the Civil War, found a new life after the fighting. After serving in the Kentucky legislature,…
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Lane, Robert H.
· 6.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Fannin County, heading towards Bonham. Right here is where Robert H. Lane, a Mexican War veteran and lawyer, made his mark in Texas politics. After fighting in the Mexican War and serving on the…
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Pace, Alfred Elkins
· 6.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Fannin County, and right here in Bonham, you're passing through the stomping grounds of Alfred Elkins Pace. Pace wasn't just a farmer and merchant; he was a state representative in the Third…
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Panhandle National Grasslands
· 6.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through North Texas, and right here are remnants of a massive conservation effort. In 1958, the U.S. Forest Service created the Panhandle National Grasslands, totaling nearly 300,000 acres across Texas,…
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Russell, John R.
· 6.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Fannin County, and right here in Bonham is where John R. Russell made his mark. He fought in the Mexican War with the Texas Rangers, then came back to Texas to build a business empire. But when…
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Smith, Gideon
· 6.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Fannin County, near Bonham, where Gideon Smith made his mark. He arrived in Texas in 1847, eventually settling here in Red River and turning his land into a prosperous plantation. Smith wasn't…
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Van Noy, Henry Harrison
· 6.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Fannin County, and right here in Bonham is where Henry Harrison Van Noy's political career ended. Van Noy was a Radical Republican who, after serving in the Confederate Army and surviving Union…
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Wheeler House
· 6.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're cruising through Honey Grove, Fannin County, and you might just pass the Wheeler House. Built between 1852 and 1854, this wasn't just any home – it was the very first Classic Revival house in the area. Imagine,…
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Rayburn, Sam
· 6.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Bonham, Texas, the hometown of Sam Rayburn. Born in Tennessee in 1882, his family moved here to Fannin County in 1887. Rayburn's political journey started right here, in the Texas Legislature, in…
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Military Headquarters Northern Sub-District of Texas, C.S.A.
· 6.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Bonham, the site of a key Civil War headquarters for the Northern Sub-District of Texas. General Henry E. McCulloch, a seasoned frontier fighter, commanded this vital post. His mission was immense:…
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Arledge Ridge Cemetery
· 6.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Arledge Ridge, named for two brothers who settled here from Alabama in the 1850s: Joseph and William Arledge. Joseph ran one of Fannin County's first freight lines, all the way to Jefferson. William…
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John P. Simpson
· 6.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Bonham, the heart of Fannin County. Look around – much of this downtown commercial area, including the courthouse square, sits on land donated by John P. Simpson. He arrived in Texas around 1837,…
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Spies, Dr. Tom Douglas
· 7.0 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Bonham, and right around here is the birthplace of Dr. Tom Douglas Spies. Born in 1902, Dr. Spies became a leading expert on nutritional diseases. In the 1930s, he was at the forefront of…
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Galbraith House
· 7.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Galbraith House, built around 1870 by Marshall A. Galbraith. He was a farmer and businessman who came to Texas in 1847 and later served in the Confederate Army during the Civil War. The house, a…
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The First Speaker With a Doctorate
· 7.4 mi
Farm to Market Road Sixty Eight in Fannin County is Speaker Jimmy Turman Road. The Legislature voted for it unanimously in two thousand five, honoring the son of a farm tenant family who rose to speaker of the Texas…
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Gober Garage
· 7.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Gober Garage. Vernon C. Shive and John N. Glover operated a garage in Gober as early as 1933. After Shive died in 1944, John and Ruth Glover acquired a full share in the Gober Garage.
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Gober Public school
· 7.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Gober, a town settled in the 1840s and first known as Grittersville. Public education started in a one-room schoolhouse. Fire destroyed that school in 1924, but it was replaced by a new two-story…
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Gober Baptist Church
· 7.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Gober, Fannin County. This marker tells the story of the Gober Baptist Church, organized in 1889. Early services were held in a schoolhouse or brush arbor before their first sanctuary was built in…
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Rayburn, Congressman Sam
· 7.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Bonham, the hometown of Sam Rayburn, a man who became one of America's most powerful politicians. Born in Tennessee in 1882, he moved to Texas as a boy and launched his career in the Texas House…
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Sam Rayburn House
· 7.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Sam Rayburn House, built in 1916 by the Congressman for his parents, three years into his career in Washington. This two-story home, once called 'The Home Place,' was later enlarged in 1934 with…
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Sam Rayburn House Museum
· 7.6 mi · Scraped Hmdb
Step back in time and walk through the home of Sam Rayburn, one of the most influential Speakers of the House. This unassuming house in Bonham was the heart of a political powerhouse. Sam Rayburn, born in 1882, served…
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McCraw's Chapel
· 7.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of McCraw's Chapel, a Methodist congregation that started gathering in 1859. For years, settlers met in the home of Ezekiel Phillips Warren, who had moved to this area in 1856. Later, in…
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Vineyard Grove Baptist Church
· 8.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Fannin County, near Windom. In 1847, Elder Willie Pickett helped establish the Vineyard Grove Baptist Church with a group of charter members. They built this meetinghouse, completed in 1853, and…
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Building a Lake from Scratch
· 8.7 mi
Just southeast of Ivanhoe, a massive feat of modern engineering has reshaped the Texas map. You're near Bois d'Arc Lake, a 16,641-acre reservoir dedicated in 2022 - the first major reservoir built in the state in nearly…
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In Mr. Sam's County
· 8.7 mi
You can't tell the story of any place in Fannin County without talking about Sam Rayburn. From his home in nearby Bonham, 'Mr. Sam' served as Speaker of the U.S. House longer than anyone in history, and his power in…
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The Last Bell at Ivanhoe School
· 8.7 mi
For most of a century, the heart of Ivanhoe was its school. It was more than a place for reading and writing; it was the community's social center, the site of holiday programs, town meetings, and celebrations. By the…
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Allen's Chapel Methodist Church and Cemetery
· 8.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Allen's Chapel, a Methodist congregation that organized in 1842. They built a log chapel on land donated by Wilson Allen and were served by early leaders like Rev. J.H. Graham. The…
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Crockett Park
· 9.2 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Crockett Park in Honey Grove. This spot is named for the legendary Davy Crockett himself. In late 1835, Crockett journeyed into Texas, camping near here. He found so much wild honey in hollow trees…
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Honey Grove, TX
· 9.5 mi
Honey Grove, Texas, has a rich history that dates back to the days of the legendary frontiersman David Crockett. In 1836, on his way to join the Texas Army at San Antonio, Crockett camped in the area and discovered an…
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Smith, Erwin Evans
· 9.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Honey Grove, and we're passing the birthplace of Erwin Evans Smith. Born in 1886, Smith was captivated by the cowboy culture of the Southwest. He studied art, hoping to become a sculptor, but…
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The Cowboy with a Camera
· 9.6 mi
As you look at the fields and pastures around Honey Grove, imagine them a little over a century ago, during the last days of the open-range cowboy. A local boy named Erwin E. Smith, who grew up on a farm near here, saw…
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The Ground That Moves
· 9.6 mi
You might notice something about the roads here, or see zig-zagging cracks in older brick buildings. It’s not necessarily bad construction; it’s a battle against the ground itself. The Blackland Prairie soil under Honey…
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Honey Grove, TX
· 9.6 mi
Honey Grove, known as 'The Sweetest Town in Texas,' owes its name to a sweet discovery by David Crockett. On his way to join the Texas Army at San Antonio in 1836, Crockett camped in the area and found an abundance of…
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Bralley-Pendleton School
· 9.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Honey Grove, Texas, and right here is the site of a landmark in local African American history. In 1882, this was the very first school for Black students in town, starting with just 20 kids and…
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Erwin, Samuel Augustus
· 9.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Honey Grove, Texas, the site of some early frontier history. Samuel Augustus Erwin, born in Virginia, arrived here in 1837, becoming the very first settler in this area. He was a surveyor by trade,…
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Bolton, Hale William
· 9.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through North Texas, maybe near Honey Grove, where artist Hale William Bolton settled with his family back in 1896. Bolton wasn't just a painter; he was a musician, a piano tuner and violinist. He brought…
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Bralley, Francis Marion
· 9.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through North Texas, and right here near Honey Grove, you're passing through the hometown of Francis Marion Bralley. He was an educator who championed a key change for Texas schools. In 1908, Bralley was…
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Nicholson, Andrew Jackson
· 9.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Fannin County, Texas, and right here is where Andrew Jackson Nicholson made a pivotal decision. A wealthy plantation owner with 18 slaves, Nicholson was chosen as a delegate to the 1861 Texas…
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Price, Sammy
· 9.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Honey Grove, Texas, the birthplace of Sammy Price, a blues and jazz pianist who became a legend. Price's musical journey started unexpectedly. Despite a teacher telling him he had no talent, Sammy…
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Gilmer, James G.
· 9.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Honey Grove, and just off the road is the resting place of James G. Gilmer. He was one of the brave souls who ventured into this Texas wilderness. Gilmer moved his family here from Kentucky in…
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Honey Grove City Hall
· 9.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Honey Grove, and right here is a building with a story of local grit and determination. Back in 1885, Mayor J.P. Gilmer told the City Council they needed a new city hall and jail. The minutes from…
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Oakwood Cemetery
· 9.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Oakwood Cemetery, originally known as the Walcott Graveyard. Established way back in 1846, its story begins with James G. Gilmer, buried here in the year he arrived in Texas. His widow, Elizabeth,…
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Walcott, Benjamin Stuart
· 9.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Honey Grove, Fannin County, where Benjamin Stuart Walcott helped build this town from the ground up. A New England native, Walcott arrived here in 1846. By 1848, he'd opened the first store in a…
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James Thomas Holt
· 9.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Honey Grove area, where James Thomas "Tank" Holt settled with his family in 1849. After fighting in the Civil War, Holt became a successful businessman. He invested in ranching, a cotton oil…
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Anderson, J. B.
· 9.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Fannin County, Texas, and right here in Honey Grove, a farmer named J. B. Anderson was getting ready for war. Born in Kentucky, he came to Texas and built up a farm, even owning ten slaves by…
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Honey Grove, TX
· 9.6 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Fannin County, and right here is Honey Grove. It got its name from a rather sweet source: an apiary, or beehive, located in a nearby grove. The first settlers arrived from Tennessee way back in…
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McKenzie Methodist Church
· 9.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past McKenzie Methodist Church in Honey Grove. Methodist members built their first church here in 1881, naming it for pioneer preacher J.W.P. McKenzie. This Gothic structure, built in 1912, uses stone…
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Honey Grove Lodge No. 164, A. F. & A. M.
· 9.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Honey Grove, where the Masons have been active since 1854. The Honey Grove Lodge, chartered in 1856, met in various spots, including hotel attics and school buildings. After a fire in 1955, they…
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Dial Home
· 9.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Dial Home, built in 1890 for William Gross, Honey Grove's first city attorney. Seventeen years after the town was chartered, this Queen Anne house went up. In 1905, local merchant Samuel M. Dial…
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Biggers, James Fowler
· 9.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Fannin County, and just ahead is the area where James Fowler Biggers settled in <say-as interpret-as="date" format="y">1869</say-as>. A native of South Carolina who grew up in Mississippi, Biggers…
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First Baptist Church of Honey Grove
· 9.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of the First Baptist Church of Honey Grove. Organized in November of 1847 with nine charter members, it met in a log schoolhouse before erecting its own structure in 1852. The congregation…
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Church of St. Mark, The Evanvelist, Episcopal
· 9.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of the Church of St. Mark, The Evangelist, Episcopal. This congregation was organized in 1876 by the Rt. Rev. Alexander C. Garrett. The current wooden building, featuring Gothic Revival…
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Portland
· 9.9 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Portland, a farming community that almost faded into ghost town history. Jesse Green London, a Confederate veteran, settled here with his family in 1873. By the late 1800s, Portland had a…
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The Storm of 1919
· 10.1 mi
Late on the night of April 9, 1919, disaster struck Ravenna out of the dark. A violent tornado, part of a larger outbreak across North Texas, had already run thirty miles up from Blue Ridge, tearing through Collin and…
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Building a 21st-Century Lake
· 10.1 mi
Just a few miles from Ravenna lies one of the most significant Texas engineering projects of the 21st century: Bois d'Arc Lake. As you drive nearby, consider the immense challenge of building the first major reservoir…
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Bypassed by the Iron Horse
· 10.1 mi
In the 1880s Ravenna was a growing Fannin County town, and in 1891 it got the thing every nineteenth-century town prayed for: the Denison, Bonham and New Orleans Railroad laid its tracks right through here. The boom was…
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Shiloh Cemetery
· 10.8 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through an area first settled by pioneers like Melchezedec Self in 1845 and the Whittenberg brothers in the early 1860s. This Shiloh Cemetery likely began as a family plot, with the first known burial…
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First Baptist Church of Bailey
· 11.0 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of the First Baptist Church of Bailey. It began in 1888 as Corinth Baptist Church with twelve charter members, meeting in a schoolhouse. By 1890, the congregation moved to Bailey and changed…
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Allmond, Ruby Nell
· 11.1 mi · Tsha Handbook
Ruby Allmond, singer, songwriter, and country fiddler named "National Champion Lady Fiddler," was born on a farm near Bailey, Texas, in southeastern Fannin County on May 2, 1923. She was the youngest child of Arthur M.…
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Bailey, TX
· 11.1 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Bailey, Texas, a town that owes its name to a bit of a rivalry! Back in the late 1800s, two prominent landowners, Doctors Josiah Bailey and A. J. Ray, both wanted the new railroad stop named after…
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Ashley Lodge No. 681, A. F. & A. M.
· 11.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Ashley Lodge No. 681, chartered in 1889 as the seventh Masonic lodge in Fannin County. The lodge shared its first meeting hall with the Baptist church, later bought its own building, and…
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The Line That Moved a Town
· 11.2 mi
The name on the sign here was decided by a railroad right-of-way. Farmers settled this ground in the late 1850s for the rich blackland, and by the 1880s two prominent men — Dr. Josiah S. Bailey and Dr. A. J. Ray — each…
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Bailey, TX
· 11.2 mi
In the late 1850s, farmers moved to the area that would become Bailey, Texas, to take advantage of the rich soil. Cotton and corn became the principal crops. A dispute over naming the town ended in 1885 when the St.…
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From Iron Rails to Asphalt: The Highway 82 Transformation
· 11.4 mi
The road you're driving on, U.S. Highway 82, tells a powerful story of engineering and economic change. For its first 70 years, Ector's lifeblood was the Texas and Pacific railroad. But by the mid-20th century, a new…
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Ector, TX
· 11.4 mi
The city of Ector, Texas, is named in honor of one of the pioneer settlers of the area, Ector Owens. The community started in the late 19th century when farmers settled near Caney Creek. Interestingly, the town was…
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Ector, TX
· 11.4 mi
Ector, Texas, began as a settlement in the late 19th century when farmers arrived near Caney Creek. The town was named after Ector Owens, a pioneer settler in the area. Originally called Victor's Station, the name was…
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Rain, State Highway Eleven, and a Fannin County Deputy
· 11.4 mi
The Deputy Rahamy Mitchell Memorial Highway is on State Highway Eleven. Rahamy Mitchell joined the Fannin County Sheriff's Office as a reserve deputy in two thousand one. He became a licensed corrections officer in two…
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Ector Lodge N. 687
· 11.4 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Ector, where Ector Lodge No. 687 began in 1887 as a Masonic lodge in Ravenna. It moved to this railroad town in 1889, changing its name in 1901. Members met in various locations before moving into…
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Ravenna, TX
· 11.5 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Fannin County, not far from Bonham, heading towards the Red River. Right here is Ravenna, a town that started out as Willow Point around 1850. By the 1880s, settlers had named it Ravenna,…
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Ector Methodist Church
· 11.5 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Ector, where the Methodist congregation started meeting in a schoolhouse back in 1885. They built their first frame church with twin steeples in 1888. The congregation is still active today,…
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Lindsey-Randolph Cemetery
· 11.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Lindsey-Randolph Cemetery, a place that started with a donation of farmland in the late 1840s. Thomas Lindsey, who came here from Tennessee in 1837, set aside four acres for a school and this…
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Mister Sam of Fannin County
· 11.7 mi
State Highway One Twenty One carries the name Sam Rayburn Memorial Highway. Rayburn was born in Tennessee in eighteen eighty two, and in eighteen eighty seven his family moved to a forty acre cotton farm near Windom in…
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Carson Cemetery
· 12.1 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Carson Cemetery, a resting place with a tragic beginning. Local stories say this ground was named for John Carson, who once owned this land. But the earliest graves here might date back to an 1842…
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Ladonia, TX
· 12.5 mi · Tsha Handbook
You're driving through Ladonia, a town with a name that might just be inspired by a song. Back in 1857, the community was known as McCownville. Legend has it that a traveler named La Donna Millsay, passing through on a…
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Haden House
· 12.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Haden House, built way back in 1894. Local craftsmen Martin and Krause used cypress and some fancy gingerbread trim to build this late Victorian home for merchant J. B. Haden and his wife. The…
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Little Bethel Baptist Church
· 12.6 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Ladonia, where Little Bethel Baptist Church was established in 1912, serving the African American community in southeast Fannin County. Around 1932, Deacon John Marshall moved the church to Ladonia…
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Rehobeth Cemetery Chapel
· 12.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving through Fannin County, near Ladonia, and you're passing the site of the Rehobeth Cemetery Chapel. This spot has been the heart of this community since 1840. It started as a place for camp meetings,…
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Ladonia Cemetery
· 12.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past Ladonia Cemetery, the main resting place for this community. It's actually two cemeteries in one: the I.O.O.F. section and the Presbyterian section. The oldest grave here belongs to Joe Shelby, an…
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Ladonia Presbyterian Church Building
· 12.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Ladonia Presbyterian Church building, a beautiful example of Mission Revival style. Erected between 1910 and 1912 for just over six thousand dollars, it served its congregation until the…
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Buchanan Cemetery
· 12.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the Buchanan Cemetery in Randolph. Alexander Buchanan, his wife Delilah, and their eleven children moved here from Illinois in 1844, settling on this site in 1846. Alexander died that same year and…
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Bethel Lodge No. 134 A. F. & A. M.
· 12.7 mi · Historical Marker
You're driving past the site of Bethel Lodge No. 134. Chartered in 1854, this Masonic lodge served pioneer settlers and played a role in the area's development. It relocated to Ladonia in the 1870s and operated from…
